American Landscapes: Appalachian Spring at 80

Sunday, April 27, 2025, 3:00 p.m.
Gershwin Performing Arts Center | Murrieta Mesa High School

Today’s Program

Aaron Copland (1900 – 1990)

Hoe-Down from Rodeo

Florence Price (1887 – 1953)

Andante Cantabile from String Quartet No. 2

George Antheil (1900 – 1959)

Serenade for String Orchestra

1.  Allegro
2. Andante Molto
3. Vivo

INTERMISSION

Aaron Copland

Appalachian Spring Suite (Ballet for Martha)

Thanks to the Murrieta Valley Unified School District for their support of this concert.
Concession proceeds from today’s program benefit the Murrieta Educational Foundation for the Arts.

About Our Artistic Director and Conductor

Members of the California Chamber Orchestra

California Chamber Orchestra musicians in this concert are members of The American Federation of Musicians, Local 325

Program Notes

This afternoon’s concert celebrates American composers who wove elements of American folk music into the fabric of their classical works.

We open with Hoe-Down from Rodeo by Aaron Copland (1900–1990). Written in 1942, Rodeo is a ballet that pays homage to the American West. The energetic and familiar tune in Hoe-Down was transcribed almost note for note from a 1937 field recording of Kentucky fiddler William Stepp performing “Bonaparte’s Retreat.” That recording, captured by Alan and Elizabeth Lomax for the Library of Congress, preserved a traditional Irish American fiddle tune that Copland later adapted into a now-iconic orchestral piece. Many will recognize Hoe-Down from its use in commercials—most famously the “Beef. It’s What’s for Dinner” campaign—and in numerous film scores.

Florence Price (1887–1953), born in Little Rock, Arkansas, demonstrated remarkable musical talent from an early age. With a music teacher for a mother and a dentist for a father, she gave her first piano performance at age 4, published her first composition at 11, and graduated as valedictorian of her high school class at 14. Price excelled at the New England Conservatory, where she studied piano and organ, graduating with honors in 1906. In 1933, after years of teaching, raising a family, and striving for recognition in a segregated classical music world, Price made history when her Symphony in E minor was performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra—making her the first Black American woman to have her work performed by a major U.S. orchestra.

Today, the California Chamber Orchestra performs Price’s Andante Cantabile from her String Quartet No. 2. Contemplative and serene, the movement draws upon the spirit of the African American spiritual, evoking a soulful, blues-infused atmosphere.

Next, we turn to American composer George Antheil (1900–1959), a bold and eccentric figure who proudly called himself the “Bad Boy of Music.” Born in Trenton, New Jersey, to German immigrant parents, Antheil was an avant-garde composer, pianist, inventor, and writer. In the 1920s, he lived in Europe, mingling with cutting-edge artists who sought to break away from traditional forms. But by the late 1940s, Antheil had grown disillusioned with experimental, atonal modernism. He wrote that he wanted “to disassociate myself from the passé modern schools of the last half century, and to create a music for myself and those around me which has no fear of developed melody, real development itself, tonality, or other understandable forms.”

With that philosophy in mind, he composed his String Serenade, a three-movement work that includes quotations from the Civil War tune “Battle Cry of Freedom.” The result is a piece that blends craftsmanship, clarity, and Americana.

We close this celebratory concert with selections from Appalachian Spring, another ballet score by Aaron Copland, composed in 1944. Commissioned by Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge and choreographed by the legendary Martha Graham, the ballet is set in a rural Pennsylvania community in the 19th century. It tells the story of a young bride and her husband, alongside archetypal figures such as the Pioneer Woman and the Revivalist. Copland’s score is sparse, open, and hymn-like at times, and it beautifully incorporates the Shaker tune “Simple Gifts.” We are pleased to present this work in its original chamber instrumentation for strings, flute, clarinet, bassoon, and piano.

— Dana Zimbric

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