program notes by composition > O > Old American Songs
Old American Songs
Aaron Copland/trans. William H. Sylvester
Marc Stingley, tenor soloist (
November 14, 2010
)
Old American Songs was arranged by Aaron Copland in 1950 for voice and piano. “Long Time Ago” is a ballad originally written by George Pope Morris around 1850. “Simple Gifts” is a one-verse song, actually a dance tune, that was written by Joseph Brackett at the Shaker community in Alfred, Maine in 1848. “Boatmen’s Dance”, a minstrel song credited to Dan Emmett in 1843, is a celebration of rivermen, bawdy and wily. It is easily recognizable by the repeated clarion cry: "Hey, ho, the boatmen row, sailin' on the river on the Ohio."
Aaron Copland (1900-1990) was an accomplished composer who was instrumental in forging a distinctly American style of composition in a broad range of works for concert hall, theater, ballet and films.
Last updated on July 18, 2013 by Palatine Concert Band