# Hidden Classical Gem of the Day: Copland's "Ukelele Serenade" (1926)



## christomacin (Oct 21, 2017)

> Aaron Copland's "Nocturne" and "Ukulele Serenade", premiered in 1926, are more prickly and provocative than Copland's later, familiar neo-classical Americana. The "Serenade," especially, pushes boundaries. Rhythms tumble; melodies scurry and, in the violin, skid into woozy quarter-tone corners. It's Copland's impression of hot jazz: brittle, agitated, with angular, tripwire syncopations. However, except for a short bit of strummed violin pizzicato, what it doesn't seem to sound all that much like is a ukulele. But maybe Copland wasn't chasing the instrument itself, but rather the milieu into which it settled.
> 
> The ukulele, a Hawaiian adaptation of small guitars brought by Portuguese immigrants, became a fad on the strength of two show-business phenomena. First was "The Bird of Paradise," Richard Walton Tully's "Madam Butterfly"-like Hawaiian drama, which opened in Los Angeles in 1911, on Broadway the following January, and thereafter toured for years, almost always featuring Hawaiian musicians. Even more influential were twice-daily performances by George A. K. Awai's Royal Hawaiian Quartet at the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco, featuring the ukelele and the lap-steel guitar (another Hawaiian innovation; its swaying nasality created its own vogue).
> 
> Cheap, portable, easy to play, the ukulele achieved jazz-age ubiquity. In vaudeville and on Broadway, it took star billing in novelty acts. Copland's "Serenade" seems to channel two of the era's most famous practitioners. The offhanded strumming echoes Cliff "Ukulele Ike" Edwards, who parlayed an easygoing comedic style into stardom on Broadway and Hollywood (most famously as the voice of Jiminy Cricket in "Pinocchio"). The faster sections evoke the high-energy virtuosity of Roy Smeck, the "Wizard of the Strings," who attacked the instrument with a barrage of tricky, intricate, and even unorthodox techniques.


In Copland's 'Ukulele Serenade,' echoes of an era
(By Matthew Guerrieri, Boston Globe, March 10, 2016)


----------



## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Copland's great! Love this, from the same period as the serenade


----------



## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

I'd never even heard of this. And I thought I wasn't doing too badly by knowing works like _Hear Ye! Hear Ye!_ and _Grohg_. :lol:


----------



## christomacin (Oct 21, 2017)

Mandryka said:


> Copland's great! Love this, from the same period as the serenade


The complete original score was only re-discovered quite recently. The Dance Symphony and Cortege Macabre were both derived from this score, but I think it supersedes both of them now that it has resurfaced. I think Grogh is the best thing her wrote before El Salon Mexico and the beginning of his populist period. The Piano Concerto and Organ Symphony are OK, but this is better.


----------



## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

elgars ghost said:


> I'd never even heard of this. And I thought I wasn't doing too badly by knowing works like _Hear Ye! Hear Ye!_ and _Grohg_. :lol:


But _certainly_ you've heard of Copland's greatest musical exponent, a true soloistic champion of the composer's ukelele output?









A true _giant_, who certainly needs no introduction, I'm sure.


----------



## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

^
^

Heh heh. I never noticed before that TT was a leftie like Albert King, Jimi Hendrix and Tony Iommi.


----------



## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

elgars ghost said:


> ^
> ^
> 
> Heh heh. I never noticed before that TT was a leftie like Albert King, Jimi Hendrix and Tony Iommi.


Apparently, Copland was a "leftie", too.

"[Copland] was involved with the Communist party up to his ears," the distinguished New York music critic Terry Teachout told AP.... Copland's communist sympathies were very much of their time. His identification with the people was at the root of his own aesthetic and of his view of the role of the artist. "Musicians make music out of feelings aroused out of public events," he boldly told his Senate inquisitors in 1953. This commitment - communist, populist or liberal- is at the root of much of Copland's art. In his authoritative 1999 biography of Copland, Howard Pollack quotes the composer as saying: "The artist should feel himself affirmed and buoyed up by his community. In other words, art and the life of art must mean something, in the deepest sense, to the everyday citizen. When that happens, America will have achieved a maturity to which every sincere artist will have contributed."
To the end (he died in 1990), Copland remained a man of the people and a man of the left. But he always knew where to draw the line.

Quoted from: The Guardian.


----------



## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

I hadn't heard _Ukelele Serenade_ before. Interesting piece, it really reminds me of Ives' violin sonatas. Even though performances of Ives' music where rare at the time, they did take place, and the composer distributed his scores to any musician for free.

In terms of Copland's output, the contemporaneous _Vitebsk_ for piano trio has similarities:






Its more on the serious side, although there is the dance bit in the middle. I first heard this in a chamber recital, and I remember the pianist talking about and demonstrating the microtones, in an attempt at bracing the audience for a piece that isn't much like Copland's famous pieces. At the same time, I do hear the spritely rhythms reminiscent of Stravinsky, who was an enduring influence.

Talking of his early period, I really like the _Piano Concerto_. To me, it speaks to the darker side of city life, giving a sense of edginess and grit. His later _Piano Sonata_ has some of the same vibe. Otherwise, I like his _Clarinet Concerto_, the three American themed ballets, _El Salon Mexico_, and _Old American Songs_.


----------



## NoCoPilot (Nov 9, 2020)

Michael Guerriere said:


> Aaron Copland's "Nocturne" and "Ukulele Serenade", premiered in 1926, are more prickly and provocative than Copland's later, familiar neo-classical Americana. The "Serenade," especially, pushes boundaries. Rhythms tumble; melodies scurry and, in the violin, skid into woozy quarter-tone corners. It's Copland's impression of hot jazz: brittle, agitated, with angular, tripwire syncopations.


"Hot jazz" as in the bistros of Paris in the '20s, with gypsy violinists and Gus Viseur and Django Reinhardt. Was Stephan Grappelli from this era too? Certainly not what we think of as "jazz" today, although well after 1926 Aaron Copland explored jazz in its more modern forms.


----------



## NoCoPilot (Nov 9, 2020)

elgars ghost said:


> TT was a leftie like Albert King, Jimi Hendrix and Tony Iommi.


Well, not TOO much like them.


----------



## agustis (Feb 3, 2021)

Interesting...I guess I'm not a fan but still enjoyed the listening experience. Thanks!


----------



## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

That's what I think is good about hearing these sorts of obscure works by major composers. They can be interesting, even if you don't like them.

In a live setting, they can act as a bit of a palate cleanser to contrast with familiar repertoire. As I mentioned, I remember first hearing Vitebsk in a recital where the main work was by Beethoven.

There are a number of videos of live performances of both pieces on youtube, and judging by that, its getting a bit of an airing regularly. Most major 20th century composers wrote pieces which, like these, are not too difficult to include in chamber concerts.


----------

