新澳门六合彩内幕信息

Music Diplomacy: Professor Traces Impact of State Department, Aaron Copland鈥檚 Latin American Outreach

Blogs
Professor in a portrait photo to the left of her book cover in a diptych
Carol A. Hess (left), Distinguished Professor of Music, has taken a deep dive into musical diplomacy with her most recent book, 鈥淎aron Copland in Latin America,鈥 published this year. The book cover (right) shows Copland (seated left) with Mexican composer Carlos Cha虂vez, surrounded by composers (standing from left) Domingo Santa Cruz of Chile, Alberto Ginastera of Argentina and Juan B. Plaza of Venezuela.

The U.S. Department of State launched in October the Global Music Diplomacy Initiative to elevate music as a diplomatic tool to promote peace and exchange of ideas. In partnership with the music industry, the initiative includes a music mentorship program to bring artists from around the world to the United States for networking and training; a fellowship for scholars researching the intersection of arts and science; and using music as an English language learning tool around the globe.  

So, what鈥檚 the State Department doing in the music business? The State Department has a long music diplomacy history, and , a musicologist and distinguished professor of music at the University of California, Davis, has written two books on the U.S. government鈥檚 cultural and mostly musical outreach. Her  most recent , was published in February, and , published in 2013.

Hess 鈥 who in 1994 became the first person to earn a doctorate in musicology at 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis 鈥  has been the beneficiary of cultural diplomacy programs in the form of two Fulbright Fellowships to teach in Spain and Argentina. Those fellowships sparked her interest in the State Department programs.  

When she entered the field, scholars were paying scant attention to Latin American classical music and almost none to music of the 19th and 20th centuries in the region, let alone cultural diplomacy in Latin America.  

鈥淚n the 1990s, several musicologists began working on the special challenges involved with music and cultural diplomacy,鈥 said Hess, who returned to the as a professor in 2012. 鈥淢ost of these scholars, however, worked on the East-West divide of the Cold War. I realized that the Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking world wasn鈥檛 getting much attention, so I decided to plunge into that.鈥 

Building bridges, championing Latin American music 

Copland is best known for his accessible compositions, often connected to celebratory narratives and vernacular music of the United States; the title of his Fanfare for the Common Man encapsulates his musical philosophy. Among his other popular works are the ballets Appalachian Spring, Billy the Kid and Rodeo.  

Despite a plethora of research on Copland, no scholar had ever explored his cultural diplomacy in Latin America. In Aaron Copland in Latin America, Hess documents Copland鈥檚 four State Department Latin American trips, which took place between 1943 and 1963. He conducted concerts (often programming his own music), gave talks and interviews, and sometimes traveled to rural areas with messages of cultural connectivity. Copland鈥檚 Latin American travels drew widespread attention in the media. He was a tireless promotor of the State Department programs, giving talks and writing about them for mainstream publications. Copland鈥檚 tours were so significant that they are mentioned prominently in the State Department鈥檚 recent announcement of the new diplomacy initiative along with tours by Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington and others starting in the 1950s. 

鈥淚t鈥檚 one thing to say Copland was a cultural diplomat, but when we actually become aware of what he did on a daily basis, it鈥檚 quite impressive,鈥 Hess said. 鈥淥ther scholars have worked on cultural diplomacy in broad geopolitical terms 鈥 they鈥檝e done essential work 鈥 but I wanted to address these big themes while also taking the reader behind the scenes a bit. How many meetings with composers, radio broadcasts, press interviews or embassy receptions might be on his agenda? This angle of cultural diplomacy 鈥 the sheer amount of work involved and how it fits into the bigger picture 鈥 isn鈥檛 often explored.鈥 

One of Copland鈥檚 most important achievements was drawing attention to Latin American composers. 

鈥淐opland鈥檚 Latin American colleagues resented being typecast as purveyors of cheery, folkloric, maracas-and-drums works that invite U.S. listeners to a 鈥榮outh of the border fiesta,鈥欌 said Hess, who has written extensively about the music of Latin America and Spain, including books about composers Manual de Falla and Enrique Granados and dozens of scholarly articles.  

