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Revision as of 18:33, 23 October 2005 by 66.170.164.138 (talk)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)El Salón México is a symphonic composition in one movement by Aaron Copland, in which he uses Mexican folk music as his theme. The work is a musical depiction of an eponymous dance hall in Mexico City and even carries the subtitle, "A Popular Type Dance Hall in Mexico City." Copland began the work in 1932 and completed it in 1936. The worldwide premiere of the piece was by the Mexico Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Carlos Chávez (1937). The piece was premiered in the U.S. in 1938. Although Copland visited Mexico early in the 1930s, he based this tone poem not on songs he heard there, but rather on written sheet music from at least four Mexican folk songs that he had obtained: El Palo Verde, La Jesusita, El Mosco, and El Malacate. The powerful refrain that appears in the piece three times was derived from El Palo Verde. The piece has variously been described by critics as containing two, three, or four parts, but many listeners find that it moves seamlessly from one theme to another with no clear internal boundaries.
At least two arrangements of the piece exist in addition to the orchestral score. Copland developed an arrangement of the work for the 1947 musical film Fiesta directed by Richard Thorpe for MGM. Leonard Bernstein developed an arrangement for solo piano.
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