Copland, Aaron. (1900–1990)

First Symphony

For Large OrchestraNew York: Cos Cob Press. 1931. First edition. Full score. 33.1 cm. 80 p. No PN. Original green wrapper, chipping to corners and spine extremeties, otherwise fine. Copland Complete Catalogue (B & H), p. 15.



First edition of an important early work by Copland. This work was dedicated to Nadia Boulanger with admiration, and is a revision of Copland's earlier Symphony for Organ and Orchestra (1924). It was premiered by the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, with Ernest Ansermet conducting, in December of 1931, and is an exemplar of the jazz-inflected idioms Copland was exploring in the 1920s. Copland later helped to found the Cos Cob Press, a short-lived but significant source for the dissemination of modern American music, which carried the first editions of a number of his early orchestral works. "Copland's situation demonstrates that when Cos Cob Press entered American publishing in 1929, it met a real need." (Oja, "Cos Cob Press and the American Composer," 234). (6423)
Printed Music
Classical Music