The Styrous® Viewfinder: Aaron Copland ~ Fanfare for the Common Man

November 14, 2019

Aaron Copland ~ Fanfare for the Common Man

Today, November 14, is the birthday of American composer Aaron Copland who was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1900.

Copland has written so much dynamic and exciting music for orchestra and ballet that I love dearly so it was hard for me to decide which to feature, then it occurred to me his Fanfare for the Common Man has been a favorite of mine from the first moment I heard it.



Aaron Copland - 1962
photo by Erich Auerbach

The work is stark, regal, intensely dramatic yet terse with brass (4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, and tam-tam) being the main instrumentation, and bass drum added for good measure. It is emotionally rousing and imbues grandeur, dignity and power to the "Human Spirit". No other musical work has achieved this (links below or click HERE to listen to it while reading the rest of this article).

Fanfare for the Common Man was written in 1942 for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra under conductor Eugene Goossens.

Eugene Goossens

date & photographer unknown

Fanfare was inspired in part by a speech made earlier that year during WWII by United States Vice President Henry A. Wallace, in which Wallace proclaimed the dawning of the "Century of the Common Man".

Goossens asked Copland to compose a fanfare for the 1942–43 concert season. A total of 18 fanfares were written by American composers at Goossens' behest, but Copland's is the only one which remains in the standard repertoire.

Goossens had suggested titles such as Fanfare for Soldiers, or sailors or airmen, and he wrote that "[i]t is my idea to make these fanfares stirring and significant contributions to the war effort....". Copland considered several titles including Fanfare for a Solemn Ceremony and Fanfare for Four Freedoms; to Goossens' surprise, however, Copland titled the piece Fanfare for the Common Man. Goossens wrote, "Its title is as original as its music, and I think it is so telling that it deserves a special occasion for its performance. If it is agreeable to you, we will premiere it 12 March 1943 at income tax time". Copland's reply was "I [am] all for honoring the common man at income tax time."

Copland later used the fanfare as the main theme of the fourth movement of his Third Symphony (composed between 1944 and 1946).

The theme was used for the television program You Are There as well as many other television presentations. It has also been performed in the pop venue, the most famous version by Emerson, Lake and Palmer.

Emerson, Lake and Palmer - ca early 1970's

photographer unknown

There is an excellent video on YouTube of the group performing with the Neue Philharmonie Frankfurt (link below) as well as their performance in the early seventies; also, a great flash mob.