No one perhaps represent America better than Aaron Copland, the Dean of American Music.

Around the time of the Second World War, Copland produced his three ballets: Billy the Kid,
Rodeo, and Appalachian Spring. Appalachian Spring was commissioned by Martha Graham in 1943,
and the ballet tells the story of a farmhouse wedding in Pennsylvania in the early 1900s. Copland
arranged the famous section of Appalachian Spring featuring the Shaker melody “Simple Gift” to
Variations on a Shaker Melody, which will be played tonight.

This section of the ballet, which is included in this variation, describes the newlywed retreats to
their new home and reflecting on what is ahead. The variations opens mystically with hints of
“Simple Gift” in the violins and horns, then the full melody appears in the gentle Clarinet, which
is then passed to the oboe and the bassoon in the first variation. The second variation features the
violas on the melody, joined by a sparkly accompaniment in the flutes, glockenspiel, piano, and
harp and in a canon the rest of the string sections in. As the music transitions to the third
variation, the melody is first given to the festive trumpets and interjected with fireworks from the
violins and violas. The melody is then given back to the clarinets. In the fourth and final variation,
Copland unleashed the full force of the orchestra in the melody, played here triumphantly. The
music then ends by fading away into the distance.