Lincoln Portrait (also known as A Lincoln Portrait) is a classical orchestral work written by the American composer Aaron Copland. The work involves a full orchestra, with particular emphasis on the brass section at climactic moments. The work is narrated with the reading of excerpts of Abraham Lincoln's great documents, including the Gettysburg Address.
Copland was asked to write a musical portrait of an "eminent American" by the conductor Andre Kostelanetz. Copland used material from speeches and letters of Lincoln and quoted original folk songs of the period, including "Camptown Races" and "Springfield Mountain". Copland finished Lincoln Portrait in April 1942.
The first performance was by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra on 14 May 1942, with William Adams as the narrator.
Together with some descriptive comments on Lincoln ("Abe Lincoln was a quiet and a melancholy man"), the work contains the following excerpts from his speeches:
Fellow citizens, we cannot escape history. We of this congress and this administration will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance or insignificance can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass will light us down in honor or dishonor to the latest generation. We, even we here, hold the power and bear the responsibility. (Annual Message to Congress, December 1, 1862)
The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves and then we shall save our country. (Annual Message to Congress, December 1, 1862)
It is the eternal struggle between two principles, right and wrong, throughout the world. It is the same spirit that says 'you toil and work and earn bread, and I'll eat it.' No matter in what shape it comes, whether from the mouth of a king who seeks to bestride the people of his own nation, and live by the fruit of their labor, or from one race of men as an apology for enslaving another race, it is the same tyrannical principle." (Lincoln-Douglas debates, October 15, 1858)
As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy. Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is no democracy. (Unknown, though in Lincoln's Collected Works)
That from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion. That we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain. That this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom and that government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the earth. (Gettysburg Address)
Lincoln Portrait is scored for a speaker and an orchestra:
2 flutes (doubling 2 piccolos)
2 oboes
English horn (optional)
2 clarinets in B-flat
bass clarinet
2 bassoons
contrabassoon (optional)
4 horns
3 trumpets in B-flat (two required; one optional)
3 trombones
tuba
timpani
snare drum
cymbals
bass drum
tamtam
glockenspiel
sleigh bells
xylophone
celesta (optional)
harp
strings
Famous narrators of Lincoln Portrait have included:
Neil Armstrong, Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, conducted by Erich Kunzel, both times at Riverbend Music Center (1984 and 2009)
Marian Anderson, Philadelphia Orchestra, conducted by Seiji Ozawa and Aaron Copland, both times at Saratoga Springs (1966 and 1977)
Alec Baldwin, Philadelphia Orchestra 2009
Richard Butler (Governor of Tasmania), Sydney Symphony Orchestra
President Bill Clinton with the Arkansas Symphony, conducted by David Itkin. March 2003; recorded March 2003.
Judy Collins from the album "Portrait of an American Girl" (2005)
Aaron Copland, National Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Leonard Bernstein. 14 November 1980 - 80th Birthday concert
Peter Coyote, Symphony Napa Valley, 29 March 2015.
Walter Cronkite, U.S. Air Force Symphony Orchestra
Clifton Davis, Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Fabio Mechetti, at Times-Union Center for the Performing Arts Florida, USA, 2009
Richard DeVos, Grand Rapids Symphony, conducted by David Lockington. 2000.
Melvyn Douglas, Boston Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Serge Koussevitzky. Recorded by RCA Victor 7 February 1946.
Hugh Downs at the age of 91 with the Phoenix Symphony, conducted by Michael Christie, for the Centennial Celebration of the State of Arizona, February 2012
Sergeant Major Michael R. Dudley, Boston Pops Orchestra, Memorial Day, 2000, and The United States Army Band (Pershing's Own) Washington,DC, April 16, 2004
Julius Erving, Philadelphia Orchestra, 1991
Frankie Faison, Montclair State University Orchestra, Spring 2000
Henry Fonda, London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Aaron Copland, at Walthamstow London, 1968
Danny Glover, Appleton West High School Wind Ensemble, Fox Cities PAC, December 2002
The Reverend Professor Peter J. Gomes, Boston Symphony Orchestra, July 2009
Vice President Al Gore, New York Philharmonic
Washington State Governor Chris Gregoire, Seattle Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Adam Stern
Tom Hanks, U.S. Armed Forces Symphony, at the We Are One celebration, 18 January 2009
Katharine Hepburn, Cincinnati Pops Orchestra conducted by Erich Kunzel (1988 Grammy Award nominee)
Charlton Heston, Utah Symphony Orchestra
Samuel L. Jackson, Orchestra of St. Luke's conducted by James Levine
James Earl Jones has performed the piece several times, including with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, and at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's Lincoln Bicentennial Celebration in February 2009, as well as with the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra (David Itkin, conductor), February 1999.
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, Symphony by the Sea, at the Newburyport Yankee Homecoming, 29 July 2006
Ambassador Douglas W. Kmiec, United States Ambassador to Malta, July 4, 2010 Celebration of our "common humanity" and "self evident truth," Upper Barrakka Gardens, Valletta, Malta.
George McGovern, South Dakota Symphony Orchestra, October 2012 in his last public appearance before his death
Walter Mondale, Minnesota Orchestra
Robert A. Muh, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Boston Pops, conducted by Keith Lockhart, 4 June 2009
Paul Newman, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra
President Barack Obama, Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Gregory Peck, Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra
Vincent Price, Yale Symphony Orchestra, Leif Bjaland conductor
Esther Rolle
Mario Ruffini, Philadelphia All City Orchestra conducted by Dan Liuzzi, Florence, Piazza della Signoria, Loggia dei Lanzi, 27 giugno 2015 / World premiere in the Italian version / FOG-Festival Orchestre Giovanili
Carl Sandburg, New York Philharmonic, conducted by Andre Kostelanetz, 1959. Sandburg's narration won a Grammy Award in 1960.
Norman Schwarzkopf, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra
Willie Stargell
Adlai Stevenson, Philadelphia Orchestra, conducted by Eugene Ormandy (and recorded by Columbia Records)
James Taylor with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, conducted by John Williams
Margaret Thatcher, London Symphony Orchestra
Gore Vidal, Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas, at Hollywood Bowl, 2 August 2007
William Warfield, several orchestras and conductors. Warfield's narration won a Grammy Award in 1984.
L. Douglas Wilder, with the Virginia Commonwealth University Wind Ensemble, conducted by Dr. Terry Austin
Frank J. Williams, Rhode Island Philharmonic, February 2009
The composition was lampooned by Peter Schickele ("P. D. Q. Bach") in his piece Bach Portrait on the album 1712 Overture and Other Musical Assaults. Another parody by Jeff Ehrhart featuring quotes from Dan Quayle appeared on The Dr. Demento Show in the early 1990s.
Nine minutes of the composition, without narration (from a late 1960s recording by the London Symphony Orchestra), plays during the climactic one-on-one sequence between Jake and Jesus Shuttlesworth (played by Denzel Washington and Ray Allen) in the 1998 Spike Lee film, He Got Game. In the film, Jesus Shuttlesworth is a student at Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn.