Several Latin American composers did embrace a folkloric style, but others pushed the boundaries with avant-garde techniques. Having come late to the avant-garde himself, Copland didn鈥檛 initially support the latter group鈥檚 efforts, but eventually advocated for their music.  

Like Copland, Hess is a champion of Latin American music with her students at 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis and many others through her 2018 textbook Experiencing Latin American Music, winner of the American Musicological Society鈥檚 Teaching Award.鈥 

鈥淢any people worldwide know Latin American popular music but have no clue that Latin American classical music exists,鈥 Hess said. 鈥淪tudents are usually intrigued when I inform them how pervasively Latin American classical music has been ignored.鈥 

Cultural diplomacy cuts across political divides 

The period covered in the Copland book spans World War II and the early Cold War, a time of shifting priorities in U.S.-Latin America relations, already tarnished by a long history of U.S. interventionism. Cultural diplomacy programs with Latin America were part of the fight against European fascism before and during World War II, thanks to former President Franklin Roosevelt鈥檚 Good Neighbor policy. In the Cold War, when communism was seen as the great threat, the United States resumed interventionism or supported anticommunist dictators in Latin America. Many Latin Americans concluded that the Good Neighbor policy had been insincere. 

Copland did not have an easy assignment,鈥 Hess said. 鈥淵et he spoke glowingly about the State Department and its cultural diplomacy programs.鈥  

The early Cold War wasn鈥檛 a great time to do that. 

In the 1950s, the State Department came under intense scrutiny by U.S. Sen. Joseph McCarthy and others, who alleged communist infiltration. Because of his leftist political activities during the 1930s, along with his enthusiasm for the State Department, Copland was questioned by McCarthy and investigated by the FBI.  

Overall, State Department arts programs have had wide-ranging support among those of various political stripes. The sponsor of what would become the State Department鈥檚 Fulbright Scholarship and Fellowship program was U.S. Rep. J. William Fulbright, a Democrat from Arkansas with a mixed record on segregation but an opponent of McCarthy鈥檚 communist witch hunt.  

Republican multibillionaire Nelson Rockefeller, who eventually served as governor of New York, assistant secretary of state and vice president, was appointed by the Democratic Roosevelt administration as coordinator of Inter-American Affairs in which cultural diplomacy was a major component. 

This across-the-aisle support continues, even in today鈥檚 rancorous and sharply divided U.S. Congress. 

The State Department鈥檚 new Global Music Diplomacy Initiative was made possible by the PEACE Through Music Diplomacy Act sponsored by U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, a Texas Republican,鈥痑nd U.S. senators Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican, and Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat.  

鈥淚t鈥檚 interesting to see the range of politicians who support these programs,鈥 Hess said.

U.S. cultural diplomacy initiatives have been criticized as 鈥渁rt washing鈥 propaganda to promote U.S. political and economic interests, and in the case of tours by jazz giants in the 1950s, an attempt to show that the United States wasn鈥檛 a racist nation. Hess is well aware of such criticisms, and acknowledges hypocrisy in cultural diplomacy, such as proclaiming solidarity with Latin America while supporting repressive regimes.  

鈥淪till, I get irritated by those who say the whole thing is just an imperialist ploy,鈥 Hess said. 鈥淵es, imperialism guided many unfortunate policy decisions. But it鈥檚 important to remember that in the cultural realm, affective bonds were forged by individuals 鈥 by people like Copland. Copland treated the composers he met with respect and he remained an advocate and a friend to many for years after the tours ended. These benefits of cultural diplomacy can鈥檛 be measured in spreadsheets or cost-benefit analyses. Yet they run deep and, in Copland鈥檚 case, are fondly remembered today.鈥 

Media Resources

Jeffrey Day, jaaday@ucdavis.edu

Primary Category

Secondary Categories

Society, Arts & Culture

Tags