BORROW OR STEAL?

Written by Jamie Bernstein

(OVERVIEW)
 
In this tuneful, engaging concert, Jamie explores how the music of Charles Ives, Aaron Copland, and her father, Leonard Bernstein, all connect to each other through their respective use of pre-existing materials—including sometimes each other's!

(EXCERPT)

It's no secret that composers quote each other. So, is that stealing? Or borrowing? Or is it the sincerest form of flattery? Or what? Tonight we're investigating these questions through the music of three different 20th century American composers, each of whom quotes other people's music within their own.  

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Ives was 77 by the time his Second Symphony had its premiere at Carnegie Hall, 50 whole years after he'd composed it. By then, Charles Ives had become a full-blown curmudgeon who had grown thoroughly and justifiably annoyed by the music world's lack of respect for his innovative approach to composition. So he declined to attend the premiere. But friends and family members finally persuaded him to at least listen to the radio broadcast at a neighbor's house. And what he heard so elated him that, according to my father, Charles Ives went home and – cut off his beard! I guess at the age of 77, that could be the equivalent of kicking up your heels and yelling "Wahooo!!"