Descriptive Record 
Enlarge Image1931-1944
1932
Organized the first Festival of Contemporary Music at Yaddo, Saratoga Springs, New York, and the second the following year.
1935
Taught composition at Harvard University while Walter Piston was on leave of absence.
1937
Co-founded the American Composers Alliance.
1938
Co-founded Arrow Music Press, which incorporated the former Cos Cob Press; served as its treasurer until 1972.
October 16: First performance of his first ballet, Billy the Kid, written for Lincoln Kirstein and the Ballet Caravan.
1939
Published his first book, What to Listen for in Music, based on lectures he had given at the New School for Social Research.
October 13: Elected president of the American Composers Alliance. Resigned as president in 1945 to continue his membership in ASCAP.
1940
At the request of the conductor Serge Koussevitzky, taught composition during the first season of the Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood, Massachusetts; when Tanglewood reopened after the war (1946), Copland assumed many administrative positions in addition to teaching until his retirement in 1965.
1941
Published the book Our New Music, based on lectures he had given at the New School for Social Research.
Toured Latin America to lecture, perform, and conduct on a grant made possible by the Committee for Inter-American Artistic and Intellectual Relations.
1942
Completed Lincoln Portrait, commissioned by Andre Kostelanetz, with text created by Copland from speeches and letters of Abraham Lincoln.
Composed the ballet Rodeo, commissioned by Agnes de Mille.
Completed Fanfare for the Common Man, which he wrote at the request of Eugene Goossens; Goossens conducted the premiere with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in 1943.
May 8: Elected a member in the Department of Music of the National Institute of Arts and Letters.
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[Detail] Aaron Copland with car; probably at Yaddo, ca. 1932.
Music Division, Library of Congress.
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[Detail] Aaron Copland with Walter Piston, 1960.
Music Division, Library of Congress.
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Billy the Kid: production shot, 1938.
Music Division, Library of Congress.
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[Detail] Aaron Copland and Serge Koussevitzky, Tanglewood.
Music Division, Library of Congress.
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[Detail] Aaron Copland, Agnes DeMille, and Oliver Smith at Tanglewood, 1942.
Music Division, Library of Congress.