“…one of the happiest things for me is in the last movement which begins outside of yourself, almost historically or Shakespearean – those massive fanfares – and how slowly but surely the artist takes this sounding machine and digests it thru himself, more and more personalizing the ‘historical’ and surely and firmly bringing all into the line and pulse of the artist’s heart, conquered, true and personal; and then, name of names, the personal self is stronger than history or outside old forms!”
Letter from Clifford Odets to Aaron Copland, 1953, found in the Copland Collection at the Library of Congress
