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Written By: Mark Pennell on
June 27th, 2008
Aaron Copland never called Rodeo ‘Ro-DAY-oh’, as nearly all Classical announcers do (including Yours Truly). He simply called it ‘ROH-dee-oh’, just like the people who go to them. None of this nose-in-the-air as you go strutting down the famous shopping drive in L.A., but plain folks enjoying some distinctly Western-American Cowboy culture.
Why is it that sometimes when Classical music announcers and even aficionados grab hold of something that is down-to-earth like Rodeo from Aaron Copland, do they have to try to raise it from the rest of society, as though now only certain people are allowed to enjoy it? Hmmm.
June 28th, 2008 at 4:31 pm
I actually never knew this tidbit about Copland. I think his music is still largely under-rated, or at least deserves more recognition. His sound his completely originally and he is truly an American master.
July 3rd, 2008 at 1:09 pm
Yep. He was an amazing man. I always found it interesting that in a time when anti-Semitism in America was high, that acceptance of homosexuality was virtually nil, and people from the FBI to the Senate were hunting down people of at least the slightest communist leanings, here was this Jewish homosexual that openly supported the communist movement in this country deeply loved by Americans. They loved the man, and that he had an understanding of what America was (and is). That was all that was need be.