0:00

I'm John Banther and this is Classical

0:02

Breakdown. From WETA Classical in Washington,

0:04

we are Your Guide to Classical

0:06

Music. In this episode, I'm joined

0:08

by WETA Classical's Evan Keeley, and

0:10

we are exploring Aaron Copeland's timeless

0:13

work, Lincoln Portrait. Looking into the

0:15

music, we show you what to

0:17

listen for and find popular songs

0:19

hidden within. There is also text

0:21

read in the music too. We

0:23

look at what Copeland included and

0:25

why, and just what kind of

0:27

person is meant to be reading

0:30

the part. I

0:33

think we know Evan that music has...

0:35

always been political for centuries. And we

0:37

saw its use in World War II

0:39

in a whole new way, I think

0:42

especially with the advent of film and

0:44

radio broadcasting, and this work that we're

0:46

exploring came out in 1942. So to

0:48

help get us started, I think it

0:50

helps to know how music was intentionally

0:53

being used at this time. And so

0:55

we're actually going to be quoting from

0:57

a scholarly article in this episode written

0:59

by Kaylin Sawyer. It's called Belonging to

1:01

the Ages, The Enduring Re During Re

1:04

relevance. of Aaron Copeland's Lincoln portrait. And

1:06

it's also free to read. So we'll

1:08

put a link to it on the

1:11

show notes page at classicalbreakdown.org. But Evan,

1:13

why don't you read this quote here

1:15

that I think really sets up how

1:17

music was being used at this time?

1:20

Yeah, this article by Kaylon Sawyer, John,

1:22

she's from the Journal of the Abraham

1:24

Lincoln Association. And this is a really

1:27

insightful piece about this work of Aaron

1:29

Copeland. Here's a quote from that article

1:31

with Germany's invasion of Poland in 19.

1:34

1939, the world was on a

1:36

path toward global conflict. This total

1:38

war would be mobilized on the

1:40

battle front and the home front,

1:42

employing everything from mechanized weapons to

1:44

popular music. Just as Copeland had

1:46

referred to music as a weapon

1:48

in a class struggle, so now,

1:50

quote, music no less than machine

1:52

guns has a part to play

1:54

and can be a weapon in

1:57

the battle for a free world,

1:59

end quote. The musical diplomacy of

2:01

World War II aimed to rally

2:03

the hearts and minds of Americans

2:05

to the fight for democracy. Serious

2:07

music, a reminder of civilized society,

2:09

was needed to impress, to inspire,

2:12

and to reinforce democratic principles. Historian

2:14

Anagret Fauzer contends that no event

2:16

in history used music so totally,

2:18

so consciously, and so unequivocally in

2:20

promotion of a national cause, as

2:22

did World War II. That is

2:25

a wonderful quote through Evan that

2:27

I think really sets this up

2:29

because I think it's important to

2:31

know this and to also... understand

2:33

the urgency behind it as well.

2:35

And it also gives an insight

2:38

into Caitlin Sawyer writes a lot

2:40

in this article about Aaron Copeland's

2:42

social consciousness, especially before the war.

2:44

He kind of flirts with communism

2:46

and progressivism in a way that

2:48

you and I talked about John

2:51

in our episode about Aaron Copeland

2:53

recently. I would say he wasn't

2:55

a communist in the strict sense,

2:57

but he certainly had a sensibility

2:59

about class struggle, about the struggle

3:01

of... of everyday persons, and you

3:03

see that in a work from

3:06

around the same time, fanfare for

3:08

the common man. But you certainly

3:10

see it in Lincoln portrait. Yes,

3:12

and with all of that and

3:14

with the weight of the situation

3:16

that you described in that quote,

3:19

you can imagine the speaker that

3:21

is used in the work whenever

3:23

it's performed is usually a person

3:25

of prominence, a person of influence,

3:27

a person of respect. And we're

3:29

going to be using a recording

3:32

featuring James Earl Jones and we'll

3:34

probably explain why in a little

3:36

bit, but we've also seen this

3:38

performed by Maya Angelou, Catherine Hepburn

3:40

and Henry Fonda, also, Coretta Scott

3:42

King, and a power... performance narrated

3:45

it in February 1969 not even

3:47

a year after MLK Jr. was

3:49

assassinated. So the work is loosely

3:51

in three sections and the speaker

3:53

is in just one of them

3:55

and stay with us to the

3:58

end as we'll also hear why

4:00

and how this was scheduled

4:02

for an inauguration concert and

4:04

then pulled after protests from

4:07

a congressman. So Evan, it's 1942,

4:09

that's when we see this piece come

4:11

out, and Well, why did Copeland write

4:13

this? He didn't just come up and

4:15

wake up one day and say, I'm

4:17

going to write Lincoln Portrait. So in

4:19

1942, of course, a very consequential year

4:22

in American history with the invasion of

4:24

Pearl Harbor in December of the year

4:26

prior. And you see, as you were

4:28

saying at the beginning, John, this use

4:30

of music in broadcasting and cinema, it

4:32

really becomes a part of mass culture

4:34

in a way that was new in

4:36

that era. We take that for granted,

4:39

I think today. So during the

4:41

war, music... becomes one of the

4:43

weapons as we were seeing from

4:45

that quote from Caleb Sawyer. It's

4:47

part of the war effort. There's

4:49

the mechanized components of warfare building

4:51

weapons and ships and so forth,

4:53

but also mobilizing the populace in

4:55

terms of the hearts and minds

4:57

of the people. And this work

4:59

of Copeland is very much in

5:01

that context. Yes, and it

5:03

was conductor Andre Costelanetz who was

5:05

moved in 1942. There's a quote

5:08

that he gave in Time magazine

5:10

that's also in that article we're

5:13

quoting, saying, I want people to

5:15

get the message of what democracy

5:17

is, what we are fighting for.

5:20

And so after this attack, he

5:22

sought out to commission three works

5:25

to, quote, represent a musical portrait

5:27

gallery of great Americans. And interestingly...

5:29

I found out that Lincoln wasn't

5:32

actually Copeland's first pick. I didn't

5:34

know this. It was actually Walt

5:36

Whitman that Copeland chose at first,

5:39

but then someone else, Jerome Kern,

5:41

who was commissioned, he selected Mark

5:43

Twain, so then Costellanitz goes to

5:45

Copeland and says, hey, why don't

5:48

you pick someone else, maybe

5:50

a statesman? Right, instead of

5:52

another literary figure, and you

5:54

and I talked about in

5:56

the Copeland episode about his

5:58

enthusiasm for Emily Dickinson. portrait,

6:00

which also might have been quite

6:02

interesting, a great poet to be

6:04

sure. Copeland had a great taste

6:06

for poetry, I think. So Mark

6:09

Twain becomes the subject of Jerome

6:11

Kern's work, and Copeland is trying

6:13

to find somebody else, and Lincoln

6:15

becomes the figure that he turns

6:17

to be the subject of this

6:19

new work. And Copeland explained later

6:21

on, Lincoln was a favorite during

6:23

the war years. Furthermore, I recall

6:26

that my old teacher Reuben Goldmark

6:28

had composed an... orchestral threnity in

6:30

1918, entitled Requium, suggested by Lincoln's

6:32

Gettysburg Address. So in reflecting on

6:34

this commission, Copeland would go on

6:36

to write, from that moment on,

6:38

the choice of Lincoln as my

6:40

subject seemed inevitable. So I think

6:42

that's really interesting that at first

6:45

this wasn't his first thought, but

6:47

then as he makes a commitment

6:49

to it, he becomes a lot

6:51

more enthusiastic. And I think that

6:53

as we listen to this music,

6:55

we hear a real commitment on

6:57

the composer's part to the subject.

7:10

So let's go to the music.

7:12

This opens in a way that

7:14

we also learned about in our

7:16

episode on Copeland's life and his

7:18

music. There is a sense of

7:20

a large canvas here. There's large

7:22

intervals. There's a sense of space.

7:25

There's these calls in the winds.

7:27

But although it feels serene, Evan,

7:29

there is something different about it.

7:31

There's a dignity, a larger purpose.

7:33

This is a melody. This is

7:35

a moment in the music. The

7:37

music is not slouched over. Yeah,

7:39

there's that double dotted rhythm you

7:41

hear a lot. Dumb, dum, dum,

7:43

dum, dum, dum, dada. If people

7:45

aren't familiar with what, that double

7:47

dotting is when you have a

7:49

rhythm like that. This goes way

7:51

back, in my view, to, you

7:53

know, you think back to the

7:55

17th century, like a French opera

7:57

overture that was written to glorify

7:59

Louis the 14th. of some stately

8:01

thing, and something about that rhythm.

8:03

Dumb, dada, dum, dada. To me,

8:05

that just kind of speaks to,

8:07

it's a musical language of human

8:09

dignity. It's something that conveys a

8:11

sense of importance and profundity. And

8:13

Copeland uses that, I think, so

8:15

effectively. You hear that rhythm throughout

8:17

the piece. It's almost like a

8:19

rhythmic light motif throughout the work.

8:21

I don't know why it has

8:23

that effect on the human brain

8:25

or the human heart, but it

8:27

does. We certainly experience experience that

8:29

in. Lincoln portrait. It goes back to

8:31

the the trumpets announcing the king walking

8:33

in. And it's literally where we get

8:36

the tada from when we say tada.

8:38

We use that a lot in in

8:40

music like in brass playing and rehearsal

8:43

when you have to play these things

8:45

we talk about you know making it

8:47

snappy not making it kind of lazy

8:50

like a triplet and tada tada there's

8:52

a very snappy effect to it and

8:54

it's that kind of... trumpet martial

8:56

calling of the introducing the king,

8:58

but it's not introduced with a

9:01

trumpet here, it's introduced in the

9:03

winds. But strings come in later

9:05

and it creates some anxiety and

9:07

it gives more, it makes me

9:09

think more even about what the

9:11

purpose of this is in the

9:13

music. Is it about dignity? Is

9:15

it the music not being slouched

9:17

over? Because we get to quite

9:19

a large scale several minutes into

9:22

it and we haven't really had

9:24

a melody yet. Yeah,

9:27

there's not really a, you're right, there's

9:29

not a clear sort of melodic

9:31

line, and there's a sense that

9:34

I feel where there's this very

9:36

dignified expression, but there's also a

9:38

sense of something being... there's a

9:40

sense of unease and there's of

9:42

course the context is war and

9:44

struggle and uncertainty and you know

9:46

the struggle to preserve democracy. You

9:48

know we're talking about Lincoln in

9:50

the early 20th century and in

9:53

the minds of Americans and World

9:55

War II you really see this

9:57

national idea about Lincoln coalescing around

9:59

this theme. of patriotism. Lincoln, of

10:01

course, the wartime president, you

10:03

know, democracy under threat, you

10:05

know, will the nation endure?

10:08

And Lincoln becomes a kind

10:10

of patron saint of freedom

10:12

and American idealism during World

10:14

War II. And I think

10:16

the sort of the uneasiness

10:18

that we hear in these

10:20

opening minutes of Copeland's Lincoln

10:23

portrait are trying to reach

10:25

into that and convey that

10:27

sense of struggle. If I

10:29

was in the concert hall,

10:31

I imagine I would be

10:33

sitting up in my seat.

10:35

Yeah, it's not relaxing music.

10:38

No, no. a brass instrument

10:40

or something else or even

10:42

like a cello growing out.

10:44

He grows out with a

10:46

wind instrument and he does

10:48

it on a folk tune.

10:50

There's two folk tunes that

10:53

he's quoting here. On Springfield

10:55

Mountain, there did well. And

10:57

the first one is on

10:59

Springfield Mountain. It's this folk

11:01

tune about a young man

11:03

bitten by a snake. and

11:05

then dies. But it's beautifully

11:07

brought out here in the

11:10

clarinet in a very solemn

11:12

type of way. Yeah, there's

11:14

a wistfulness and of course

11:16

it invokes in my mind

11:18

as it does I think

11:20

for many of us the

11:22

opening of Appalachian spring. Mm-hmm.

11:25

Also when I hear this

11:27

music, it reminds me of

11:29

The Lincoln Memorial, that's kind

11:31

of an obvious thing to

11:33

say, right? But also, the

11:35

architecture at large here in

11:37

Washington, the brutalist aspect of

11:40

it, I find that in

11:42

Copeland's music. Brutalism, but also

11:44

that neoclassicism that you see

11:46

in a lot of the

11:48

architecture in this city, that's

11:50

sort of larger than life

11:52

grandeur. And yeah, I think

11:55

Copeland is definitely, like we

11:57

said, that Lincoln Memorial was

11:59

completed in 1922. This is

12:01

a pretty recent memory by

12:03

1943, and this idea of

12:05

Lincoln as this towering, literally

12:07

a towering figure, but also

12:09

figuratively. And I think the

12:12

music is really reaching for

12:14

that idea. And I think

12:16

conveying it quite powerfully. And

12:18

then a trumpet solo appears.

12:29

And it sounds like it's coming from

12:31

the background or far away. It's

12:33

kind of distant. And it's that

12:35

on Springfield Mountain, Folk Tune being

12:38

brought in. But there's also something

12:40

else here, Evan, and that is

12:42

for me, I hear him evoking

12:44

Taps. Yes. And Taps is something

12:46

for Americans. That's an immediately recognizable

12:49

signature that we know that's used

12:51

in. A fallen hero, the dignity

12:53

of that moment, the solemnity of

12:55

it. Yes, definitely hearing that too.

12:57

We all die. That's not special.

13:00

I'm not going to have taps

13:02

play at my funeral or something

13:04

like that, because there's something else

13:06

about it, what you're talking about

13:08

there, and also the honor and

13:10

the dignity and the sacrifice that

13:12

we put on there. So I

13:14

hear this uplifted solemn and also

13:16

looking forward moment here that is

13:18

quite affecting. And

13:26

then Evan, Evan, we get to the

13:29

second of three sections of this piece,

13:31

and reminds me of something else about

13:33

Copeland, we learned in that episode about

13:35

him, and that is, he assembled materials.

13:37

That's what he said. That's what he

13:40

said, he said. Yes. Not composing, necessarily,

13:42

always linearly, but assembling. So we

13:45

have this very quick transition to

13:47

what sounds like another folk tune. Yes,

13:49

it sounds like Camptown races, which we think

13:51

of as folk music, it's actually Stephen Foster.

13:53

who you know how much of that was

13:55

original music and how much of that was

13:58

with him drawing on a folk idiot is

14:00

a fascinating question of music

14:02

culture, but Camptown races. We

14:04

kind of have an echo

14:06

of that. It's not quite

14:08

that tune, but very, very

14:10

similar to it. And you

14:13

can't help but be sure

14:15

that that's very deliberate on

14:17

Copeland's part. And of course,

14:19

the history of Camptown races,

14:21

published in 1850, is so

14:23

complex and so indicative of

14:26

the... contradictions and ironies and

14:28

struggles of American life. This

14:30

very sort of innocuous sounding

14:32

thing, and yet there's this

14:34

undercurrent of racism and inequality

14:36

and injustice that's embedded in

14:38

that music. And of course,

14:41

Copeland, who's so conscious of

14:43

social issues, is surely aware

14:45

of that. And is he

14:47

challenging us to think about

14:49

that in an unconscious way?

14:51

I'm not really sure. But

14:53

it's just a very... moments

14:56

that could sound to the

14:58

untrained ear rather innocuous, but

15:00

I don't think that it

15:02

is at all. I think so

15:04

too. It's a it's a menstrual

15:06

song and one that has remained

15:08

acceptable within the acceptable within within

15:10

culture. One of the most popular

15:13

tunes from this of that time

15:15

period. But this does become a

15:17

bit ironic when we get to

15:19

the to the text later in

15:21

the in the music. So what

15:23

are we thinking here Evan with

15:25

these two sections? There's probably several

15:27

ways to to think about this

15:29

and listen to this is Lincoln

15:32

charting off in life. Is it

15:34

rural and then? City Lincoln is

15:36

he you know arriving in New

15:38

York getting off the bus going

15:40

to Broadway? Yeah I mean there's

15:42

a sense of energy in the

15:44

music is he is it portraying

15:46

Lincoln as this decisive man of

15:48

action you know the young lawyer

15:51

who goes to Springfield to start

15:53

his career and law and in

15:55

politics and he's struggling and you

15:57

know renting out these cheap rooms

15:59

and eating bad food in order

16:01

to forward his career and and

16:03

live the American dream? I don't

16:05

know, but there's this energetic phase

16:07

of the music here that is,

16:10

I'm not sure what exactly is

16:12

trying to say, but again, as

16:14

you were saying earlier, John, it

16:16

makes you want to sit up

16:18

in your seat. And part of

16:20

the energy, I think, comes from

16:22

a bunch of fragments that get

16:24

brought out. in the music by

16:26

several different sections and we have

16:29

solos everywhere from Obo to trombone

16:31

and then we get a mixture

16:33

of those two tunes the Springfield

16:35

Mountain and then Camptown races and

16:37

it feels like We get to

16:39

a point that is, I mean,

16:41

very American within music, with the

16:43

xylophone, the whipping strings, it sounds

16:45

frenetic, but it still sounds very

16:48

heroic at the same time. And

16:50

that Copeland optimism that you and

16:52

I talked about, John, in that

16:54

episode about Aaron Copeland, you really

16:56

see that in this music, even

16:58

though there's also the undertone of

17:00

struggle and uncertainty in the war,

17:02

but that that sense of the

17:05

possible, that sense of optimism of

17:07

optimism. and how that must have

17:09

sounded when to the audiences that

17:11

first heard this music that that

17:13

sense of we can do it

17:15

you know there's that image of

17:17

the the woman riveter yes you

17:19

know with the bandana on her

17:21

head flexing her arm we can

17:24

do it you know and there's

17:26

that I'm really hearing that spirit

17:28

in this part of the piece

17:30

yes the optimism I think is

17:32

is key here all the struggles

17:34

and things are talking about but

17:36

still Copeland believes that there is

17:38

a path, that there is a

17:40

path forward. So this goes on

17:43

for just a minute and then

17:45

it slowly coalesces into some of

17:47

the low instruments like string bass

17:49

and contra bassoon. And then we

17:51

get to our third section where

17:53

the speaker now joins in. This

17:55

is the third section and let's

17:57

just listen to how this starts.

18:01

Fellow citizens, we

18:03

cannot escape history.

18:05

That is what

18:07

he said. That

18:09

is what Abraham

18:11

Lincoln said. The

18:13

way that Copeland

18:15

introduces us

18:18

to the speaker and

18:20

introduces us to

18:23

Lincoln is quite specific

18:26

and it sounds like...

18:28

intentional and related to

18:30

his Jewish identity. The way this

18:33

is framed is found in Hebrew

18:35

in the scriptures and he spoke

18:37

saying and there is a great

18:40

quote from Kaylon Sawyer again in

18:42

that article that explains this. She

18:44

writes, Copeland connected the Lincoln quotations

18:47

with quote narrative passages simple enough

18:49

to mirror the dignity of Lincoln's

18:51

words end quote. She continues,

18:54

the simple narration added by

18:56

Copeland employs the redundancy of

18:58

Hebrew syntax. Copeland's phrasing, this

19:01

is what Abe Lincoln said.

19:03

He said, echoes the repeated

19:05

emphasis on speaking found in

19:07

the Hebrew Bible, and God

19:09

spoke. saying. Using simple ritualistic

19:11

syntax to frame Lincoln's words

19:13

is further evidence of Copeland's

19:15

imposed simplicity in Lincoln portrait.

19:17

This phrasing would be appreciated

19:19

by a wide audience as

19:21

a reflection of their common

19:23

religious language. At the very

19:25

least, this syntax suggests that

19:27

Copeland may have viewed Lincoln

19:29

in biblical or godlike ways.

19:31

Through these words, Copeland hoped to

19:34

inspire Americans to face the moral

19:36

and political challenges of their time.

19:38

This is such a simple thing.

19:40

I mean, he's using Copeland, that

19:42

is, text and quotes of Lincoln,

19:45

but how you set that up

19:47

really changes how the impact is

19:49

made. He could have just had

19:51

Lincoln quotes. Right. You know, rather

19:53

than saying to us, having the

19:55

narrator say to the audience, this

19:58

is what Abraham Lincoln said. But

20:00

Copeland inserts that. That's Copeland's

20:02

work. Those are Copeland's words.

20:04

And they're very simple, like

20:07

Kaylon Sawyer is writing in

20:09

that article. And I think the

20:11

recognition of how that echoes the

20:13

syntax, the idiomatic language of Hebrew

20:15

scripture, and he said, saying, you

20:18

see that all the time in

20:20

that language, you see that all

20:22

the time, you look at a

20:24

translation like the King James Bible

20:27

that Americans would know sitting in

20:29

the concert hall in 1942. gives

20:31

it this sense of this sort

20:33

of biblical proportionality, the sense of

20:35

eternity, the sense of something that

20:38

is of everlasting import that's

20:40

being expressed in this very

20:42

simple linguistic manner. So now

20:45

we'll continue with the actual

20:47

quote that Copeland uses and

20:49

this is from a annual

20:52

message to Congress December 1st

20:54

1862. It's like what we

20:57

call our state of the

20:59

Union today. We cannot escape

21:01

history. We of this Congress

21:04

and this administration

21:07

will be remembered in

21:10

spite of ourselves.

21:12

No personal significance

21:14

or insignificance can

21:17

spare one or

21:20

another of us. The

21:22

fiery trial through which

21:24

we pass will light

21:27

us in honor or

21:29

dishonor. to the latest

21:31

generation. We, even

21:33

we here, hold

21:35

the power and

21:38

bear the responsibility.

21:40

The words combined

21:42

with the music

21:44

have such an impact, the

21:46

fiery trial through which we

21:48

pass, also noting that... It's

21:50

the trial through which we

21:53

pass. We're not choosing to

21:55

pass through this. This is

21:57

what we're going through. Either

21:59

an... or in dishonor. We here,

22:01

also thinking, you know, as he's

22:03

talking to Congress, but also we

22:06

here in the concert hall hold

22:08

the power and bear the responsibility.

22:10

I feel like he's specific with

22:12

these words too. And there's a

22:14

real powerful political statement in all

22:16

of this, which is assuming that

22:19

both the Civil War and World

22:21

War II... were struggles to preserve

22:23

democracy. Now I would agree with

22:25

that personally and a lot of

22:27

us would and that's not a

22:30

universal or inevitable conclusion. And

22:32

this is very much in

22:34

line with Copeland's perspective on

22:36

American life and the role

22:38

of the composer in public

22:40

life and he is very

22:42

conscious of what he is

22:45

saying in this opportunity to

22:47

express himself to the nation.

22:49

in the midst of this

22:51

existential crisis. And there are

22:53

a couple of ironic things to

22:55

this piece. One, using a minstrel

22:57

song in this way, but also

22:59

the lines, we cannot escape history.

23:01

Also because there's people sitting in

23:03

the concert hall listening in 1942

23:06

while their soldiers off. fighting for

23:08

them for the preservation of democracy

23:10

as they're saying. But when they

23:12

come home, they will be met

23:14

with, of course, segregation. They will

23:16

be left out of the GI

23:18

Bill. Black soldiers were not pushed

23:20

up into the middle class like

23:22

so many were. Right. The GI

23:24

Bill and the New Deal and

23:27

segregated units. This is before Truman

23:29

desegregated the troops. So yeah, there

23:31

are ironies abound and, you know,

23:34

we can't escape history. That's a

23:36

very powerful meaning in that context.

23:38

And after each quotation of something

23:41

like that's that that address that

23:43

Lincoln gave there's a kind of

23:45

musical response within the music like

23:48

reflecting on what we just heard

23:50

letting it absorb also response to

23:53

it before we go to the

23:55

next next quotation and so the

23:57

next one also begins with a

23:59

little bit about Lincoln and

24:02

that's how each one

24:04

starts. The first one

24:07

was just introducing Lincoln

24:09

and now we have

24:11

this. He was born

24:14

in Kentucky raised in

24:16

Indiana and lived in

24:19

Illinois. So before the

24:21

next quote he learned

24:23

where he was born

24:26

raised and lived and

24:28

there is a type

24:31

of mood being. portrayed

24:33

in the music too.

24:36

Yeah, the strings in

24:38

the solo oboe I

24:40

think create this sort

24:43

of nostalgic mood, but

24:45

also a spirit of

24:48

reverence. And we'll go

24:50

to now the main

24:52

quote. This is also

24:55

from that December 1st

24:57

1862 address to Congress.

25:00

The dogmas of the

25:02

quiet past are inadequate

25:05

to the stormy present.

25:07

The occasion is piled

25:09

high with difficulty, and

25:12

we must rise with

25:14

the occasion, as our

25:17

case is new, so

25:19

we must think anew

25:21

and act anew. We

25:24

must disendraw ourselves, and

25:26

then we shall save

25:29

our country. Although this

25:31

is from the same

25:34

annual address, Evan Musically,

25:36

This is more more

25:38

fiery than the opening

25:41

quote we had, which

25:43

I think had more

25:46

of a droning accompaniment.

25:48

Now that double-dotted da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-a-da-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a

25:50

Lincoln as he was

25:53

physically. When standing erect,

25:55

he was six feet

25:58

four inches tall. And

26:01

this is what he said. And Evan,

26:03

of course, it's still important.

26:05

Before each quote, we're still

26:07

getting, and this is what

26:10

he said, really framing again

26:12

that whole biblical or godlike

26:15

way that Cobone's elevating Lincoln

26:17

to. Something

26:19

to listen for through all

26:21

of these are how the

26:23

musical accompaniment changes or how

26:25

it compares. I think we

26:28

hear the timpani come in

26:30

with this next bit, which

26:32

is actually from the last

26:34

joint debate with Stephen Douglas.

26:36

This was in October of

26:38

1858. He said, it is

26:40

the eternal struggle between two

26:42

principles right and wrong throughout

26:44

the world. It is the

26:47

same spirit that says, you

26:49

toil and work and earn

26:51

bread. And I'll eat it,

26:53

no matter in what shape it

26:55

comes, whether from the mouth

26:57

of a king who seeks

27:00

to bestrive the people of

27:02

his own nation and live

27:04

by the fruit of their

27:06

labor, or from one race

27:09

of men, as an apology

27:11

for enslaving another race, it

27:13

is the same... tyrannical principle.

27:16

I think this is the

27:18

only one event that has

27:20

a kind of a stormy

27:22

timpani. introduce it as it

27:25

literally opens with the eternal

27:27

struggle. Yeah, the tippity kind of

27:29

has a bookend quality with this

27:31

section. There's the tippity begins it,

27:34

there's a kind of ominous quality

27:36

to that, and then concluding the

27:39

section you hear again, this very

27:41

percussive rumbling, and it gives a

27:43

sense of the gravity of what's

27:46

being said. And what's being said is

27:48

quite... quite strong. You know, you will

27:50

work, you will toil, you will earn

27:52

the bread, I will take it, I

27:54

will eat. It's the same tyrannical principle.

27:57

And in the music, that rhythmic motif

27:59

that you called that you mentioned

28:01

was a light motif, it really

28:03

is. It's slightly changed, isn't it?

28:06

It's no longer, tah, like landing

28:08

on that downbeat. Now it's like

28:10

stabs. It is the same spirit.

28:13

Yeah, it becomes even more emphatic.

28:15

It's like also an exclamation point

28:17

after each sentence or statement. And

28:20

again, Copeland choosing the words. Why

28:22

did he choose this particular passage?

28:24

Is he suggesting that the fascists,

28:27

the Axis powers, have the same

28:29

kind of quality of thievery about

28:31

them, that the tyrants of old,

28:34

and that, you know, in every

28:36

generation there's this struggle against those

28:38

who would take from others? I

28:41

think that's a very, you know,

28:43

it's a very evocative choice on

28:45

Coplet's part to use those words

28:48

there. And quite a different

28:50

quote, I think, than what we're

28:52

used to with debates from the

28:54

last couple of decades. You don't

28:56

really get something quite poignant or

28:58

really well said like this. And

29:01

we'll get into the premiere of

29:03

this work right after this. So

29:05

let's talk about the premiere for

29:07

a second because of course that

29:09

also happened within 1942 and there's

29:11

some context around that as well.

29:13

So yeah, the first performance was

29:16

on the 14th day of May

29:18

in 1942 in Cincinnati with the

29:20

Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and William Adams

29:22

radio actor and that era was

29:24

the narrator. And so in the

29:26

context of that... time period that

29:29

was happening in that moment. Andre

29:31

Costellanis, the conductor who commissioned the

29:33

work, noted that the Premier occurred

29:35

right after the Allied victory in

29:37

the Battle of the Coral Sea.

29:39

So it's hard for us to

29:42

remember, you know, 1942, we know,

29:44

of course, with the wisdom of

29:46

hindsight, the war would go on

29:48

for three more years, but of

29:50

course nobody knows in that moment

29:52

how much longer this struggle is

29:55

going to go on. So with

29:57

the shock of Pearl Harbor and

29:59

the many victor, in Europe with

30:01

the Third Reich and their Italian

30:03

allies, this sense of you know,

30:05

maybe the war will conclude soon

30:08

with an allied victory is a

30:10

looming possibility. And there's a sense

30:12

that perhaps in May of 1942,

30:14

which is when Lincoln Portrait has

30:16

its first performance, the context, the

30:18

mood of the nation in that

30:20

particular moment might have caused this

30:23

work to land in a particularly

30:25

optimistic way, which in the coming

30:27

months and years, you know, becomes

30:29

a quite a different set of

30:31

experiences. it sounds like it was

30:33

quite electric to have been there

30:36

in the audience amidst that victory

30:38

in the coral sea and yeah

30:40

you don't know how much longer

30:42

it's going to go for and

30:44

people audiences that that is would

30:46

have been some of them a

30:49

bit familiar with Lincoln being used

30:51

in music there were something like

30:53

17 or 20 large-scale works written

30:55

with Lincoln as a subject. from

30:57

like the last 20 years before

30:59

this. And Copan would have known

31:02

that too. Copan would have known

31:04

that and he referred to that

31:06

in a quote we read earlier

31:08

about his teacher Reuben Goldmark. This

31:10

is one of a number of

31:12

works. Again, we're talking about this

31:14

Lincoln Hay geography in the first

31:17

half of the 20th century, and

31:19

music is certainly one of the

31:21

ways in which we see that.

31:23

So, Lincoln Portrait by Aaron Copeland,

31:25

which is one of the few

31:27

works from this era that we

31:30

still remember today, is one of

31:32

the many works that are musically

31:34

celebrating Abraham Lincoln's legacy in some

31:36

powerful way. And there are two

31:38

more speaking portions left in the

31:40

work. And this one feels like

31:43

it's also the softest, most intimate

31:45

and introspective portion, but then it

31:47

changes a little bit. So we'll

31:49

hear that quote that describes Lincoln

31:51

a little bit. And then we're

31:53

going to hear a shorter quote

31:56

than the several other ones we've

31:58

heard before right after that. a quiet

32:00

man. Abe Lincoln was

32:03

a quiet and a

32:06

melancholy man. But

32:08

when he spoke of

32:10

democracy, this is what

32:12

he said. He said, as

32:15

I would not be a

32:17

slave, so I would not

32:20

be a master. This expresses

32:22

my idea of democracy. Whatever

32:25

differs from this to the

32:27

extent of the difference is

32:29

no democracy. This is quite

32:32

a quote of Lincoln Evan

32:34

and one that we didn't

32:37

know in his lifetime and we

32:39

actually don't even know when he

32:41

would have thought of that what

32:44

we just heard. It was written

32:46

on a note and I'll put

32:48

a link too because it's quite

32:51

legible. I'll put that on the

32:53

show notes page. This came from

32:55

a whole collection of notes like

32:57

flashcards almost that Lincoln had and

32:59

was just riding down and he was

33:01

using them as a way to

33:03

kind of think through things little mental

33:06

or philosophical exercises and they found

33:08

some of them may have like

33:10

reasons oh yeah he was writing

33:12

or thinking about this at this

33:14

time we don't have anything about

33:17

that specifically with this but we've

33:19

known we've come to know this

33:21

note card as definition of democracy

33:23

yeah this is analogous to the

33:25

sketchbooks that Beethoven used to write

33:27

jot-down musical ideas yeah so yeah

33:30

we don't know a date that

33:32

Lincoln wrote these words but they've

33:34

often been referred to since as

33:36

a powerful definition

33:38

of democracy. And

33:41

the music reflects that

33:43

as well in its

33:45

response. Now we get

33:48

to the last speaking

33:50

portion of the work,

33:52

and it's actually the

33:55

only time that Lincoln

33:57

is mentioned as as

33:59

as... President, Copeland

34:02

introduces him as

34:04

president. Abraham Lincoln,

34:06

16th president of these

34:09

United States, is everlasting

34:12

in the memory of

34:14

his countrymen. Now

34:18

we're going to hear

34:21

the full quote

34:23

that Copeland includes,

34:25

which comes from

34:27

the November 19,

34:30

1863 Gettysburg address

34:32

of Abe Lincoln

34:34

and listen to

34:36

what's happening underneath

34:38

musically and which instrument

34:41

is being brought out

34:43

and maybe what they

34:46

are conveying. We take

34:48

increased devotion to that

34:51

cause for which they

34:53

gave the last full

34:56

measure of devotion. That

34:58

we here highly resolve

35:00

that these dead shall

35:03

not have died in

35:05

vain, and that this

35:08

nation under God shall

35:10

have a new birth of

35:13

freedom, and that government of

35:15

the people by the people

35:17

and for the people shall

35:19

not perish from the earth.

35:22

I think a lot of

35:24

people already have in mind,

35:26

Evan, this feels like with

35:29

the trumpet underneath playing taps,

35:31

but of course it's not

35:33

taps, it's that quotation of

35:36

on Springfield Mountain, and it

35:38

carries that optimism that optimism

35:41

that you mentioned. earlier and

35:43

that looking forward regardless of

35:46

the of the tragic and

35:48

horrors of the past this

35:51

moving forward in the music.

35:53

I quite agree John at the

35:55

same time the invocation of the

35:58

last full measure of devotion in

36:00

that era of terrible war, surely

36:02

struck a very powerful chord with

36:04

the audience at the time. And

36:07

the rhythmic motif, that light motif,

36:09

is changed now, isn't it? It

36:11

almost feels like maybe this is

36:14

the answer, the resolution. We no

36:16

longer have just tada, but just

36:18

big resolute. And it's moved out

36:21

in a way that conveys a

36:23

sense of finality. And it ends

36:25

quite heraldically. So

36:32

this is quite a work, Evan, and

36:34

one that includes a speaker

36:36

is something that doesn't happen

36:39

all that often in music.

36:41

And sometimes a speaker is

36:43

on stage because they're narrating

36:45

like a kid's concert or

36:48

something for Halloween. But this

36:50

is different because of the

36:52

weight and the seriousness that

36:55

we've mentioned. I like using

36:57

this recording for this because

36:59

James Earl Jones felt like.

37:01

and maybe still does, feels

37:03

like the official voice of

37:06

the country. Every kid, I

37:08

think, has imitated. Everyone knows

37:10

that voice. Yes. Everyone knows

37:12

that voice. It's a very

37:15

distinct voice, and I would

37:17

say, I agree with you,

37:19

Johnny, there's a distinctly American.

37:21

quality to that voice. He's

37:24

like the voice of our nation

37:26

in a way. Of course, he

37:28

just died last year at the

37:30

age of 93. It's so boring,

37:32

it's so tedious to use a

37:34

word like iconic to describe him,

37:36

but he certainly is that everybody

37:39

knows Darth Vader, of course, but

37:41

he was in so many films,

37:43

so many stage productions. I remember,

37:45

I saw a video years after

37:47

he did it in the late

37:49

70s, he portrayed. another great American

37:52

voice, another great American, Paul

37:54

Robeson, and you really see

37:56

him embodying the spirit of

37:58

that great American. in many ways

38:01

through the very distinctive voice that

38:03

Paul Robeson had. So yeah, I

38:05

think that the choice of James

38:07

Hill Jones, as you were saying

38:09

at the beginning of the episode,

38:11

John, when this work is performed,

38:14

it's very often by someone of

38:16

stature. Even in its day, you

38:18

know, Carl Sandberg was one of

38:20

the narrators in early performances, and

38:22

many other very prominent voices were

38:25

used to convey this message. James

38:27

Hill Jones is a particularly meaningful

38:29

choice to hear this work. Yes,

38:31

but it's not all without some

38:33

caution, trepidation, or something when it

38:35

comes to the speaker. James Earl

38:37

Jones, well first off, I thought

38:39

of this as I was writing

38:42

this, he's not James, he's not

38:44

Jones, it's James Earl Jones, you

38:46

put some respect on the name.

38:48

So there is that aspect of

38:50

it, yeah, it's someone of importance,

38:52

and James Earl Jones does just

38:54

enough, I think, with the acting

38:56

and the inflection... And he is

38:58

who he is, that it just

39:00

works, but some, some speakers have

39:02

gone too far. I want to

39:05

read a little bit from that

39:07

article again from Sawyer, she writes.

39:09

In an April 1943 letter to

39:11

Costellanets, Copeland remarked, from what I

39:13

can gather, Will Gear must have

39:15

been rather on the hammy side.

39:18

She continues, a note for the

39:20

speaker was then added to the

39:22

score, cautioning against undue emphasis in

39:25

the delivery of Lincoln's words. and

39:27

instead relying on sincerity of manner.

39:29

This caution was apparently disregarded in

39:31

the first recording of Lincoln Portrait

39:34

by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, directed

39:36

by Sarah Kousovitzki, with the narration

39:38

by Melvin Douglas, described by critics

39:41

as perhaps two. passionate. And I'll

39:43

put a link to that, that performance

39:45

on the show notes page. Yeah, I

39:47

found that on the internet also, John.

39:49

It is a very heartfelt recitation. You

39:52

know, who am I to criticize? One

39:54

thing I will say on a technical

39:56

level is when you're speaking and there's

39:58

this huge symphony orchestra. playing right behind

40:01

you, there's a need to inflict

40:03

very strongly and maybe some speakers

40:05

have a hard time balancing that

40:07

in a way that's aesthetically pleasing.

40:09

James L. Jones, of course, being

40:11

the great, the truly great actor,

40:13

obviously his voice is very beautiful,

40:16

but truly a great actor, a

40:18

great humanitarian, embodies that spirit so

40:20

well, but we can think of

40:22

many other narrators and many performances

40:24

of this piece who are also

40:26

very effective in the role. And

40:28

another point on this, Evan, is

40:30

that it wasn't always this piece

40:32

viewed the same way, even 10

40:35

years later, as we learned in

40:37

our episode on Copeland's life. He

40:39

was questioned in a Senate subcommittee

40:41

hearing four hours because of his

40:43

leftist views, and it was, I'm

40:45

trying to remember who was it,

40:47

it was a congressman that protested

40:49

on the House floor in 1953,

40:52

saying Copeland's work cannot be played

40:54

at the inauguration. Copeland was associated

40:56

in the minds of some with

40:58

communism. And as I've said, I

41:00

don't think he was technically a

41:02

communist. He never joined an organization

41:04

that I'm aware of. He certainly

41:06

seems to have leaned in that

41:09

direction in the 1930s, maybe. He

41:11

certainly had some sympathy with some

41:13

of that ideology. I would laugh

41:15

at anyone who suggests that he

41:17

was some kind of threat to

41:19

national security. But this was an

41:21

era in which that was a

41:23

real... powerful controversy. And there were

41:26

those who were of a certain

41:28

turn of mind. We can remember

41:30

some of their names today who

41:32

had an attitude that anyone who

41:34

was associated with that in any

41:36

way. should be shunned or condemned

41:38

and their contributions to American life

41:40

should be silenced. And so in

41:42

this particular occasion, Copeland's work was

41:45

not chosen to be part of

41:47

the program. And you know, later

41:49

on of course we look back

41:51

with the wisdom of hindsight and

41:53

recognize that that was not a

41:55

wise or just decision, but we

41:57

also recognize that the shortcomings of

41:59

that era... were not irrelevant to

42:02

performance decisions and the kinds

42:04

of music that would get performed

42:06

or not performed. Yeah, it's a way

42:08

of banning something without technically banning

42:10

it. I think we'll have to

42:13

do, we'll probably do an episode

42:15

in the future on Saragape or

42:17

Kofi if because that also outlines

42:19

very clearly, during this exact same

42:21

time, how that's done. So that's...

42:24

Lincoln Portrait, what a work. I've

42:26

never seen it live unfortunately. I

42:28

hope I get to experience that

42:30

once. And if you've seen this

42:32

live and you have a particular

42:35

experience or thought about it, please

42:37

let us know. You can send

42:39

us an email at Classical Breakdown

42:41

at W.E.T.org. But Evan, let's end

42:43

with a review here from Apple

42:45

Podcasts. This podcast review came from

42:48

DC Right. And this person says,

42:50

John and the various co-hosts do

42:52

a great job introducing and presenting

42:54

music in a way that

42:56

is completely accessible to newcomers,

42:59

while still providing analytical nuance,

43:01

nuggets of information, and introductions

43:03

to less well-known composers and

43:05

works that keep even lifelong

43:07

fans of classical music like

43:10

me engaged and entertained. perfect

43:12

balance of entertainment and education

43:14

with the music of the

43:16

centuries serving as the soundtrack.

43:18

Well, thank you very much

43:21

D.C. Wright for your review

43:23

and we always appreciate hearing from listeners.

43:25

Yes, thank you D.C. Wright. Thank you

43:27

for the five stars. That's our favorite

43:29

amount of stars. And yes, thank you

43:32

and keep listening. And thank you Evan

43:34

for again. talking with me about Copeland's

43:36

Lincoln portrait. Thank you, John. I haven't

43:38

thought about this piece in a while

43:41

when you invited me onto the show

43:43

to talk about it. I had an

43:45

opportunity to look at it, listen to

43:47

it again, and I'm reminded that Aaron

43:50

Copeland was a composer who had, I

43:52

think, a very sophisticated and humane

43:54

understanding of how music and public

43:56

life and politics are and should

43:59

be inseparable. Beautiful. Thanks

44:03

for listening to Classical Breakdown, your

44:05

guide to classical music. For

44:07

more information on this episode, visit

44:09

the show notes page at

44:11

ClassicalBreakdown .org. You can send me

44:14

comments and episode ideas to ClassicalBreakdown

44:16

at WETA .org. And if you

44:18

enjoyed this episode, leave a

44:20

review in your podcast app. I'm

44:22

John Panther. Thanks for listening

44:24

to Classical Breakdown from WETA Classical.