Aaron Copland (1900 – 1990)
Recordings By Brass Ensembles
- 1979 – Sonic Fireworks Volume 1 (Atlanta Brass Ensemble)
- 1980 – Festive Brass (Philip Jones Brass Ensemble)
- 1983 – Brass at la Sauve-Majeure (Brass of Aquitaine & London)
- 1986 – Music for Brass and Percussion (London Brass Virtuosi)
- 1986 – Episodes (Summit Brass)
- 1991 – hr brass (Brass Ensemble of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra)
- 1991 – American Brass (London Symphony Brass)
- 1993 – Fanfare for the Common Man (Brass of Aquitaine & London)
- 2023 – Incantations (Geca Brass)
- ???? – The Brass Dream Team, Michael Tilkin conductor
Composed: 1942
Duration: 3:00
Publisher: Boosey & Hawkes
Purchase Information: Score and Parts for Sale
Cost: $32.94
Instrumentation:
three trumpets (in B♭)
four horns (in F)
three trombones
tuba
timpani, bass drum, tam-tam
Written in 1942 for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra under conductor Eugene Goossens. It was written in response to the US entry into World War II and inspired in part by a speech made earlier that year by then American Vice President Henry A. Wallace, in which Wallace proclaimed the dawning of the “Century of the Common Man”.
Copland, in his autobiography, wrote of the request: “Eugene Goossens, conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, had written to me at the end of August about an idea he wanted to put into action for the 1942–43 concert season. During World War I he had asked British composers for a fanfare to begin each orchestral concert. It had been so successful that he thought to repeat the procedure in World War II with American composers”. A total of 18 fanfares were written at Goossens’ behest, but Copland’s is the only one which remains in the standard repertoire.
Goossens had suggested titles such as Fanfare for Soldiers, or sailors or airmen, and he wrote that “it is my idea to make these fanfares stirring and significant contributions to the war effort….” Copland considered several titles including Fanfare for a Solemn Ceremony and Fanfare for Four Freedoms; to Goossens’ surprise, however, Copland titled the piece Fanfare for the Common Man. Goossens wrote, “Its title is as original as its music, and I think it is so telling that it deserves a special occasion for its performance. If it is agreeable to you, we will premiere it 12 March 1943 at income tax time”. Copland’s reply was “I [am] all for honoring the common man at income tax time”.
Copland later used the fanfare as the main theme of the fourth movement of his Third Symphony (composed between 1944 and 1946).
Recordings by orchestral brass sections (List is Not Comprehensive)
- 1954 – Copland (National Symphony)
- 1961 – Copland & Bloch (Hartford Symphony)
- 1965 – Copland (Philadelphia Orchestra)
- 1967 – Billy the Kid (Dallas Symphony)
- 1971 – Copland conducts Copland (London Symphony Orchestra)
- 1971 – World Symphony Orchestra
- 1973 – 1973 Inaugural Concert (Philadelphia Orchestra)
- 1974 – Ormandy International (Philadelphia Orchestra)
- 1977 – Copland & Gershwin (Los Angeles Philharmonic)
- 1978 – Gershwin & Copland (The Wren Orchestra)
- 1979 – Hallé Encore! (Hallé Orchestra)
- 1981 – Twenty Fanfares for the Common Man (London Philharmonic Orchestra)
- 1982 – Copland (Detroit Symphony)
- 1982 – Copland (Atlanta Symphony Orchestra)
- 1983 – American Festival (Milwaukee Symphony)
- 1983 – Hollywood Bowl Super Concert (Los Angeles Philharmonic)
- 1986 – Aaron Copland (Orquesta Filarmónica de la Ciudad de México)
- 1988 – Music of America (Boston Pops)
- 1992 – American Portraits (Saint Louis Symphony)
- 1992 – Portraits of Freedom (Seattle Symphony)
- 2015 – Copland (Minnesota Orchestra)
Other Works for Brass Ensemble BY Aaron Copland
- 1942 – Fanfare for the Common Man
- 1969 – Inaugural Fanfare
- 1970 – Ceremonial Fanfare