Aaron Copland - Fanfare For The Common Man

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This is an adaptation of a classical piece written in 1942 by the American composer Aaron Copland for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.This fanfare was written on request from Eugene Goossens, conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, in response to the US entry into the Second World War and inspired by a speech given by the US vice president, Henry A Wallace, referring to the "century of the common man.". During the First World War, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra had asked British composers for a fanfare to begin each orchestral concert. It had been so successful that he thought to repeat the procedure in World War II with American composers. Goossens suggested titles like Fanfare for Soldiers, but Copland gave it the much better title Fanfare for the Common Man.

It was ELP keyboard player Keith Emerson who initiated the idea, transposing the song so the keyboard was the main instrument. According to Greg Lake, the recording came together spontaneously in the studio - as Emerson was playing the piece, Lake came in with a shuffle pattern on bass, and Carl Palmer added his drums. The engineer was rolling tape, and this first time the band played the song through is what made the album.

According to Emerson, "...it needed transposing, so I did that first. I wanted to improvise in a key that was sort of bluesy. It ended up in E. The rest of it was straightforward, really. You know, in order to get the shuffle sound, the timing had to be changed, but it was common sense." In another interview, Lake remarks: "We got a very ‘live’ dirty R & B sound that was really incredible. And all done with one microphone. We hadn’t played together for quite a while before that, apart from rehearsals and stuff. 'Fanfare' was thoroughly jammed, from top to bottom."

Stewart Young, ELP's manager from 1972–present, made this comment on the documentary Beyond the Beginning: "The interesting thing... was that we had to get the permission of Aaron Copland, the composer. The publishing house said forget it. So I got Mr Copland's home number, called him up and he was very friendly on the phone. And he says "Send it to me, let me listen." And he loved it. He called me and said "This is brilliant, this is fantastic. This is doing something to my music."

In an interview with Melissa Merli of The News-Gazette, Emerson said: "I know that Aaron Copland for one admired my adaptation. The BBC radio people in England interviewed him shortly before he passed and got his opinion, and it was very complimentary."

In a BBC Radio interview, Copland relayed his reaction to the piece:

Interviewer: Just before I left London, I heard a piece of music of yours, Fanfare for the Common Man, which had been taken by a rock group Emerson, Lake & Palmer. How do you feel about that?

Copland: Well, (laughs) of course it's very flattering to have one's music adopted by so popular a group, and so good a group as Emerson, Lake & Palmer. A lot depends on what they do with what they take, and naturally since I have a copyright on such material, they're not able to take it without my permission; so that in each case, where I have given my permission, there was something that attracted me about the version that they perform, which made me think I'd like to allow them to release it. Of course, I always prefer my own version best, but (laughs) what they do is really around the piece, you might say, rather than a literal transposition of the piece, and they're a gifted group. In that particular case, I allowed it to go by because when they first play it, they play it fairly straight and when they end the piece, they play it very straight. What they do in the middle, I'm not sure exactly how they connect that with my music but (laughs) they do it someway, I suppose. But the fact that at the beginning and the end it really is the Fanfare for the Common Man gave me the feeling I ought to allow them to do it as they pleased.

Interviewer: I know your original work is just over three minutes and Emerson, Lake & Palmer have managed to turn it into a nine minute work.

Copland: (Laughs) Exactly, well, it's those six minutes in the middle...(laughs)

[Here is Emerson. Lake, and Palmer's adaptation of the piece](https://hooktube.com/c2zurZig4L8). This is an adaptation of a classical piece written in 1942 by the American composer Aaron Copland for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.This fanfare was written on request from Eugene Goossens, conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, in response to the US entry into the Second World War and inspired by a speech given by the US vice president, Henry A Wallace, referring to the "century of the common man.". During the First World War, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra had asked British composers for a fanfare to begin each orchestral concert. It had been so successful that he thought to repeat the procedure in World War II with American composers. Goossens suggested titles like Fanfare for Soldiers, but Copland gave it the much better title Fanfare for the Common Man. It was ELP keyboard player Keith Emerson who initiated the idea, transposing the song so the keyboard was the main instrument. According to Greg Lake, the recording came together spontaneously in the studio - as Emerson was playing the piece, Lake came in with a shuffle pattern on bass, and Carl Palmer added his drums. The engineer was rolling tape, and this first time the band played the song through is what made the album. According to Emerson, "...it needed transposing, so I did that first. I wanted to improvise in a key that was sort of bluesy. It ended up in E. The rest of it was straightforward, really. You know, in order to get the shuffle sound, the timing had to be changed, but it was common sense." In another interview, Lake remarks: "We got a very ‘live’ dirty R & B sound that was really incredible. And all done with one microphone. We hadn’t played together for quite a while before that, apart from rehearsals and stuff. 'Fanfare' was thoroughly jammed, from top to bottom." Stewart Young, ELP's manager from 1972–present, made this comment on the documentary Beyond the Beginning: "The interesting thing... was that we had to get the permission of Aaron Copland, the composer. The publishing house said forget it. So I got Mr Copland's home number, called him up and he was very friendly on the phone. And he says "Send it to me, let me listen." And he loved it. He called me and said "This is brilliant, this is fantastic. This is doing something to my music." In an interview with Melissa Merli of The News-Gazette, Emerson said: "I know that Aaron Copland for one admired my adaptation. The BBC radio people in England interviewed him shortly before he passed and got his opinion, and it was very complimentary." In a BBC Radio interview, Copland relayed his reaction to the piece: Interviewer: Just before I left London, I heard a piece of music of yours, Fanfare for the Common Man, which had been taken by a rock group Emerson, Lake & Palmer. How do you feel about that? Copland: Well, (laughs) of course it's very flattering to have one's music adopted by so popular a group, and so good a group as Emerson, Lake & Palmer. A lot depends on what they do with what they take, and naturally since I have a copyright on such material, they're not able to take it without my permission; so that in each case, where I have given my permission, there was something that attracted me about the version that they perform, which made me think I'd like to allow them to release it. Of course, I always prefer my own version best, but (laughs) what they do is really around the piece, you might say, rather than a literal transposition of the piece, and they're a gifted group. In that particular case, I allowed it to go by because when they first play it, they play it fairly straight and when they end the piece, they play it very straight. What they do in the middle, I'm not sure exactly how they connect that with my music but (laughs) they do it someway, I suppose. But the fact that at the beginning and the end it really is the Fanfare for the Common Man gave me the feeling I ought to allow them to do it as they pleased. Interviewer: I know your original work is just over three minutes and Emerson, Lake & Palmer have managed to turn it into a nine minute work. Copland: (Laughs) Exactly, well, it's those six minutes in the middle...(laughs)

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