George Copeland
George Copeland was an American classical pianist known primarily for his relationship with the French composer Claude Debussy in the early 20th century and his interpretations of modern Spanish piano works.
Image:1920GeorgeCopelandPhoto.jpg|thumb|George Copeland ca. 1918
Education and early career (1882-1903)
A native of Massachusetts, George A. Copeland Jr. began piano studies as a child with Calixa Lavallée, a music critic, champion of American music, and prolific composer of children's pedagogical music. Copeland later worked at the New England Conservatory with Carl Baermann.While still a student in Boston in the late 1890s, Copeland formed a duo with cellist T. Handasyd Cabot. Copeland's first performance of a piece by Debussy in January 1904 was a shared recital with Cabot in which they also played the Cello Sonata No. 1 by Brahms. A month after this performance, they appeared as a trio with Karel Ondříček, a concertmaster of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and member of the Kneisel Quartet.
Copeland traveled to Europe to study with Giuseppe Buonamici in Florence. While in Europe, he also studied with Teresa Carreño in Berlin. Copeland returned to the United States in the spring of 1903; a year later, Copeland was coached in either Boston or Paris by the English-American pianist Harold Bauer, concentrating on the works of Robert Schumann. Bauer was considered a Schumann specialist at the time, and would later publish his own edition of the complete piano music of Schumann for G. Schirmer. Copeland only performed two pieces of Schumann on his programs: the Symphonic Studies, Op. 13 and Faschingsschwank aus Wien, Op. 26. The former work was commonly found in his concerts before the 1920s, and he recorded the latter piece in the early 1960s; the recording is available on the Pearl CD "Piano Masters: George Copeland".
Copeland and Spanish music
Copeland became an Iberian specialist, performing works of Isaac Albéniz, Manuel de Falla, Enrique Granados, and others throughout the United States and Europe. In 1909, he introduced three of Albéniz's Iberia suite to the United States, playing "El Albaicín," "Malaga", and "Triana" in Boston. He quickly dropped these works from his repertoire, only including "El Polo" from the "Iberia" suite in his programs.Copeland and Debussy
On January 15, 1904, Copeland gave one of the earliest-known performance of Debussy's piano works in the United States, playing the Deux Arabesques at Steinert Hall in Boston. Copeland was not the first to perform Debussy in the United States; that honor went to Helen Hopekirk, a Scottish pianist who programmed the Deux Arabesques in Boston in 1902. A survey of his programs shows that from the first time he programmed the Deux arabesques, he performed at least one work of Debussy at every recital he played for the remainder of his life.In 1911, he met Debussy in Paris and spent several months studying with the composer, discussing and playing all of Debussy's piano works. This was a turning point in Copeland's life; until his death 60 years later, Copeland would recall his time with Debussy with the greatest affection and reverence, both in print and in conversation with friends. In 1913, Copeland gave the following account of their discussions:
"I have never heard anyone play the piano in my life who understood the tone of every note as you do," remarked Debussy. "Come again tomorrow." This seemed praise indeed and I did go tomorrow. I found him much more genial than on my first visit, and then I went time after time, until finally I was with him about twice a week for three months. I bought new copies of his works, which he marked for me; I played his works and he criticized my work and showed me what to do and how to do it. In the end, he admitted that I played him just as he wanted to be played and represented to the people.
By 1955, Copeland had modified his account to have Debussy say: "I never dreamed that I would hear my music played like that in my lifetime. In this later version, Copeland claimed that their meetings were daily, for four months, including periods of playing as well as long walks in the countryside.
Copeland gave several U.S. premieres of Debussy's works, as well as a handful of confirmed and likely world premieres. The most important of these latter was the world premiere of numbers X and XI of the Etudes on November 21, 1916, at Aeolian Hall in New York City. The program included Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 23, Debussy's two piano work En blanc et noir performed with Copeland's student Elizabeth Gordon, and miscellaneous short pieces. The anonymous critic for Musical Courier was not particularly impressed with the Études, writing "Novelties...included two etudes by Debussy. The latter, in themselves, are not so absorbing as some of the composer's more familiar pieces, but as played by Mr. Copeland they acquired a delicate tone and glowing imagery that were surpassingly beautiful." Copeland concluded the recital with his own arrangement of "The Blue Danube". Several weeks later, he repeated the program in Boston. Philip Hale seemed more enthusiastic than his New York counterpart: "The two new pieces by Debussy afforded the pianist an effective opportunity for displaying the vaporous quality of tone, the imagination and finesse for which he is now famous."
