Written by Anna Vorhes

Born
November 14, 1900

Died
December 2, 1990

Instrumentation
solo vocalist, flute (doubling piccolo), oboe, two clarinets, bassoon, two horns, trumpet, trombone, harp, strings

Duration
10 minutes

Composed
The first set of five songs at the request of English composer Benjamin Britten in 1950; the second set in 1952; the orchestra accompaniment in 1957

World Premiere
The first set of five songs were performed by Peter Pears, with his friend Benjamin Britten at a music festival in Aldeburgh, England in June 1950.  The American premiere came a year later with William Warfield singing accompanied by the composer.

Something interesting to listen for
In these vocal works, the words are important and interesting.  They were originally for a single high voice (soprano or tenor) and piano.  Copland himself orchestrated the work in 1957.  As you listen, note the poignant words of Long Time Ago and Simple Gifts.  Of course, Simple Gifts is familiar to many Americans as it has made its way into the hymnals of many denominations.  At the River is a gospel favorite dating from the time of tent revivals in the nineteenth century.  And I Bought Me a Cat is a tongue twisting children's singing game that features the sounds of many animals.  There's something quite delightful about a formally dressed singer with an operatic voice imitating animals of the farmyard!

Program Notes

By the middle of the twentieth century, Copland was well established as a preeminent American composer.  He won the Pulitzer prize and the New York Music Circle Critics Award for Appalachian Spring (from which he extracted Simple Gifts for this set of folk songs).  And then in 1949, he attended the World Peace Conference.  That led to suspicion that he might be a communist, and in 1953, a performance of A Lincoln Portrait at the inauguration of Dwight Eisenhower was canceled due to the rumors that Copland might be a communist sympathizer.  The composer was brought before McCarthy's House Committee on Un-American Activities.  He successfully defended himself, and even more impressively avoided accusing any of his peers thus leading to their investigation.

Prior to those events, in 1950 Benjamin Britten commissioned Copland to write a set of American songs for Britten's festival at Aldeburgh, England.  Copland presented the first set of American songs and Britten tapped his good friend and frequent recital partner Peter Pears to sing them.  A year later, Copland would ask William Warfield to sing the first five songs with the composer at the piano at Town Hall.  In 1952, Copland completed the second set of songs, and in 1957 he orchestrated all of the songs for a vocal soloist with orchestra.  The songs have all been set in choral versions with piano and orchestra as well, though not by the composer.  The result is that these have been a staple part of singers' repertoire.

Tonight, we will hear four of the songs.  Simple Gifts is a setting of a Shaker hymn that Copland used in his ballet Appalachian Spring.  Shaker Elder Brackett wrote the original melody and words in 1848.  The Shakers were a communal religion that lived in the Appalachian Mountains and maintained a religion that believed in simple ways and celibacy.  Men and women used separate staircases in their larger dwellings.  They worked with their hands, producing such unique products as bent wood hat boxes and brooms that instead of being round, were sewn across the top to produce the shape we think of brooms being today.  Shakers also were sometimes inclined to turn in circles until they were dizzy enough to produce a trance.  

The sweet and sad Long Time Ago is based on an early nineteenth century poem by George Pope about a love who has perished.  Copland found the poem and melody in the archives of Brown University.  The original melody is by Charles Edward Horn.

I Bought Me a Cat is a children's singing game with the verses being repeated and adding another animal with each verse.  Other songs that function like this include Old McDonald and The Twelve Days of Christmas.  The fun comes when the singer makes the noises of each animal in order as the song progresses.  The last verse might not get by today as the "animal" is a wife!

At the River was written in 1865 by Reverend Robert Lowry.  The tune resembles the gospel and spiritual singing of African Americans and is often attributed to their heritage.  Copland's setting has found a place in memorial services, being performed at a memorial for Copland himself with Kenneth Ollman singing, and a few weeks later for Copland's friend Leonard Bernstein with Marilyn Horne singing.