Professor Carol A. Hess has published a new book, Aaron Copland in Latin America: Music and Cultural Politics (University of Illinois Press). In it she gives an in-depth examination of the composer’s exchange of music and ideas with Latin American composers. 

Hess’s book has been awarded funding from the Fellowships Open Book Program of the National Endowment for the Humanities. The program is an initiative to make recently published books freely available online. In the spirit of furthering scholarship, the program allows teachers, students, scholars, and the public to read humanities books that can be downloaded or redistributed for no charge. 

Between 1941 and 1963, Copland made four government-sponsored tours of Latin America that drew extensive attention at home and abroad. In Latin America, Copland introduced works by U.S. composers (including himself) through lectures, radio broadcasts, live performance, and conversations. Back at home, he used his celebrity to draw attention to regional composers he admired. Interviews with eyewitnesses, previously untapped Latin American press accounts, and Copland’s own diaries are among the sources Hess uses to bring perspective to Copland as a composer-diplomat.