| Repertoire | Location | Date |
| Deux arabesques | Steinert Hall, Boston, MA | January 15, 1904 |
| Passepied and Clair de lune ; Prélude | Steinert Hall, Boston, MA | April 17, 1906 |
| Nocturne | Steinert Hall, Boston, MA | February 28, 1908 |
| Reflets dans l'eau ; Cortège et air de dance ; Et la lune descend sur le temple qui fut | Chickering Hall, Boston, MA | November 24, 1908 |
| Pagodes | Potter Hall, Boston, MA | December 20, 1908 |
| L'isle joyeuse | Potter Hall, Boston, MA | January 17, 1909 |
| Hommage à Rameau ; Poissons d'or | Chickering Hall, Boston, MA | February 16, 1909 |
| Suite Bergamasque ; Cloches à travers les feuilles | Chickering Hall, Boston, MA | April 26, 1909 |
| Le petite berger ; Danse sacrée et danse profane | Chickering Hall, Boston, MA | November 2, 1909 |
| La soirée dans Grenade ; Des pas sur la neige, Minstrels, Voiles, La sérénade interrompue, La cathédrale engloutie, La danse de Puck | Jordan Hall, Boston, MA | November 10, 1910 |
| Danseuses de Delphes, Le vent dans la plaines, Les sons et les parfums tournent dans l'air du soir, Les collines d'Anacapri, La fille aux cheveux lin | Jordan Hall, Boston, MA | February 14, 1911 |
| Bruyères, Ondine, La terrasse des audiences du clair de lune, Brouillards, Les fées sont d'exquises danseuses, Général Lavine - eccentric, La puerta del Vino, Feux d'artifice | Jordan Hall, Boston, MA | November 13, 1913 |
| La boîte à joujoux | The Fairmont Copley Plaza Hotel, Boston, MA | March 24, 1914 |
| Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune | Jordan Hall, Boston, MA | January 7, 1915 |
| Berceuse héroïque; Feuilles Mortes | Jordan Hall, Boston, MA | February 18, 1915 |
| Étude 10 pour les sonorités opposées, Étude 11 pour les arpèges composés | Aeolian Hall, New York, NY | November 21, 1916 |
Building a career (1905-1914)
Copeland's connection with Debussy and his embrace of French music helped him immensely. A newspaper item from 1909 said that Copeland was "the most expert and sensitive of all the pianists whom Boston ordinarily hears to the music of Debussy, Ravel, and the new French composers in general." In 1908, Copeland and a group of friends formed "The Lekeu Club," a chamber group named after Belgian composer Guillaume Lekeu. The club included T. Handasyd Cabot on cello, violinists Frederick Mahn and Frank Currier, violist Alfred Girtzen, and Copeland. Unfortunately the group was short-lived, performing only from c. February 1908 to April 1909, but they offered intriguing music to the Boston area, including the Piano Quintet by Franck, Piano Trio in A minor by Tchaikovsky, and the Piano Quintet in F minor by Brahms. Chamber works were interspersed with piano solos, always of course including some Debussy.Copeland made his English debut at Leighton House Museum in 1910 as a supporting artist to French mezzo-soprano Blanche Marchesi. He played a group of solos that included Debussy's "Poissons d'or" and Felix Mendelssohn's Scherzo, Op. 16, No. 2, and also evinced a gift for accompanying, as noted by a reviewer:
"...Mr. Copeland illustrated the possession of a technique as rare as it is welcome to-day among a race of giant pianists too apt to regard the piano as a monster to be subdued rather than as a fairy to be courted. How beautifully such accomplishment as Mr. Copeland's can be employed in the accompaniment of singing is only to be understood by those fortune enough to have heard him accompany Madame Marchesi..."
Early in his career, Copeland often appeared in joint recitals with a number of singers including Evelyn Scotney and Julia Culp.
Vaudeville and Isadora (1914-1917)
In 1914, the vaudeville impresario Benjamin Franklin Keith offered Copeland a lucrative contract to perform in his Boston vaudeville house. Copeland's initial performance was top-billed, with advertising reading "The Celebrated Pianist GEORGE COPELAND In a Brilliant Program." After several years of performing in vaudeville, Copeland believed that the audiences who went to the vaudeville houses were more open-minded than traditional classical audiences, and that playing in vaudeville was beneficial for classical musicians:I went into vaudeville with the sole aim of giving pleasure, not to educate the masses. I found that the people who frequented vaudeville theatres were much more eager for and appreciative of good music than the average concert audience. They were more appreciative because they came desirous of enjoying, not of finding fault, which is more than I can say of concert audiences. Their instincts were good and fine, and their response to my work immediate and really enthusiastic. The usual recital audience defies you to make good, and comes, with few exceptions, to find out what they don't like. This, obviously, doesn't help the artist or the public. Another thing, one is well paid for one's work, one does not have to depend on eccentricities, a peculiar name, or home-made foreign reputation. The work is a delight from every point of view.In 1915, he was hired to play for the dancer Isadora Duncan. They performed a series of dances by Chopin at the Century Opera House in New York.