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APPALACHIAN SPRING
Appalachian Spring is an important Copland work that tried to reflect the American experience. With choreography by Martha Graham, it was a ballet concerning the housewarming party of a young pioneer couple in the mountains of Pennsylvania. It was an instant success and in 1945, Copland won the Pulitzer Prize for Appalachian Spring. Copland said of Martha Graham "Appalachian Spring would never have existed without her special personality. The music was definitely created for her, and it reflects, I hope, the unique quality of a human being, an American landscape, and a feeling."
The most distinctive melody in the piece is the calm, flowering passage called "Simple Gifts," which directly samples Shaker hymns. An excerpt of the lyrics is as follows:
'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free...
And when we find ourselves in the place just right
We'll be in the valley of love and delight.
When true simplicity is gained
To bow and to bend we shan't be ashamed.
Although the ballet takes place in Pennsylvania, there were never any Shaker communities there. The Shakers were a religious group who adopted a simple, pure lifestyle. Their services involved a "religious trance," resulting in shaking, trembling, even dancing and song. The ballet was a simple pioneer story involving a short list of characters.
GRANT WOOD
Young Corn, 1931, oil on masonite
Grant Wood (1892-1942) was one of the foremost Regionalist painters. His stylized paintings idealized rural life in America and his precision and style are reminiscent of American folk art. Regionalist painters are artists who tried to capture a vanishing America. They painted people at work, American legends and landscapes, preserving the atmosphere and lifestyles of the different areas of the country. Grant Wood's painting Young Corn of 1931 captures the a beautiful, rural landscape of a growing crop of corn, rolling hills and a farmhouse. It exemplifies America as tranquil, calm and strong in an otherwise chaotic world.
Elementary and Intermediate
- How do Wood and Copland capture America's simple way of life?
- Listen to Appalachian Spring, what do you hear in the music that reminds you of Spring? How does Grant Wood's painting remind you of Spring?
High School
- With true artistic license, Grant Wood left out anything that might take away from a rural paradise. What do you think he might have left out of Young Corn?
- Based on the excerpt of "Shaker Hymns," what word would you assign to Copland's work?
- Why would Wood choose to render his subject in this way? Is there an auditory equivalent in Copland's work?
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