In a sense, Aaron Copland was to the 20th century what Walt Whitman was to the 19th. What Whitman did through poetry, Copland did through music -- celebrate the grandeur and majesty of the American nation, the vigor and optimism of the American people.
Like Bartok and Sibelius, Chopin and Tchaikovsky, Copland will be forever linked with the music of his nation and his people. His life and work was truly, a "Fanfare for the Common Man."
