The Sixties

Once recovered from the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)’s machinations, Copland made his two final State Department–sponsored trips to Latin America: in 1962 (Mexico, Uruguay, and Brazil) and 1963 (Brazil, Argentina, Chile, and Colombia). Sponsored by the American Specialists Program, he was expected to “provide … living refutation to communist-inspired lies” about the United States. This chapter details Copland’s efforts to distance himself from his image as a tuneful, folkloric composer, which proved inconsequential among elites. At least two critics reporting on his lectures wrote at some length on what they perceived as his discomfort with avant-garde music. Still, as at home, the broad public applauded his “Americana” style.