Aaron Copland and the American Legacy of Gustav Mahler by Matthew Mugmon (review)

In his book, Matthew Mugmon examines Aaron Copland's various roles—student of Nadia Boulanger, composer, "symphonic advisor" to Serge Koussevitzky (p. 126), teacher to Leonard Bernstein, and conductor—in his advocacy of Gustav Mahler and develops several fascinating issues. First, that the dichotomy of modernism and romanticism represents the shift in styles underlying Copland's view of Mahler's music—from emphasizing the modernistic aspects in the 1920s to gradually embracing romanticism in the 1930s. The dichotomy also played a role in Copland's own compositions, as he sought inspiration for modern American sound in Austro-German tradition; in Koussevitzky's concert programming, as he tried to balance modern music and standard repertoire; and in Bernstein's compositions and Mahler interpretations. Second, Austro-German music is more deeply connected to twentieth-century American music than commonly recognized. In Mugmon's words, he examines "Copland's relationship with the music of Mahler as a lens through which to observe the role—until now, a largely hidden one—of Austro-German music in the development of American music in the twentieth century" (p. 5). Further, Mugmon suggests that methodologies used in reception history should include private encounters and, in the case of the Mahler–Copland–Bernstein connection, bridge the compartmentalized categories of composer and conductor.

The first two chapters set the stage for Copland's advocacy of Mahler. In "Mahler and Copland in New York," Mugmon presents the reception history of Mahler in New York and Copland's early years studying with Rubin Goldmark. He argues that Goldmark's remarks about Mahler's music being "ultra-modern" (p. 14) as well as Mahler's status as "on the outskirts of the orchestral mainstream" (p. 10) possibly made Mahler's music more attractive to Copland. As Mahler's popularity started rising in the 1920s, Copland departed for France to study with Boulanger from 1921 to 1924 and thus "did not witness the beginnings of this shift firsthand" (p. 17). Mugmon argues that "by the time Copland left for Paris, Mahler was new and marginal enough in the United States to resonate with Copland and to avoid a stigma of Austro-German dominance" (p. 19). In chapter 2, "Mahler in Nadia Boulanger's Studio and Beyond," Mugmon details Boulanger's engagement with Mahler's music from attending and reviewing the 1920 Mahler festival in Amsterdam, "ultimately [coming] to terms with Mahler's music not through musical styles but through an emotional potency that bridged national divides" (p. 26) to analyzing Mahler's music at "a motivic level" (p. 29), the same way she analyzed composers that she highly regarded, including Igor Stravinsky and Johann Sebastian Bach (p. 33). Through discussions in her studio, Boulanger encouraged Copland to engage with Mahler's music, and Copland's emphasis on textual clarity and interaction between individual instruments reflects Boulanger's influence. Further, the setting of Boulanger's studio demonstrates that "private conversations about music—and its value—could have public implications" (p. 40).

The following three chapters surround Copland's activities related to Mahler in writing and lectures, compositions, and seeking a model for his identity. In chapter 3, "Copland in Defense of Mahler," Mugmon chronicles Copland's advocacy from 1925 to 1957 in the context of Copland's own changing identity as a composer and the shifting atmosphere of the American musical scene. In his 1925 letter to the New York Times, Copland defended Mahler's music by attempting to "create a divide between romanticism and modernism, placing Mahler firmly on the modernist side of that divide" (p. 43), positioning Mahler as a predecessor to neoclassicism, and highlighting Mahler's "orchestration and counterpoint" (p. 44). Copland would embrace romanticism in Mahler's music by 1935. This shift, as Mugmon argues, reflects the "significant aesthetic reorientations around 1930" and his belief that...