Martha Graham was the oldest of three daughters born to George and Jane Beers Graham. People Magazine listed her as one of the icons of the century. Her career spanned seven decades and included such honors as being the first dancer to perform at the White House (1938), receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1976) and she was among the first recipients of the National Medal of Arts (1985). Her fascinating life story is significant and reaches far beyond the ballet stage. Martha Graham seems to be largely forgotten these days (at least by those of us outside the world of modern dance). That commissioning launched a long and energetic correspondence between Graham and Copland that resulted in the iconic Appalachian Spring.ġ945 newspaper image of Martha Graham and Dance Company in Appalachian Spring - Library of Congress, Picryl Graham commissioned Aaron Copland to write the performance music for her ballet company. Through friend and philanthropist Elizabeth Penn Sprague Coolidge, Ms. The true source and inspiration for Appalachian Spring was Martha Graham, a dancer and choreographer born in 1894 in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania, the heart of Northern Appalachia. The reality turned out to be far more complex and eye-opening than I expected. I was filled with the righteous goal of exposing this Appalachian expropriator to the world. Dan Taddie’s history of American music class some twenty-odd years ago (at which time I was not a Copland fan). I started digging into the origins of this composition, which I first studied in former professor, choir director, and Chair of Maryville College Fine Arts Dr. The truth is my original inspiration for writing this article was, in fact, to point out the aforementioned irony. That is, not before he was connected to Martha Graham. Neither is pointing out the irony that Aaron Copland had no history with Appalachia, never once in his life set foot in Appalachia, and very likely couldn’t have found it on a map. However, righting that wrong is not this article’s goal. 1) I feel it’s not only an injustice to Copland’s composition and the true creation story of Appalachian Spring, both the ballet and the later symphonic version it’s also an injustice to the original Shaker hymn “Simple Gifts,” which is profoundly beautiful in its original form and message. The vast majority of people these days don’t know the proper title and may just think of it as the old Shaker hymn “Simple Gifts.” Which, as a lover of both music and history, strikes me as a great injustice. Nobody covers Indianapolis and Indiana events like we do.Appalachian Spring by composer Aaron Copland (1900-1990), is one of, if not the most iconic and recognizable pieces of American music. Now in our 21st year of publishing Indiana events as of Feb. All rights reserved.ĪLWAYS VERIFY OUR EVENT LISTINGS TO BE CERTAIN THEY WILL STILL BE HELD AS ORIGINALLY SCHEDULED, ESPECIALLY CONSIDERING HOW FREQUENTLY PUBLIC EVENTS CHANGE DUE TO INDIANA WEATHER AND A VARIETY OF OTHER UNFORESEEN CIRCUMSTANCES. Many Indiana venues take the time to send us their event listings regularly. Here are the results for your search phrase, listed chronologically, in order, from AM to PM. Do you have an event that you want published on this Web site? Submit an Event. For example, just type "Gainbridge" for "Gainbridge Fieldhouse" or "Clowes" for "Clowes Memorial Hall," etc.Ĩ. The more words you use, the fewer results you will see. Generally you only need to type ONE WORD to find what you are looking for. Do singular searches (like "horse") instead of plural searches (like "horses") for better results.ħ. If you are looking for a person (a musician, an actor, etc.), typically you can just enter his or her last name.Ħ. Only events in our database from today forward appear in the search results.ĥ. Ampersands cause a conflict with the database scripting.Ĥ. Try different spellings and combinations for the best results.ģ. Don't use single quotes or double quotes.Ģ. CLICK OR TAP HERE TO SEARCH OUR EVENT LISTINGS, OR VIEW EVENT LISTINGS BY:ĪLWAYS VERIFY THE EVENT LISTINGS ON THIS PAGE TO BE CERTAIN THEY WILL STILL BE HELD AS ORIGINALLY SCHEDULED.Ĭurrently there are no upcoming events in our database containing your search phrase.ġ.
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