Lincoln Portrait


Lincoln Portrait is a classical orchestral work written by the American composer Aaron Copland. The work involves a full orchestra, with particular emphasis on the brass section at climactic moments. The work is narrated with the reading of excerpts of Abraham Lincoln's great documents, including the Gettysburg Address. An orchestra usually invites a prominent person to be the narrator.

History

Conductor Andre Kostelanetz commissioned Copland to write a musical portrait of an "eminent American" for the New York Philharmonic. Copland used material from speeches and letters of Lincoln and quoted original folk songs of the period, including "Camptown Races" and "On Springfield Mountain".
Copland finished Lincoln Portrait in April 1942.
The first performance was by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra on 14 May 1942, with William Adams as the narrator.

Texts

Together with some descriptive comments on Lincoln, the work contains the following excerpts from his speeches:

Fellow citizens, we cannot escape history. We of this congress and this administration will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance or
insignificance can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass will light us down in honor or dishonor to the latest generation. We, even we here, hold the power and bear the responsibility.
The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves and then we shall save our country.
It is the eternal struggle between two principles, right and wrong, throughout the world. It is the same spirit that says 'you toil and work and earn bread, and I'll eat it.' No matter in what shape it comes, whether from the mouth of a king who seeks to bestride the people of his own nation, and live by the fruit of their labor, or from one race of men as an apology for enslaving another race, it is the same tyrannical principle.
As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy. Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is no democracy.
That from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion. That we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain. That this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom and that government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the earth.

Instrumentation

Lincoln Portrait is scored for speaker and an orchestra consisting of the following instruments:
Woodwinds
Brass
Percussion
Keyboards
Strings

Notable narrators

Notable narrators of Lincoln Portrait have included:
, an Argentine actress resident in Venezuela and an opponent of the repressive regime of Venezuelan President Marcos Pérez Jiménez, was credited with sparking the popular uprising that led to his removal from power. Aaron Copland had come to Caracas to conduct the first Venezuelan performance of Lincoln Portrait on March 27, 1957. A New York Times reviewer said it had a "magical effect" on the audience.
As Copland recalled, "To everyone's surprise, the reigning dictator, who had rarely dared to be seen in public, arrived at the last possible moment." On that evening Juana Sujo was the fiery narrator who performed the spoken-word parts of the piece. When she spoke the final words, "... that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth," the audience rose and began cheering and shouting so loudly that Copland could not hear the remainder of the music. Copland continued, "It was not long after that the dictator was deposed and fled from the country. I was later told by an American foreign service officer that the Lincoln Portrait was credited with having inspired the first public demonstration against him. That, in effect, it had started a revolution."

Popular culture

The composition was lampooned by Peter Schickele in his piece Bach Portrait on the album 1712 Overture and Other Musical Assaults. Another parody, "A Quayle Portrait" by Jeff Ehrhart, features quotes from former U.S. Vice President Dan Quayle.
Nine minutes of the composition, without narration, plays during the climactic one-on-one sequence between Jake and Jesus Shuttlesworth in the 1998 Spike Lee film, He Got Game. In the film, Jesus Shuttlesworth is a student at Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn.