# "Hi! I'm Aaron Copland, American Genius and Master of One Tune!
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hi-im-aaron-copland-american-genius-and-master-of-one-tune/759033
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [July 3, 2016, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hi-im-aaron-copland-american-genius-and-master-of-one-tune/759033 "2016-07-03T22:49:45Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2016, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hi-im-aaron-copland-american-genius-and-master-of-one-tune/759033/21 "2016-07-04T02:34:13Z")
No John Williams that I noticed, but a couple pieces by Bernard Herrmann. Now, Bernie did _real music_ – a symphony, a string quartet, a clarinet quintet – in addition to some of the most famous soundtracks in Hollywood history.
The one that brought a real smile to my face was the suite of music for Hitchcock’s NORTH BY NORTHWEST; based, weirdly enough, on Spanish Fandango form.
One of my favorite scores – what orchestration! – and one of the most exciting film scores ever. Remember how it strikes up again when Thornhill finds the knife in his hand and flees the United Nations in an overhead shot?
[ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=db4LjufUY-Y)
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### Author:  [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2016, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hi-im-aaron-copland-american-genius-and-master-of-one-tune/759033/22 "2016-07-04T02:40:39Z")
No John Cage? No “4’33”?
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### Author:  [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2016, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hi-im-aaron-copland-american-genius-and-master-of-one-tune/759033/23 "2016-07-04T02:52:20Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#):
>
> So, to you, _Fanfare for the Common Man_ sounds just like the music they use for “Steak — it’s what’s for dinner!”, then?
Sorry, old bean, but the beef jokes have already been gnawed to the bone.
We saved you the last of the _pommes soufflées_, though, and a slice of the cheesecake!
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### Author:  [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2016, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hi-im-aaron-copland-american-genius-and-master-of-one-tune/759033/24 "2016-07-04T03:49:15Z")
Was Fanfare for the Common Man one of a set of fanfares? I once found a reference to “Twelve Fanfares,” but I’ve never found anything further.
I know that a radio commercial used a similar fanfare, but it might easily have been ret-conned by a modern industrial composer – just change the low notes to high ones, etc.
(Very fond of El Salon Mexico!)
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### Author:  [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2016, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hi-im-aaron-copland-american-genius-and-master-of-one-tune/759033/25 "2016-07-04T07:27:08Z")
> [@Trinopus](#):
>
> Was Fanfare for the Common Man one of a set of fanfares? I once found a reference to “Twelve Fanfares,” but I’ve never found anything further.
There were actually 18 fanfares composed for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, each by a different composer. They were mercifully performed at separate concerts.
There’s also a \*Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman, \*composed by Joan Tower.
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### Author:  [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2016, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hi-im-aaron-copland-american-genius-and-master-of-one-tune/759033/26 "2016-07-04T12:59:46Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#):
>
> “So, Aaron, did you know that in the future, the American Beef Council is going to use “Fanfare for the Common Man” as its theme song?”
> [@CalMeacham](#):
>
> So, to you, _Fanfare for the Common Man_ sounds just like the music they use for “Steak — it’s what’s for dinner!”, then?
It was an excerpt from _Rodeo_, not _Fanfare for the Common Man_. (I’m listening to my Aaron Copland Greatest Hits album right now.)
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### Author:  [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2016, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hi-im-aaron-copland-american-genius-and-master-of-one-tune/759033/27 "2016-07-04T13:54:38Z")
Yeah, I realize that now. They just played “Fanfare” for the 18th time, and I noticed it wasn’t the Beef Tune.
…my god, haw MANY American composers thought it would be a cute n’ clever idea to write a set of orchestral variations on “Yankee Doodle” ? Far, far too many.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2016, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hi-im-aaron-copland-american-genius-and-master-of-one-tune/759033/28 "2016-07-04T14:13:43Z")
All I’ll say about Copland is that he apparently hated basses. We did one of his pieces in band once, and the tuba part consisted of about 63 measures of rest, then four notes, then another 44 measures of rest.
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### Author:  [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2016, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hi-im-aaron-copland-american-genius-and-master-of-one-tune/759033/29 "2016-07-04T14:42:39Z")
Lousy top-heavy bastard. I play tuba also, and I HATE that shit. “I’m not counting this. Tell the conductor to wake me up just before our four notes.”
