Danzón Cubano

• Copland Danzón Cubano in 1942, for two pianos.¹
• Aaron Copland and Leonard Bernstein were the two soloists at the premiere of the original two-piano version in 1942.
• Copland wrote this piece after visiting Cuba and eight other Latin American countries in 1941 as a cultural ambassador from the United States. The government arranged this visit in order to strengthen ties with Latin American countries in case the US should become embroiled in WWII. During this visit, Copland was inspired by a visit to a dance hall where he heard two orchestras playing at the same time from two sides of the room.
• Copland arranged this work for orchestra in 1944, and the orchestral version premiered in Baltimore in 1946.²

Danzón Cubano “is based on Cuban dance rhythms, particularly the Danzón, a stately dance quite different from the rhumba, conga and tango, and one that fulfills a function rather similar to that of the waltz in our own music, providing contrast to some of the more animated dances. The special charm of the Danzón is a certain naïve sophistication. Its mood alternates between passages of rhythmic precision and a kind of non-sentimental sweetness under a nonchalant guise. Its success depends on being executed with precise rhythmic articulation.”

Aaron Copland³

“I did not attempt to reproduce an authentic Cuban sound, but felt free to add my own touches of displaced accents and unexpected silent beats. In fact, I arranged one of the tunes in the traditional ‘blues rhythm,’ giving the final product something of an inter-American flavor.”

Aaron Copland ⁴

1. Howard Pollack, “Copland, Aaron,” Grove Music Online (2013), accessed August 22, 2019, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-1002249091.
2. Charles Greenwell, liner notes to Aaron Copland: Rodeo et al, Detroit Symphony, Leonard Slatkin, Naxos 8.559758, CD, 2013.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.