ENJ P8(U21 24) 68-82 1PP
540
7/18/06
3:30 PM
Page 540
TWENTIETH-CENTURY NATIONALISM
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Listening Guide
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Copland: Billy the Kid, Scene 1, Street in a Frontier Town
89"GDB
DATE OF WORK:
89"GDB
1938 (ballet first performed); 1939 (orchestral suite)
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GENRE:
BASIS:
SECTIONS OF
ORCHESTRAL SUITE:
89"GDB
Orchestral suite from ballet
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Actual story of outlaw William Bonney (called
Billy the Kid)
The Open Prairie
Street in a Frontier Town
Prairie Night (Card Game at Night)
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Gun Battle
Celebration (after Billy’s capture)
Billy’s Death
Copland’s notes on the ballet: The ballet begins and ends on the open prairie. The first scene
is a street in a frontier town. Cowboys saunter into town, some on horseback, others on foot with
their lassos; some Mexican women do a jarabe, which is interrupted by a fight between two
drunks. Attracted by the gathering crowd, Billy is seen for the first time, a boy of twelve, with his
mother. The brawl turns ugly, guns are drawn, and in some unaccountable way, Billy’s mother is
killed. Without an instant’s hesitation, in cold fury, Billy draws a knife from a cowhand’s sheath
and stabs his mother’s slayers. His short but famous career has begun. In swift succession we see
episodes in Billy’s later life—at night, under the stars, in a quiet card game with his outlaw
friends, hunted by a posse led by his former friend Pat Garrett, in a gun battle. A drunken celebration takes place when he is captured. Billy makes one of his legendary escapes from prison. Tired
and worn out in the desert, Billy rests with his girl. Finally the posse catches up with him.
WHAT TO LISTEN FOR:
Melodic paraphrases of a number of classic cowboy songs.
Shifting meters, including a dance in 5/8, and much syncopation.
Accented dissonance and polytonal harmonies.
Extensive use of percussion.
Dramatic and dissonant climax at end (death of Billy’s mother).
Street in a Frontier Town; Moderato
Piccolo solo, with tune
Great Grand-Dad:
.
. . œ. œ. . œ. j . . œ. . . . œ. etc.
b
œ
b
œ
œ œ. . œ. œ œ œ œ œ œ
b
C
b
&
Other woodwinds join in dialogue.
New tune (paraphrased from Git
Along, Little Dogies) in oboe and
trumpet, almost in unison, with
dissonance on strong beat (x):
-x œ. œ. ˙- œ. œ. ˙- œ. œ. œ. ˙- . etc.
.
n˙
œ
bb
&b b
Great Grand-Dad heard in piccolo, while strings enter with dissonant tune from above.
Alternation of 2 tunes—the first in wood-winds and strings, second in trombones.
Trumpet, with new, shifting-meter tune
(4 + 3 + 4 + 3), and accompaniment
in opposite meter (3 + 4 + 3 + 4):
etc.
> œ œ b˙> bœ >œ bœ> >œ œ b œ b>˙ bœ> bœ>
b˙
ŒŒ
& bœ
Strings take up shifting-meter tune; brass and strings return to dissonant tune, which dies out.
ENJ P8(U21 24) 68-82 1PP
7/18/06
3:30 PM
Page 541
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Nationalism in the Americas
Large chords played fortissimo in full orchestra, punctuated by bass drum;
disjunct tune based on The Old Chisolm Trail.
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
Quick dance tune in strings in 4/4
(loosely based on The Old Chisolm
Trail), accompanied by syncopated
woodblock:
Trombones enter with tune from The
Streets of Laredo:
&bc
f
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ >œ >œ œ œ œetc.
œ
œ
œ
œ
&b
£
£
£
£
£
jœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
b
c
Œ
‰
&
œ
œ
£
£
&b œ œ œ œ œ œ ˙
Dance tune continues, with interjections of earlier dissonant tune in oboe and trumpet.
Opening tune heard in piccolo and clarinet, more animated, with grace notes and
harmonics in strings and sleigh bells, followed by slower, legato melody in low strings
and brass (based on The Streets of Laredo).
Mexican dance (jarabe) and finale;
trumpet, with melody in 5/8 meter
(based on Git Along, Little Dogies),
accompanied by wood-block and
gourd (accents shown with x’s):
j 4
j
58 bœ œ œj bœ
œ
œ
œ
8˙
œ
œ
&
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
etc.
j
j
58
œ
œ
œ
œ
bœ
bœ
œ
œ
œ
& œ œ œ
J
J
x
Violins enter with tune Goodbye,
Old Paint in legato, 3/4 meter;
alternate with oboe playing verse
of same cowboy song:
x
58
x
x
#3 œ
& 4
˙
œ
#
œ ˙
œ
& ˙
˙
˙
x
œ
x
œ œ œ
œ œ œ œ
˙
Goodbye, Old Paint continues in fabric of complex polyphony; full orchestra plays tune,
alternating chorus and verse; trans-formed as it builds to climax.
3 loud chords, followed by 2 low notes (gun-shots), end section.
Billy the Kid—the Brooklyn-born William Bonney—had a brief but intense
career as a desperado and soon became one of the legends of the Wild West. The ballet touches on the chief episodes of his life. We see him first as a boy of twelve; when
his mother is killed by a stray bullet in a street brawl, he stabs the man responsible
for her death. Later, during a card game, he is accused of cheating and kills the
accuser. Captured after a gun battle, he is put in jail, but he murders his jailer and
gets away. A romantic interlude ensues when Billy joins his Mexican sweetheart in
the desert. But he is tracked down and killed by his childhood friend Sheriff Pat Garrett. At the close, we hear a lament on the death of the notorious outlaw.
The concert suite Copland put together for Billy the Kid contains about two-thirds
x
etc.
541