…You know you ELSE I’ve just realized I hate? Stephen Foster. Really, really hate Stephen Foster.
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### Author:  [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2016, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hi-im-aaron-copland-american-genius-and-master-of-one-tune/759033/30 "2016-07-04T14:42:51Z")
Copland definitely has a ‘sound’ . . . but his unique voice is part of what makes him great.
Another 20th century American great, John Williams, is also beloved because everything he writes sounds like John Williams. Everything Mozart wrote sounds like Mozart.
Lesser composers are the ones who can’t manage to make themselves heard above the sonorous din of rhythm and harmony. Great composers stake out new territory. Copland certainly did that.
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### Author:  [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2016, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hi-im-aaron-copland-american-genius-and-master-of-one-tune/759033/31 "2016-07-04T15:13:13Z")
Haydn’s the one who wrote the same goddamn symphony 104 times.
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### Author:  [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2016, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hi-im-aaron-copland-american-genius-and-master-of-one-tune/759033/32 "2016-07-04T15:42:05Z")
> [@panache45](#):
>
> Haydn’s the one who wrote the same goddamn symphony 104 times.
Nahhhh. One of them had a drum roll; one of them had a surprise; one of them had a clock…he even gave 'em names so you could tell them apart.
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### Author:  [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2016, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hi-im-aaron-copland-american-genius-and-master-of-one-tune/759033/33 "2016-07-04T15:57:09Z")
> [@Musicat](#):
>
> Or more Chuck Berry.
Are you an alien?
> [@Colibri](#):
>
> I am posting merely to say that I once had dinner with Aaron Copland (with maybe a dozen other students at the same table), around 1970 when he came to visit my college.
Fuck off. We’re bitching here. 😉
> [@Little\_Nemo](#):
>
> Out of curiosity did they play any John Williams?.
Chicagoan here. I heard something that was rather nice but by someone I never heard of that he conducted.
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#):
>
> No John Cage? No “4’33”?
The night WFMU changed from classical to classic rock the DJ played that. Kept an open mike as he explained to callers that it was supposed to be like that. FMT plays the big Bs. FMU rocked. Um, before it rocked.
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2016, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hi-im-aaron-copland-american-genius-and-master-of-one-tune/759033/34 "2016-07-05T16:33:06Z")
> [@Misnomer](#):
>
> It was an excerpt from _Rodeo_, not _Fanfare for the Common Man_. (I’m listening to my Aaron Copland Greatest Hits album right now.)
Read my post again – you misinterpreted it.
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### Author:  [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2016, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hi-im-aaron-copland-american-genius-and-master-of-one-tune/759033/35 "2016-07-05T17:32:18Z")
I couldn’t handle him, so I switched to [Stewart Copeland](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJXrrduu0pU) instead. I like filtered, but without Menthol.
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### Author:  [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2016, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hi-im-aaron-copland-american-genius-and-master-of-one-tune/759033/36 "2016-07-05T18:14:54Z")
Needs to be played by Emerson, Lake and Palmer
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### Author:  [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2016, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hi-im-aaron-copland-american-genius-and-master-of-one-tune/759033/37 "2016-07-05T18:41:27Z")
I turned WFMT on again this morning and got Mussorgsky, Shostakovich, Rimsky-Korsakov, Tchaikovsky, and Prokofiev.
I think they’re just fucking with me now.
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### Author:  [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2016, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hi-im-aaron-copland-american-genius-and-master-of-one-tune/759033/38 "2016-07-05T19:06:38Z")
Where’s Danny Kaye when we need him?
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### Author:  [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2016, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hi-im-aaron-copland-american-genius-and-master-of-one-tune/759033/39 "2016-07-05T19:07:37Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#):
>
> I turned WFMT on again this morning and got Mussorgsky, Shostakovich, Rimsky-Korsakov, Tchaikovsky, and Prokofiev.
>
> I think they’re just fucking with me now.
I doubt it. You’re just Russian to judgment.
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### Author:  [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2016, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hi-im-aaron-copland-american-genius-and-master-of-one-tune/759033/40 "2016-07-05T19:42:57Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#):
>
> I doubt it. You’re just Russian to judgment.
I wish they’d let me Czech out some Martinu, Smetana, Mahler, and Janacek. Skip Dvorak; aside from the Slavonic Dances, I can’t stand him.
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