Canon
Where to start with Copland
Essential works to know this composer by — spread across their styles-
StageAppalachian Spring — Ballet
-
OrchestralEl Salón México
-
KeyboardPiano Variations
-
ChamberViolin Sonata
-
Vocal12 Poems of Emily Dickinson
-
OrchestralFanfare for the Common Man
-
StageBilly the Kid — Ballet
-
OrchestralClarinet Concerto
-
OrchestralLincoln Portrait, for speaker and orchestra
-
StageRodeo — Ballet
-
OrchestralSymphony for Organ and Orchestra
-
OrchestralSymphony no. 3
-
Keyboard2 Children's Pieces
-
Orchestral2 Mexican Pieces, for orchestra
-
Chamber2 Pieces for String Quartet
Listening guide
Hand-curated paths into Copland's catalogueMost Popular
-
Appalachian Spring
-
Fanfare for the Common Man
-
Billy the Kid (ballet)
-
Rodeo (ballet)
-
Symphony No. 3
Most Acclaimed
-
Piano Variations (1930)
-
Piano Sonata
-
Clarinet Concerto
-
Violin Sonata
-
Short Symphony (Symphony No. 2)
Most Weird
-
Piano Variationsstark, harsh, percussive — nothing like his later populist style; Copland played this at a White House recital and offended everyone
-
Connotations for Orchestratwelve-tone; written for the opening of Lincoln Center in 1962 — the audience hated it
-
Inscape
-
Vitebsk (piano trio)based on a Jewish folk song; dissonant and modal — unlike any of his later work
-
Night ThoughtsHomage to Ives — piano; written 1972
Similar composers
Same era, overlapping styles — by genre & period affinityWorks 87
- Stage
- ● Appalachian Spring — Ballet
- Billy the Kid — Ballet
- Rodeo — Ballet
- Dance Panels — Ballet
- Grogh
- Of Mice and Men
- Our Town
- The City
- The Cummington Story
- The Heiress
- The Tender Land — Opera
- Orchestral
- ● El Salón México
- ● Fanfare for the Common Man
- Clarinet Concerto
- Lincoln Portrait, for speaker and orchestra
- Symphony for Organ and Orchestra
- Symphony no. 3
- 2 Mexican Pieces, for orchestra
- 4 Dance Episodes from Rodeo
- An Outdoor Overture
- Billy the Kid, orchestral suite from the ballet
- Ceremonial Fanfare, for brass ensemble
- Connotations
- Emblems, for concert band
- Inscape
- John Henry, railroad ballad
- Letter from Home, for dance orchestra
- Music for Movies
- Music for Radio: Saga of the Prairies
- Music for the Theatre, suite for small orchestra
- Our Town, suite from the film score
- Piano Concerto
- Preamble for a Solemn Occasion, for speaker and orchestra
- Quiet City Suite, for orchestra
- Quiet City, for English horn, trumpet, and strings
- Red Pony, suite for orchestra
- Statements
- Symphonic Ode
- Symphony no. 2, "Short Symphony"
- Tender Land, suite from the opera
- Keyboard
- Piano Variations
- 2 Children's Pieces
- 3 Moods
- 3 Sonnets
- 4 Piano Blues
- Danza de Jalisco, for 2 pianos
- Danzón cubano, for 2 pianos
- Down a Country Lane
- Episode, for organ
- In Evening Air
- Midsummer Nocturne
- Night Thoughts
- Passacaglia
- Petit Portrait
- Piano Fantasy
- Piano Sonata
- Piano Sonata in G
- Sentimental Melody
- The Cat and the Mouse, scherzo humoristique
- Chamber
- Violin Sonata
- 2 Pieces for String Quartet
- 2 Pieces for Violin and Piano
- 2 Threnodies, for flute and string trio
- Duo, for flute and piano
- Lament, for cello and piano
- Movement for String Quartet
- Nonet, for 3 violins, 3 violas, and 3 cellos
- Piano Quartet
- Poème, for cello and piano
- Prelude no. 1, for violin and piano
- Prelude no. 2, for violin and piano
- Sextet, for clarinet, piano, and string quartet
- Vitebsk, study on a Jewish theme, for piano trio
- Vocal
- 12 Poems of Emily Dickinson
- 3 Songs, for voice and piano
- 4 Motets
- 8 Poems of Emily Dickinson, for voice and orchestra
- Banu
- Canticle of Freedom, for chorus and orchestra
- In the Beginning, for mezzo-soprano and chorus
- Lark, for chorus and orchestra
- Las Agachadas, for soloists and chorus
- Old American Songs no. 1
- Old American Songs no. 2
- Pastorale — Song
- Poet's Song, for voice and piano
- Vocalise-etude, wordless song