Appalachian Spring

Appalachian Spring is a ballet by Aaron Copland that premiered in October 1944, and achieved widespread popularity as an orchestral suite. The ballet, scored for a thirteen-member chamber orchestra, was created at the request of choreographer and dancer Martha Graham and commissioned by Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge. While writing the work over the course of a year, Copland wrote that it was somewhat foolish to do as a ballet and their corresponding scores were historically short-lived. Copland was awarded the 1945 Pulitzer Prize for Music for the ballet.

External links

• NPR's Performance Today Milestones of the Millennium: Appalachian Spring with Robert Kapilow and John Adams
• Aaron Copland Meets the Shakers