Apland-achian Spring

Aaron Copland; Appalachian Spring; The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra; Hugh Wolff, conducting

My cousin Dale is four years older than me. His dad and my dad were brothers and lived on farms four miles apart. Dale and his sister Sarah went to a different school district than my sisters and me, and so I didn’t see them very much. After he graduated from high school he went to a vocational school called University of South Dakota – Springfield. And some time in the mid 80’s, my family and I traveled to the southern part of the state to attend his wedding. Our paths crossed very little. I’m not even sure where he and his family lived for ten years.

In the summer of 1995, when I was through with one cruise ship and waiting for the next, my dad told me, “Your cousin Dale is building a house down the road. It would be good for you to stop in and check to see what he’s doing once in a while.” Oh. Really? I've got a lot of stuff to do. I haven’t seen Dale in years and we have virtually no background. I’ve seen him at Christmas and at Sunday School. I don’t know the first thing about building a house. My dad gazed at me and said, “Dale is building his own house. Isn’t that incredible?”

Well. I found myself driving into his yard one mid-afternoon on my way home from something, and no sooner got my door opened when I heard in that high-pitched voice so like his father’s, “Hey! Glad to see you could stop by. Come over here. I need you to hold this.” Five hours later he said, “I’m tired and hungry. I’m going home.” What time do you need me in the morning? “8 o’clock. I’m getting the roof ready to shingle.”

His property sits a little way up from the Sioux River Valley and has views to the west and to the north. The sunsets there are tremendous; particularly from the roof. But, on a warm dry midmorning we could hear somebody cultivating corn a mile away. The birds were singing up a storm in the little grove down in the draw. The sweet smell of alfalfa drying in the sun wafted down the hill on a cool breeze. And the range of the topics of our conversations was colossal. What countries did you visit on the cruise ships? How do you measure the dry wall? Did you go to Uncle Chris’ funeral so many years ago? Who helped you draw up the blue print? Did you get to Norway and Denmark on your travels? Do you imagine our dads will be able to retire from farming? Whatever happened to your motorcycle? Do you remember how Uncle Orville could sock the bejesus out of a softball? Is there going to be a garage? How much do you remember about Grandpa? How much has the change from Lutheranism to Catholicism affected your life? Whatever happened to Pastor Ronald B.? Are you going to plant any trees? What were the names of all of Grandma’s brothers and sisters? Did you ever hear the story of how Great Grandpa Elias moved from Iowa to Oldham, SD? … And when we were done talking, there was a house in front of us.

Before a spade even licked the dirt on Dale’s property, the parent side of my dad allowed him to see immediately the importance of this project to my cousin Dale. I almost sensed a hint of envy in my dad whenever he bragged about Dale’s house to others. It took me the time that it takes to build a house for me to detect the significance of this monumental undertaking in the life of my cousin.

Aaron Copland’s “Appalachian Spring” is a ballet score that was written in 1944 to be premiered at The Library of Congress in Washington, DC. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1945. The request for this piece was from the great choreographer Martha Graham, merely asking for “music for an American ballet”. So, not knowing what she would do with it, he tried to give it an American flavor, and lent a Shaker bent to it by borrowing the hymn “Gift To Be Simple” for brilliant variations with a rich, pompous and powerful statement to climax the story. The story associated with the music is very loose. It tells of early 1800's pioneers who assemble to build a farmhouse for a newly wed couple in the Appalachian Mountains of Pennsylvania. After the house is built there is a dance with fiddlers. And with the Shaker tune and its variations representing the new daily life of the couple, the scene concludes with them “quiet and strong in their new house”. Copland’s music here, like Gershwin’s “Rhapsody In Blue”, is patriotic to me. These two, and other, great American composers are able to bring aural personification of American ideals to their music.

In 2007, one of Dale’s daughters announced her engagement. And an alarm went off in Dale’s soul. It’s time to build the barn. And in August of 2009, with only a week to spare, the barn was finished on Lutefisk Ridge in time to complete the scene. Complete with a wedding reception and a dance. No fiddlers.

Credits: To my cousin Dale, for his American Dream, and letting me help.