Carnegie Hall

Aaron Copland (1900–1990)—whose music often conjures images of the wide-open spaces of the American West—was ironically born and raised in Brooklyn, and lived most of his first 50 years in New York City. For much of that time—except for a period of study in Paris in the early 1920s—Copland lived and worked on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. He moved often at first; from 1936 to 1947, his principal residence was The Empire Hotel on West 63rd Street, where his close friend Leonard Bernstein (1918–1990) was a frequent visitor. This location—in what at the time was a somewhat rough neighborhood—later became the setting for Bernstein’s West Side Story and is the present-day site of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.

Copland and his music have a long and varied history at Carnegie Hall, with appearances that stretch from February 3, 1927—when Copland was the soloist in the New York premiere of his Piano Concerto with the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Serge Koussevitzky—to November 9, 1980, when Copland last appeared at the Hall as a conductor. Many of his works received their New York premieres at Carnegie Hall, including A Lincoln Portrait and the Symphony No. 3. Works that received their world premieres at the Hall include Statements and the orchestral suite from the ballet Appalachian Spring.

Copland’s presence was also felt behind the scenes in the Studio Towers above Carnegie Hall. In addition to the music teachers, photographers, and portrait artists who made their homes in the studios above the main auditorium, many ballet teachers—notably Agnes de Mille and Martha Graham—kept studios. Copland penned two of his most famous ballet scores for these women—Rodeo for de Mille, and Appalachian Spring for Graham; undoubtedly, much of the choreography for these works was developed in their Carnegie Hall studios.

Other Copland works that received important premieres at Carnegie Hall include the following:

• Cortège macabre (New York Premiere) with Copland as soloist and the Beethoven Symphony Orchestra conducted by Georges Zaslawsky: October 12, 1927
• Symphonic Ode (New York Premiere) with the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Serge Koussevitsky: March 3, 1932
• Letter from Home (New York Premiere) with the Juilliard Orchestra conducted by Thor Johnson: March 10, 1947
• Preamble for a Solemn Occasion (World Premiere) with Sir Laurence Olivier, Speaker, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Leonard Bernstein: December 10, 1949
• Suite from The Tender Land (New York Premiere) with the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Aaron Copland: November 21, 1959
• Music for a Great City (New York Premiere) with the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Antal Dorati: May 15, 1965

Photography: Copland backstage and conducting by Ben Martin, Symphony No. 3 score courtesy of the Carnegie Hall Rose Archives.