ABSTRACT
Aaron Copland identified himself early on as a composer "anxious to write a work that would immediately be recognized as American in character." This chapter investigates the external identifications Copland encountered in Paris through the French stereotyping of American culture, especially the representation of the United States as a land of industrialized mass production. These discourses were particularly virulent in the French reception of jazz as a modern artistic medium, and one of some dispute in terms of its suitability for compositional engagement. Jazz also played an important role in the cultural mediation of Copland's teacher, Nadia Boulanger, and influenced her part in the construction of Copland as an "American" composer. In her thirties, Nadia Boulanger shifted the focus of her professional life toward a career in performance and teaching, with both formal and informal involvements in concert management.
