Aaron Copland’s Forgotten Score Premieres At Last

Written on November 10, 2011 – 11:17 pm | by Jaxon Hallahan

American composer Aaron Copland began work on Quiet City in 1939 and completed it two years later. A lonely trumpet and an English horn, backed by hushed strings, offer an ode to New York.

The orchestral version of Quiet City is fairly well known, but there’s more to this story. Another version has recently come to light.

Quiet City was music that Aaron Copland wrote for playwright Irwin Shaw. Shaw’s play of the same name was a flop that never made it out of previews — and Copland’s original score for trumpet, saxophone, clarinets and piano was never published. But composer and saxophonist Christopher Brellochs recently unearthed the manuscript and recorded the world premiere of Quiet City in its original form.

Music For Teenagers