Editing Aaron Copland (section)

=== 1925 to 1935 ===
Copland returned to America optimistic and enthusiastic about the future, determined to make his way as a full-time composer.{{sfn|Pollack|1999|p=55}} He rented a studio apartment on New York City's [[Upper West Side]] in the [[The Empire Hotel (New York City)|Empire Hotel]], close to [[Carnegie Hall]] and other musical venues and publishers. He remained in that area for the next 30 years, later moving to [[Westchester County, New York]]. Copland lived frugally and survived financially with help from two $2,500 [[Guggenheim Fellowship]]s in 1925 and 1926 (each of the two {{Inflation|US|2500|1925|fmt=eq}}).{{sfn|Pollack|1999|p=89}} Lecture-recitals, awards, appointments, and small commissions, plus some teaching, writing, and personal loans, kept him afloat in the subsequent years through World War II.{{sfn|Pollack|1999|p=90}}

[[File:Kousewitzky.gif|thumb|left|upright|[[Serge Koussevitzky]] was a mentor and supporter of Copland.]]
Also important, especially during the Depression, were wealthy patrons who underwrote performances, helped pay for publication of works, and promoted musical events and composers.{{sfn|Pollack|1999|p=90}} Among them was [[Serge Koussevitzky]], the music director of the [[Boston Symphony Orchestra]], who was known as a champion of "new music". Koussevitsky proved to be very influential in Copland's life, perhaps the second most important figure in Copland's career after Boulanger.{{sfn|Pollack|1999|pp=121–22}} Beginning with the [[Symphony for Organ and Orchestra (Copland)|Symphony for Organ and Orchestra]] (1924), Koussevitzky performed more of Copland's music than that of any the composer's contemporaries, at a time when other conductors were programming only a few of Copland's works.{{sfn|Pollack|1999|p=123}}

Soon after his return to the United States, Copland was exposed to the artistic circle of photographer [[Alfred Stieglitz]]. While Copland did not care for Stieglitz's domineering attitude, he admired his work and took to heart Stieglitz's conviction that American artists should reflect "the ideas of American Democracy."{{sfn|Pollack|1999|p=101}} This ideal influenced not just Copland, but also a generation of artists and photographers, including [[Paul Strand]], [[Edward Weston]], [[Ansel Adams]], [[Georgia O'Keeffe]], and [[Walker Evans]].{{sfn|Pollack|1999|p=101}} Evans's photographs inspired portions of Copland's opera ''[[The Tender Land]]''.{{sfn|Pollack|1999|p=103}}

In his quest to take up the slogan of the Stieglitz group, "Affirm America", Copland found only the music of [[Carl Ruggles]] and [[Charles Ives]] upon which to draw.{{sfn|Pollack|1999|pp=101, 110}} Without what Copland called a "usable past" in American classical composers, he looked to jazz and popular music, something he had started to do while in Europe.{{sfn|Pollack|1999|p=113}} In the 1920s, Gershwin, [[Bessie Smith]], and [[Louis Armstrong]] were in the forefront of American popular music and jazz.{{sfn|Pollack|1999|pp=115–16}} By the end of the decade, Copland felt his music was going in a more abstract, less jazz-oriented direction.{{sfn|Copland|Perlis|1984|pp=134–35}} But as large swing bands such as those of [[Benny Goodman]] and [[Glenn Miller]] became popular in the 1930s, Copland took a renewed interest in the genre.{{sfn|Pollack|1999|p=116}}

[[File:Stieglitz 1907c autochrome self-portrait.jpg|thumb|Copland admired the work and philosophy of [[Alfred Stieglitz]]]]
Inspired by the example of [[Les Six]] in France, Copland sought out contemporaries such as [[Roger Sessions]], [[Roy Harris]], [[Virgil Thomson]], and [[Walter Piston]], and quickly established himself as a spokesperson for composers of his generation.{{sfn|Pollack|1999|p=159}} He also helped found the Copland-Sessions Concerts to showcase these composers' chamber works to new audiences.{{sfn|Pollack|1999|pp=166–67}} Copland's relationship with these men, who became known as "commando unit," was one of both support and rivalry, and he played a key role in keeping them together until after World War II.{{sfn|Pollack|1999|p=176}} He also was generous with his time with nearly every American young composer he met during his life, later earning the title "Dean of American Music."{{sfn|Pollack|1999|pp=178, 215}}

With the knowledge he had gained from his studies in Paris, Copland came into demand as a lecturer and writer on contemporary European classical music.{{sfn|Pollack|1999|p=58}} From 1927 to 1930 and from 1935 to 1938, he taught classes at [[The New School|The New School for Social Research]] in New York City.{{sfn|Pollack|1999|p=58}} Eventually, his New School lectures appeared in the form of two books—''What to Listen for in Music'' (1937, revised 1957) and ''Our New Music'' (1940, revised 1968 and retitled ''The New Music: 1900–1960'').{{sfn|Pollack|1999|p=58}} During this period, Copland also wrote regularly for ''[[The New York Times]]'', ''[[The Musical Quarterly]]'', and other journals. These articles appeared in 1969 as the book ''Copland on Music''.{{sfn|Pollack|1999|p=58}} During his time at The New School, Copland was active as a presenter and curator, using The New School to present a wide range of composers and artists.

Copland's compositions in the early 1920s reflected the modernist attitude that prevailed among intellectuals, that the arts need be accessible to only a cadre of the enlightened, and that the masses would come to appreciate their efforts over time. But mounting troubles with the ''Symphonic Ode'' (1929) and ''[[Short Symphony]]'' (1933) caused Copland to rethink this approach. It was financially unprofitable, particularly during the Depression. Avant-garde music had lost what cultural historian [[Morris Dickstein]] calls "its buoyant experimental edge" and the national attitude toward it had changed.{{sfn|Oja|Tick|2005|p=91}} As biographer [[Howard Pollack]] writes:{{sfn|Pollack|1999|p=158}}
<blockquote>
Copland observed two trends among composers in the 1930s: first, a continuing attempt to "simplify their musical language" and, second, a desire to "make contact" with as wide an audience as possible. Since 1927, he had been in the process of simplifying, or at least paring down, his musical language, though in such a manner as to sometimes have the effect, paradoxically, of estranging audiences and performers. By 1933 ... he began to find ways to make his starkly personal language accessible to a surprisingly large number of people.
</blockquote>

In many ways, this shift mirrored the German idea of {{lang|de|[[Gebrauchsmusik]]}} ("music for use"), as composers sought to create music that could serve a utilitarian as well as artistic purpose. This approach encompassed two trends: first, music that students could easily learn, and second, music which would have wider appeal, such as [[incidental music]] for plays, movies, radio, etc.{{sfn|Smith|1953|p=162}} To this end, Copland provided musical advice and inspiration to [[Group Theatre (New York)|The Group Theatre]], a company that also attracted [[Stella Adler]], [[Elia Kazan]], and [[Lee Strasberg]].{{sfn|Pollack|1999|p=258}} Philosophically an outgrowth of Stieglitz and his ideals, the Group focused on socially relevant plays by American authors.{{sfn|Pollack|1999|p=257}} Through it and later his work in film, Copland met several major American playwrights, including [[Thornton Wilder]], [[William Inge]], [[Arthur Miller]], and [[Edward Albee]], and considered projects with all of them.{{sfn|Pollack|1999|p=267}}