Awards & Winners

Aaron Copland

Date of Birth 14-November-1900
Place of Birth Brooklyn
(United States of America, New York City, New York, New York-White Plains-Wayne, NY-NJ Metropolitan Division)
Nationality United States of America
Also know as Copeland, Copland, Copland, Aaron, Aaronn Copland, Aaron Copeland, Aaron Copland (1900-1990), The Dean of American composers
Profession Composer, Pianist, Conductor, Film Score Composer, Writer
Aaron Copland was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later in his career a conductor of his own and other American music. Instrumental in forging a distinctly American style of composition, in his later years he was often referred to as "the Dean of American Composers" and is best known to the public for the works he wrote in the 1930s and 1940s in a deliberately accessible style often referred to as Populist and which the composer labeled his "vernacular" style. Works in this vein include the ballets Appalachian Spring, Billy the Kid and Rodeo, his Fanfare for the Common Man and Third Symphony. The open, slowly changing harmonies of many of his works are archetypical of what many people consider to be the sound of American music, evoking the vast American landscape and pioneer spirit. In addition to his ballets and orchestral works, he produced music in many other genres including chamber music, vocal works, opera and film scores. After some initial studies with composer Rubin Goldmark, Copland traveled to Paris, where he studied at first with Isidor Philipp and Paul Vidal, then with noted pedagogue Nadia Boulanger. He studied three years with Boulanger, whose eclectic approach to music inspired his own broad taste in that area. Determined upon his return to the U.S. to make his way as a full-time composer, Copland gave lecture-recitals, wrote works on commission and did some teaching and writing. He found composing orchestral music in the "modernist" style he had adapted abroad a financially contradictory approach, particularly in light of the Great Depression. He shifted in the mid-1930s to a more accessible musical style which mirrored the German idea of Gebrauchsmusik, music that could serve utilitarian and artistic purposes. During the Depression years, he traveled extensively to Europe, Africa, and Mexico, formed an important friendship with Mexican composer Carlos Chávez and began composing his signature works.

Awards by Aaron Copland

Check all the awards nominated and won by Aaron Copland.

1999


Grammy Hall of Fame Award
Honored for : Appalachian Spring / The Tender Land - Suite
(Award for 'Appalachian Spring')

1967


Nominations 1967 »

Award Nominated Nominated Work
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement In Music CBS Playhouse
Individual Achievements in Music - Composition

1960


Grammy Award for Best Classical Contemporary Composition
Honored for : Copland: Orchestral Suite From Tender Land Suite
(Composer)

Nominations 1960 »

Award Nominated Nominated Work
Grammy Award for Best Classical Contemporary Composition Copland: Orchestral Suite From Tender Land Suite

1949


Academy Award for Best Original Music Score
Honored for : The Heiress

Nominations 1949 »

Award Nominated Nominated Work
Academy Award for Best Original Music Score The Heiress

1945


Pulitzer Prize for Music
Honored for : Appalachian Spring

1943


Nominations 1943 »

Award Nominated Nominated Work
Academy Award for Best Original Music Score The North Star

1940


Nominations 1940 »

Award Nominated Nominated Work
Academy Award for Best Original Music Score Our Town
Academy Award for Best Original Musical Our Town

1939


Nominations 1939 »

Award Nominated Nominated Work
Academy Award for Best Original Music Score Of Mice and Men
Academy Award for Best Original Musical Of Mice and Men