Copland Expert Vivian Perlis, American music historian and faculty member at Yale School of Music, was asked questions about Aaron Copland. Read the Q&A Read Her Bio

Question: How has Aaron's music influenced today's music?
Perlis: Copland has been an enormous influence on composers for many years, both in terms of his own music and as a rare example of a composer who can be successful by composing music without having to take another job to support himself. He has composed music for dance that has set the standard for others and music for film that changed the way composers think about the kind of sounds that are most effective for moving pictures.

Question: What was his educational background?
Perlis: He only went so far as through high school. It was called Boys High. In those times, high school educations were equal to a few years of college. Instead of college, he chose to go to France to study music.

Question: When did he begin composing?
Perlis: He began composing short tunes when he was about thirteen. Soon, he experimented with longer ones and then with songs for voice and piano. By about age fifteen he thought about becoming a composer.

Question: What was the first piece of music he composed?
Perlis: The first written notes that have survived consist of about seven measures for chorus and piano, composed when he was about eleven. The title was "Music for Opera, Zenatello."

Question: What was his favorite instrument?
Perlis: His favorite instrument was the piano, since that was what he studied as a boy and became very good at. He also liked the cello very much.

Question: Who inspired him?
Perlis: He was inspired by the great classical composers, especially Bach and Brahms.

Question: Did he ever visit Spain?
Perlis: Yes, Copland visited Spain, but he spent very little time there compared to Latin American countries.

Question: What inspired him to compose Danzon Cubano and El Salon Mexico?
Perlis: Copland traveled to Mexico when he was about thirty?two and liked it very much. He made friends with a great Mexican composer, Carlos Chavez, who took him to a dance hall called "El Salon Mexico." It was very colorful. One of the dances they do there is called a "Danzon." It's something like a waltz. They also do that dance in Cuba. Copland liked it all so much that he decided to compose the pieces you mention.

Question: Where did he compose the Cuban and Mexican pieces?
Perlis: Copland did not need to be in any particular place to compose. The Cuban and Mexican pieces were written after he returned from those countries wherever he happened to be living.

Question: Did Copland ever meet and talk with Chagall in person?
Perlis: No, Copland did not meet Chagall. I wonder why you ask? Do you see some resemblance in his paintings to Copland's music?

Question: What was his greatest piece?
Perlis: Some believe Copland's greatest piece is "Appalachian Spring." It is difficult to choose one from many wonderful works.

Question: What was his favorite piece and why?
Perlis: He did not have one favorite piece. He said that would have been like choosing a favorite child in a family. He did like certain works that were somewhat neglected, for just that reason. One was his "Short Symphony" because he had tried to make as perfect a piece of music as possible when he composed it.

Question: What do you think about contemporary rap music?
Perlis: I think it's very interesting rhythmically, and I enjoy it when it's performed well. Like all music, there's good, better and best! Most people don't realize that the idea of rap music is not completely new. 'PATTER' songs, some comedian/musicians (Danny Kaye), some Gilbert and Sullivan numbers have a resemblance to contemporary rap.

Question: How did you get started?
Perlis: I knew it was important to do interviews with such talented people as Aaron Copland, so I changed from starting out as a musician, first as pianist and then harpist, to learning how to do interviewing. I got started by working hard and believing in what I was doing.

Question: Were you interested in music at an early age?
Perlis: Yes, I can't remember a time when I was not interested in music. I enjoyed hearing my mother play classical piano and my father play many instruments by ear, such as banjo, guitar, and an electronic instrument called the Theramin.

Question: Where was Aaron Copland born?
Perlis: Copland was born in Brooklyn, New York.

Question: Did he have brothers and sisters?
Perlis: He had two brothers and two sisters. He was the youngest in the family.

Question: Tell me something about his family.
Perlis: His mother and father came to America from Russia. His mother had no accent, but his father did have a slight Russian accent. His mother and her family went out west and she lived near Dallas, Texas until she was about nineteen. His father's family settled in New York City where his parents met after his mother's family left Texas. There were five children, three boys and two girls, counting Aaron, who was the youngest in the family.

Question: What part of Brooklyn did Aaron come from?
Perlis: The family store and home were on Washington Avenue and Dean Street, not very far from the Brooklyn Museum.

Question: Was Aaron ever married?
Perlis: No, Copland was not married.

Question: Did he have any children?
Perlis: No, he had no children.

Question: Tell me more about Aaron's childhood.
Perlis: He had a happy childhood with many people in fairly small quarters. He and his brothers (2) and sisters (2) and parents lived to the side of and above the family store. Copland's department store was the center of their lives. Copland, being the fifth child with seven years between him and the next child, had a lot of attention, but he also was allowed to make his own decisions about taking music lessons and other matters. He sometimes got teased by some of the tough kids in the neighborhood about being a musician, but he had the courage to stick to what he wanted to do.

Vivian Perlis Biography
Vivian Perlis is a historian in American music, specializing in twentieth century composers. She is widely known for her publications, lectures, and recording and film productions. On the faculty of the Yale School of Music, Perlis is the Founding Director of Oral History of American Music, a unique archive of oral and videotaped interviews with leading figures in the music world. This important collection of source materials is well-known and widely used by scholars, historians, broadcasters, and producers. Book publications by Perlis include Charles Ives Remembered, An Oral History (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1974), for which she was awarded the Kinkeldey Prize of American Musicological Society, and An Ives Celebration (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1976). With composer Aaron Copland, Perlis co-authored Copland: 1900 Through 1942 (New York: St. Martins/Marek, 1984), which garnered a Deems Taylor/ASCAP Award, and Copland: Since 1943 (New York: St. Martins, 1989). Publications by Perlis include numerous articles and reviews. Among these are recordings of the music of Leo Ornstein and Charles Ives, and television documentaries on Ives, Eubie Blake, Aaron Copland, and John Cage. Among honors and awards received by Vivian Perlis are: The Charles Ives Award from the National Institute of Arts and Letters (1972); a Grammy nomination for "Charles Ives 110th Anniversary" (1974); the Harvey Kantor Award for excellence in the field of Oral History (1984); the Guggenheim Fellowship (1987); and the Irving Lowens Award for distinguished scholarship in American Music from the Sonneck Society (1991).