About the Author

Elizabeth B. Crist is Assistant Professor of Musicology at The University of Texas at Austin. Her writings on Copland have appeared in American Music, The Musical Quarterly, and Journal of Musicology. She won an ASCAP Deems Taylor award for her article "Aaron Copland and the Popular Front," published earlier this year in the Journal of the American Musicological Society. She is co-editor (with Wayne Shirley) of The
Selected Correspondence of Aaron Copland.

Reviews

"By neither taking Copland at his word nor accepting the traditional interpretations that discount or dismiss his political allegiances, Crist nuances what progressivism, the Popular Front, and communism meant and applies her findings to Copland's music from the 1930s and '40s. In doing so, she exposes the intimate relationship between the historical moment and the music, and refashions and enlarges our understanding of some of Copland's most beloved works and
the man himself. Readers will wonder how we could have missed so much for so long."--Denise Von Glahn, Florida State University, author of The Sounds of Place: Music and the American Cultural
Landscape, 2004 ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award winner
"Did the progressive movement in the U.S. find a musical voice in Aaron Copland's music? Elizabeth Crist gives us an answer in a book that increases our understanding of his music and its times. Written with the same directness, elegance, and economy that characterizes Copland's music during the depression and World War II, Music for the Common Man deftly employs close readings of several pieces of Copland's music to support Crist's broader cultural
observations. In addressing the political perspective of Copland's work during his most famous compositional period, Crist brings together a diverse array of sources and generates a compelling work of music
history and cultural studies."--Neil Lerner, Davidson College
"By neither taking Copland at his word nor accepting the traditional interpretations that discount or dismiss his political allegiances, Crist nuances what progressivism, the Popular Front, and communism meant and applies her findings to Copland's music from the 1930s and '40s. In doing so, she exposes the intimate relationship between the historical moment and the music, and refashions and enlarges our understanding of some of Copland's most beloved works and
the man himself. Readers will wonder how we could have missed so much for so long."--Denise Von Glahn, Florida State University, author of The Sounds of Place: Music and the American Cultural
Landscape, 2004 ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award winner
"Did the progressive movement in the U.S. find a musical voice in Aaron Copland's music? Elizabeth Crist gives us an answer in a book that increases our understanding of his music and its times. Written with the same directness, elegance, and economy that characterizes Copland's music during the depression and World War II, Music for the Common Man deftly employs close readings of several pieces of Copland's music to support Crist's broader cultural
observations. In addressing the political perspective of Copland's work during his most famous compositional period, Crist brings together a diverse array of sources and generates a compelling work of music
history and cultural studies."--Neil Lerner, Davidson College