It was August of 1942 when Aaron Copland received a letter from Eugene Goosens, the British conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Goosens had decided to replicate a project he had done in Britain during World War I, when he had commissioned British composers to write patriotic fanfares to help with the war effort. The idea was to do the same thing with American composers, as the United States had recently entered World War II. Copland was one of 18 composers who agreed to write a piece, and during the 1942-1943 season, the Cincinnati Symphony performed the new fanfares as the opening works on concerts between October 1942 and April 1943. Copland delivered his fanfare in November, and Goosens was immediately struck not only by the music, but by the title of the work. Whereas most of the works that were submitted had military or nationalistic titles, Copland chose to title his work Fanfare for the Common Man, a term which had been coined by Henry Wallace, Vice President during Franklin Roosevelt’s third term. Wallace had called the twentieth century the “century of the common man,” and Copland was drawn to the phrase, writing, “It was the common man, after all, who was doing all the dirty work in the war and the army. He deserved a fanfare.” Goosens was so enamored of the piece that he chose to program the work on the orchestra’s March 12, 1943 concert, since it was close to income tax time in the U.S. Copland later recalled, “I was all for honoring the common man at income tax time.”
The three-minute work for brass and percussion was an immediate success—Copland later went on to incorporate it into the finale of his Third Symphony—and is the only one of the original 18 fanfares to have found a permanent home in the standard repertoire. Copland’s ability to create an atmosphere of majesty is unparalleled. Opening with arresting percussion, three trumpets, playing in unison, intone a simple theme, a stirring clarion call of honor. The work builds as the remainder of the instruments join, section by section, until all the brass and percussion, together as an army, bring forth an extraordinarily powerful wall of sound. The effect is magnificent, stirring, heroic, and everything Goosens had hoped for in terms of galvanizing the war effort. Fanfare for the Common Man far exceeded that initial goal, however, and has continued to be utilized on countless occasions, from Olympic competitions to public memorials. Eighty years after its premiere, the work has penetrated the American psyche as a representation of the ideals of heroism, sacrifice and community—principles that sometimes seem lost, but can still resonate deeply, inside every “common man.”