Fanfare for the Common Man
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Fanfare for the Common Man is one of the most recognizable pieces of 20th Century American classical music. One of composer Aaron Copland's most popular works, the fanfare is a short piece scored for brass and percussion written in 1942 at the request of the conductor Eugene Goossens.
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[edit] Arrangement
The fanfare is written for the following instruments:
- four french horns (in F)
- three trumpets (in Bb)
- three trombones
- a tuba
- timpani
- bass drum
- tam-tam or gong
[edit] The Fanfare
Copland, in his autobiography, wrote of the request: "Eugene Goossens, conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, had written to me at the end of August about an idea he wanted to put into action for the 1942-43 concert season. During World War I he had asked British composers for a fanfare to begin each orchestral concert. It had been so successful that he thought to repeat the procedure in World War II with American composers". A total of eighteen fanfares [1] were written at Goossens' behest, but Copland's is the only one which remains in the standard repertoire.
Goosens had suggested titles such as Fanfare for Soldiers, or sailors or airmen, and he wrote that "[i]t is my idea to make these fanfares stirring and significant contributions to the war effort...." Copland considered several titles including Fanfare for a Solemn Ceremony and Fanfare for Four Freedoms; to Goossens' surprise, however, Copland titled the piece Fanfare for the Common Man. Goossen wrote "Its title is as original as its music, and I think it is so telling that it deserves a special occasion for its performance. If it is agreeable to you, we will premiere it 12 March 1943 at income tax time". Copland's reply was "I [am] all for honoring the common man at income tax time".
The fanfare was also used as the main theme of the fourth movement of Copland's Third Symphony.
[edit] Rock versions
Copland's fanfare was reincarnated in 1977 by British rock band Emerson, Lake & Palmer on the album Works Volume I. It became one of the band's biggest hits when an edited version was released as a single that year. This version has been used around the world as a TV theme; in Mexico as the main title song of a TV sport program on TV Azteca since their beginnings as DeporTV, in Australia as the opening theme for any Seven Sport coverage, and formerly in Scotland when the BBC used it as the theme to their main news programme Reporting Scotland in the late 1970s and early 1980s. ELP has also recorded the Hoedown from Copland's Rodeo ballet for the 1972 album Trilogy.
An excerpt of "Fanfare for the Common Man" also opens the Rolling Stones album Love You Live (1977), as it was used to open the 1976 concert tour supporting the Black and Blue album.
The American progressive rock band Styx has also used the Copland piece. Their 1972 self-titled debut album opens with a suite called Movement for the Common Man. The third section of the suite, titled Fanfare for the Common Man, is loosely based on the Copland original.
[edit] Trivia
When a metro train in Montreal starts, it produces the same three notes as the beginning of the song: G (concert F), C (concert Bb) and upper G (concert F).
It is also played when Oldham Athletic FC come onto the pitch.
[edit] Reference
- Copland 1900 Through 1942, by Aaron Copland and Vivian Perlis, St. Martin's Press, 1984, ISBN 0-312-16962-0
