Music for the Theatre

• Music for the Theatre is a suite for chamber orchestra that Copland composed in 1925. It premiered in Boston the same year, conducted by Serge Koussevitsky.¹
• Despite the title, the suite was not intended for a particular theatrical production.²

“The music seemed to suggest a certain theatrical atmosphere, so after developing the idea into five short movements, I chose the title.”

Aaron Copland³

• Listen for: jazz idioms. In 1925, when Copland wrote this piece, it was still controversial to bring jazz sounds into the concert hall.⁴But other composers were trying it too: most famously, Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue premiered the year before, in 1924.⁵

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. Vivian Perlis, “Copland, Aaron: Music for the Theatre (1925),” Boosey & Hawkes, accessed August 22, 2019, https://www.boosey.com/cr/music/Aaron-Copland-Music-for-the-Theatre/6728.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.
5. Richard E. Rodda, liner notes to Copland: Third Symphony, Music for the Theatre, Yoel Levi, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Telarc 80201, CD, 1989.