The music was commissioned by Martha Graham, and was still only known as
The Ballet For Martha apparently until the day before the premier. The majority of the ballet was composed while Copland was in California and Mexico, with final touches added after he returned to Cambridge, Massachusetts to teach at Harvard University. Completed in 1944, its first performance was October 30, 1944, at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C [thx
wiki -ed.]
The "light, bouncy, happy" sound was meant to be shorthand for clear eyed American-ness, and has perhaps become a cliched cue in soundtracks... The modern, minimalist ballet by Graham strips it back a bit; good one to check off your
list.
