Copland's Dickinson Songs

Extract

More than twenty years have passed since the publication of Copland's Twelve Poems of Emily Dickinson, and although the work has been widely praised, it has still to find its rightful place in the repertoire. In several respects it is, indeed, an isolated work. Composed between March 1949 and March 1950, it was Copland's first music for solo voice and piano since 1928, and has remained his only song-cycle (apart from the sets of American popular songs). The choice of poems is unusual; but the genre itself is foreign to the American ‘tradition’. The fact that relatively few American composers have entered this field perhaps reflects a desire to avoid direct comparison with 19th century European models. Charles Ives wrote many songs but no cycles, and the best of them are without musical ancestry (or direct progeny); if influences can be discerned they are from outside the field of ‘art’ music. So it is remarkable that Copland's cycle calls to mind the French mélodie, and particularly Fauré.