Gratuitous Musickal Posting (TM)

Happy birthday, Aaron Copland, born this day in 1900.

Truth be told, I'm not particularly interested in his music, although I recognize its importance. The folk influence gets old fast and I've no stomach for Everyman sympathies. No, the reason I post in commemoration of his birthday is the fact that I actually met him when I was a boy - he came to do a concert in San Antonio and it was my parents' turn to host the Symphony Society reception. My dim recollection was that he was a grumpy old man.

Anyhoo, given the impossibility of meeting Bach or Mozart or Haydn - at least this side of the veil - that brief handshake-now-go-to-bed will probably be the closest Brush With Musickal Greatness I'll ever have.

BTW, if you want a good laugh, be sure to check out Peter Schickele's riff on Copland's "Lincoln Portrait" entitled "Bach Portrait," a very clever aping of Copland's style, liberally sprinkled with other musical quotes and coupled with a goofy yet historically accurate commentary on ol' J.S.