DESCRIPTION:
Aaron Copland (1900-1990) was one of America's most famous composers. Born in Brooklyn, New York, he went to France as a teenager to study music. While he started out traditionally, his style of composition soon became very "American."

Some of his most famous works are his ballets, which include "Billy the Kid," "Rodeo" and "Appalachian Spring." Copland wrote "Billy the Kid," a work about the wild west, in 1928. When his friend, the famous choreographer Agnes De Mille, asked him to write another cowboy ballet a few years later, he at first refused. De Mille did not give up, however, and Copland finally agreed to compose the ballet "Rodeo" in 1942. The music he wrote was perfect for the story about a cowgirl who dresses as a cowboy to impress the head wrangler on the ranch.

Copland extracted music from the ballet shortly after its permiere to what is now the more frequently heard version, the "Four Dance Episodes from Rodeo," first performed in 1943 by the Boston Pops conducted by Arthur Fiedler. "Hoe-down" became even more famous through television advertisements by America's Beef Producers with the slogan "Beef. It's What's For Dinner."

"Hoe-Down" opens by vamping the first bar of William H. Stepp's interpretation of the folk tune "Bonaparte's Retreat" (or "Bonyparte"), which will become a major theme in the piece. After a reprisal of the main "Rodeo" melody, the theme proper begins in the strings, as the horns play a simple counterpoint. Instead of building to a climax, this section segues into "McLeod's Reel," performed by various solo instruments. Then Copland briefly introduces the Irish theme, "Gilderoy." As the work builds towards its end, the "Bonaparte's Retreat" theme is reintroduced in canon, before returning to the "Rodeo," theme, which slows into the climactic "kiss between the Cowgirl and the Roper." "Bonaparte's Retreat" is then resumed by the full orchestra, which ends the piece with a grand fanfare.

Orchestrated in various configurations of "strings" (with some fun pitch-bended "fiddles"), I've added "brass," plucked basses, "banjos" and percussion, including the necessary "wood blocks" true to the original.

This piece is dedicated to my American relatives and friends.