Copland was 75 when Jimmy Carter was elected President of the United States and turned 80 ten days after Carter lost his reelection bid to Ronald Reagan. When Carter took office, he was well known in his home state—Governor, state senator, military veteran, and peanut farmer—but new to Washington, D.C. and federal politics. Copland, on the other hand, was already a beloved national figure with an international reputation. His music had been part of Presidential events in Washington since Eisenhower's inauguration in 1953.
By the time Carter's political career began in the 1960s, Copland had pulled back from partisan politics and causes, but he continued to be involved with musical activities that supported his country, serving many times as a cultural ambassador for the U.S. State Department and allowing his music to be performed by and for the armed forces and at patriotic events. In that spirit, Fanfare for the Common Man opened the Democratic National Convention at which Carter's candidacy was announced on July 12, 1976 at Madison Square Garden in New York. (Apple, New York Times, July 13, 1976).
Another Copland favorite, Lincoln Portrait made a prominent appearance on the campaign trail when Rosalynn Carter was the narrator at a Constitution Hall fundraiser in October. Alongside performances by the Harlem Dance Company and Broadway greats Betty Comden, Adolph Green and Cy Coleman, Leonard Bernstein conducted the finale of his Mass along with Lincoln Portrait for a crowd of some 2,000 people.
A New York Times reporter sought to reduce the performance to a political statement: "Led by the first Southerner to run for President in modern times, the Democrats are raising money by invoking the name of the Northern Republican President who freed the slaves, Abraham Lincoln." But the event had deeper human significance.
Biographer Kandy Stroud saw in Rosalynn Carter's narration evidence of the future first lady's "steel magnolia" character, as she reported in a profile published the next spring. "Rosalynn had read neither the score nor the text until dress rehearsal, but, though her knees were quaking, she never missed a downbeat. Making her way through a sea of accolades afterward, she whispered to me. 'Can you believe I did that?'" (Stroud, New York Times, March 20, 1977).
Meanwhile, Leonard Bernstein's prominent involvement reflected something of a torch-passing, an instance of his growing role in keeping Copland before the public as the elder composer began to withdraw from public appearances.
Carter's inaugural festivities
"Carter is everybody's President, Washington is everybody's capital and this inauguration is everybody's inauguration," gushed the inaugural committee at a January press conference in 1977. Perhaps exaggerating, they announced "nearly 200 free musical concerts ranging from an all-night soul festival to performances by symphony orchestras, jazz groups, choirs, bluegrass bands and mariachi musicians." (Rosenfeld, Washington Post, Jan 4, 1977) And Copland was very much included.
There were two main concerts at the Kennedy Center during inaugural week. The traditional orchestral concert was Tuesday evening, January 18. Copland conducted the first half, leading the National Symphony Orchestra in his own Fanfare for the Common Man and Four Dance Episodes from Rodeo, Bernstein's Overture to Candide, Samuel Barber's Essay No. 1, and the traditional "Star Spangled Banner."
The concert's second half featured Carter's home state's world-class orchestra, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, conducted by Robert Shaw, in music by Gershwin, Charles Ives’s Variations on America, and the last movement of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 ("Ode to Joy").
Washington Post critic Paul Hume called it "the greatest inaugural concert in history." He began, "In theory the idea of having two great symphony orchestras play a single inaugural concert looked good. In practice, it was sensational." Hume loved the predominance of American composers, listing the hometown of each. How fitting, he opined, that the new President from Plains, Georgia was celebrated by composers from Lawrence, Massachusetts (Bernstein), Danbury, Connecticut (Ives), Philadelphia (Barber) and, of course, Brooklyn (Copland). "Finally, a man from Bonn, Germany, Ludwig von Beethoven, got his foot in the door," he quipped. In particular, Hume praised the quality of the Atlanta Symphony Chorus, concluding, "If the rest of the country could sing the way those people from Georgia sing. Jimmy Carter's problems would be over before he gets started."
The next night, the inaugural committee tried something new: a festival of popular culture conceived for television. This "New Spirit Inaugural Concert" (Carter's title) got underway before 7pm January 19 "and two hours later became a hurriedly taped and edited TV special on CBS," wrote one of at least four different Washington Post reporters who breathlessly promoted and chronicled the event. ("170 stars, 200 musicians, and a potential audience of upward of 70 million!") Comedians, poets, actors, a dance company, and vocalists from Beverly Sills to Aretha Franklin were involved. This event didn't include Copland or his music, but Bernstein participated with "world-premiere songs by Leonard Bernstein (part of a 14-part song cycle and dedicated to the future First Lady Rosalynn Carter)."
Carter's Presidency
President Carter's tastes in music continued to make the news. Just a month into his presidency, it was reported that Carter "spends 8 to 10 hours a day listening to concert music and opera"—including music by Copland. Asked about Carter's listening habits, his personal secretary read names including Bach, Beethoven, Copland, Ravel, Schumann, Tchaikovsky, Wagner from the stack of about 25 record albums, selected by Carter from the White House library, which were piped into the Oval Office while he worked. "When he has appointments I turn the volume down—but not off," she told the Washington Post.
Bernstein, younger, more energetic, and more outspoken, continued to bring Copland into Carter's official duties. During a Presidential visit to Mexico City, Bernstein conducted Copland's El Salón México with the Mexico City Philharmonic Orchestra. He also programmed Mexican composer Carlos Chavez's Sinfonía India, Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings and Beethoven's Fifth Symphony.
