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Collection Aaron Copland Collection

B

From "Ballade of Ozzie Powell" to "Billy the Kid (Suite)" (3 works)

Ballade of Ozzie Powell
Form: Mixed chorus and piano
Date: December 1936-January 1937
Text: Langston Hughes: "Ballad of Ozie Powell"
Publisher: Unpublished
Publisher: Unpublished
Timing: circa 2'
Notes: unfinished. Music was used in Music for Radio. Ozie Powell – not "Ozzie" – was one of the Scottsboro Boys
Billy the Kid
Form: Ballet
Date: 1938
Scenario: Lincoln Kirstein
Choreography: William Loring
First performance: 16 October 1938. Chicago. Ballet Caravan
Publisher: Not published as a ballet
Timing: 35'
Notes: Copland arranged a Suite from Billy the Kid in 1938. Correspondence involving publication and performances of the suite may be accessed through the entry for the suite
Related digital items:
Billy the Kid (Suite)
Form: Orchestra. Arranged for two pianos; excerpts arranged for piano
Date: 1938
First performance: 9 November 1940. New York. NBC Symphony Orchestra, cond. William Steinberg
Publisher: (Orchestra): Boosey & Hawkes
Date of publication: 1941
Timing: 22'
Contents: (Titles taken from two-piano version): I. The Open Prairie II. In a Frontier Town A. Cowboys with Lassos B. Mexican Dance and Finale III. Billy and His Sweetheart IV. Celebration of Billy's Capture V. Billy's Demise VI. The Open Prairie Again
Notes: the suite is in fact continuous. The orchestral version as published has no titles besides "Introduction: The Open Prairie" and "Scene IA: Street in a Frontier Town." Various other versions supply the following variant titles: for IIA, "Cowboys Amble By." For III. "Prairie Night and Waltz from Billy the Kid."
Related digital items: