Brace yourself for an uncommon fanfare for America’s musical master.
Harvard University’s undergraduate-run radio station, WHRB, will present a 41-hour AARON COPLAND ORGY® to commemorate the 125th anniversary of the composer’s birth. The five-day marathon will begin tomorrow – the 35th anniversary of Copland’s death – and will be broadcast at the following times:
Tuesday, December 2, through Friday, December 5, from 1 pm-10 pm EST, and Saturday, December 6, from 4:15pm-9 pm EST. The programs will be livestreamed at whrb.org and the listings made available at whrb.org/guide.
YOU WILL HEAR THINGS ON THESE BROADCASTS YOU WILL NOT ENCOUNTER ANYWHERE ELSE.
Sure, there will be the usual suspects: “Fanfare for the Common Man,” the ballets on Western and pioneer themes, “Lincoln Portrait,” and the Symphony No. 3. However, some of these will be presented in their original or rarely-heard complete versions. Some will be played from unusual and/or historical documents.
There will also be exclusive performances and selections from talks and interviews with the composer taken from the station’s own archive. Even if you think you know Copland, I guarantee you will hear things on this series you have never heard before.
My friend, Mather Pfeiffenberger, who conducted one of those interviews back in 1977 and produced Copland orgies in 1975, 1980, and 2000, was instrumental in mobilizing the WHRB Classical Music Department to embrace this unmissable opportunity to celebrate this watershed composer, who has been described by conductor Leon Botstein as “the undisputed central figure of American 20th century classical music.” Mather has returned to his alma mater for the week to anchor some of the historical segments and provide talking points for the spoken introductions.
These broadcasts will trace Copland’s creative development, from his early, European-influenced works, through his jazz-tinged modernist pieces of the 1920s, the more abstract works of the late ‘20s and early ‘30s, the spacious Americana of his “populist” period of the ‘30s and ‘40s, and his excursions into serialism in the 1950s and ‘60s.
Copland’s style was incredibly eclectic and evolved constantly throughout his life. He distilled an indelible “American” sound, with his open harmonies, active rhythms, lean textures, economy of means, and directness of expression. At the same time, his engagement with most of the major musical trends of the 20th century – European, and later American modernism, jazz, folksong, music for use, and serialism – evinced an openness to the world that we like to think of as a quality that exemplifies America at its best.
With the impending 250th anniversary of the United States’ declaration of independence, in 2026, this is a good time to delve deep into the “Dean of American Composers.”
WHRB has been presenting Orgies (and yes, Orgy® is a registered copyright), exhaustive, exhausting celebrations of given artists’ compositions and recordings and explorations of different genres and themes, since 1943, when, legend has it, a certain Harvard student, in a burst of euphoria, chose to mark the completion of his exams by sharing all nine of the Beethoven symphonies from 78 rpm records (which would have involved side changes every few minutes). The stunt caught on, and the Orgy® concept expanded to include jazz, rock, hip-hip, blues, and even sports.
I wonder what Copland, always a reserved man, would have thought about being the focus of a five-day Orgy®?
Can’t stop the Copland, starting tomorrow at 1 pm EST on WHRB!
The broadcasts will be available for streaming for up to two weeks after the original air dates at https://whrb.org/stream-archive/