Copland's music softened an otherwise tense visit with Mexican President José López Portillo. A former patron of the Salon, he became nostalgic after the concert. Through the experience of hearing Bernstein conduct Copland's piece, he said, "I finally understood all the tenderness, all the violence, all the graciousness and all the intent of what used to happen in the Salón México when I went there sometimes when I was young.” (Reston, New York Times, February 18, 1979).
Kennedy Center Honors
In December 1979, Copland attended the 2nd annual Kennedy Center Honors. The first lady welcomed the guests in the President's absence, due to the national crisis unfolding over American hostages in Iran. Like the Inaugural Gala, the Kennedy Center Honors was another new televised creation, this one a combination fund-raiser for the Kennedy Center and a tribute for "lifetime achievements in the performing arts." Copland was one of five honorees along with Ella Fitzgerald, Henry Fonda, Martha Graham, and Tennessee Williams.
Given Copland's association with Graham for Appalachian Spring, which, having been commissioned by the Library of Congress and premiered there, was a point of considerable Washington pride, The Washington Post titled Elisabeth Bumiller's article "Kennedy Center Honors: The Movers Meet the Shakers." Bumiller interviewed Copland at a reception that began with a performance of Fanfare for the Common Man. "It feels pretty good [to be here,] he said, adding that he's taking life easy these days. 'When you get to be my age—I'm 79—you're less ambitious. You relax. You really deserve the right to relax, having spent 50 years writing music.'" He understood the President's absence, though he admitted some disappointment. "But if he had been here," Copland told her, "I would have told him I was surprised to see him." The Kennedy Center concert, during which Bernstein presented Copland's tribute and William Warfield sang a Copland song, aired on television on December 29th. (Bumiller, Washington Post, December 3, 1979).
Copland's 80th
At the end of Carter's presidency, Copland's 80th birthday was celebrated in style at the Kennedy Center. The composer sat in the presidential box with Jimmy and Roslynn Carter.
Copland conducted his Piano Concerto with Leo Smit as soloist; on the same program Bernstein conducted Lincoln Portrait while Copland narrated. The program was aired on PBS in 1981 on Kennedy Center Tonight, directed by Rodney Greenberg, written by Stephen Dick, and narrated by Hal Holbrook. The 80th birthday celebration at the Kennedy Center was "the last big event in which Copland took an active role," according to Copland’s biographer Vivian Perlis (Complete Copland, pg. 333).
Carter's own role as President was soon to end; he had lost the election to Reagan just 10 days before Copland turned 80. Years later, the Carters were among those gathered at the National Cathedral for President Gerald Ford's memorial service, where "the limestone arches echoed" with Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man.
Although Carter’s own memorial service didn’t include Copland’s music, Copland figured prominently in a Library of Congress memorial article published shortly afterward. In "Remembering the Musical Side of President Jimmy Carter,” Senior Music Specialist Loras John Schissel writes “President Carter considered Aaron Copland one of our greatest American composers;” and reproduces photos and letters between Carter and Copland.
Other documents reveal that the Carters, stinging from Jimmy’s recent election defeat, had not planned to attend Copland’s 80th birthday celebration—until Bernstein convinced them how much it would mean to the composer. "At the last minute, the Copland family was moved from the Presidential Box, and President and Mrs. Carter attended—to the surprise and delight of Copland and the audience," Schissel reports. A fitting Carter quotation heads the article, articulating a belief both men held in common. "I always thought music was our best ambassador," Carter told an interviewer. "I think music is the best proof that people have one thing in common no matter where they live, no matter what language they speak."
Sources & Further Reading
- Abraham, Daniel, Alicia Kopfstein-Penk, and Andrew H. Weaver, eds. Leonard Bernstein and Washington, DC. Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press, 2020.
- Apple, R. W. Jr. "Party is United." New York Times, July 13, 1976, 69.
- Bumiller, Elisabeth. "Kennedy Center Honors: The Movers Meet the Shakers; Movie Stars and Political Stars at White House Reception." Washington Post, December 3, 1979.
- DeLapp-Birkett, Jennifer. "Government Censorship and Aaron Copland’s Lincoln Portrait During the Second Red Scare." In The Oxford Handbook of Music Censorship, edited by Patricia Hall. Published online September 2016. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199733163.013.20.
- Hume, Paul. "Inaugural Salute of American Music." Washington Post, January 19, 1977.
- Kriegsman, Alan M. "What Kind of Music ‘Brings Tears’ to Mr. Carter’s Eyes? A Classical Presidency?" Washington Post, February 20, 1977.
- Reston, James. "Washington." [Reported from Mexico City.] New York Times, February 18, 1979, sec. E, 19.
- Rosenfeld, Megan. "200 Free Musical Concerts Set for City During Inaugural Week." Washington Post, January 4, 1977.
- Schissel, Loras John. "Remembering the Musical Side of President Jimmy Carter." Blogs: In the Muse, Performing Arts at the Library of Congress, January 16, 2025. https://blogs.loc.gov/music/2025/01/remembering-the-musical-side-of-president-jimmy-carter/.
- Shane, Scott. "U.S. Pays Tribute to Ford." International Herald Tribune, January 2, 2007.
- Shales, Tom. "A Spectacular Television Variety Extravaganza for a President-to-Be." Washington Post, January 19, 1977, late edition.
- Stroud, Kandy. "Rosalynn's Agenda in the White House." New York Times, March 20, 1977, 206.
- White, Jean M. "Producing an Inaugural Eve Festival of the Arts." Washington Post, January 13, 1977.
- White, Jean M., and William Gildea. "Show Biz Comes to Washington for Presidential Special." Washington Post, January 18, 1977.
