Which American composer wrote 'Appalachian Spring'?

Aaron Copland composed Appalachian Spring. He wrote the ballet in 1944 for choreographer Martha Graham, creating a distinctly American work whose open harmonies and folk-like melodies evoke rural landscapes and community life.

Graham commissioned the piece for a chamber ensemble, and the ballet premiered in Washington, D.C., on October 30, 1944. Its original title was simply Ballet for Martha. The name Appalachian Spring was chosen later, after poet Hart Crane's poem “The Dance,” and was not intended to describe a literal spring in the Appalachian Mountains.

The score became especially famous through Copland's orchestral suite, premiered in 1945. That version uses a larger orchestra and includes variations on the Shaker hymn “Simple Gifts,” one of the work's most recognizable passages. Charles Ives, Leonard Bernstein, and Samuel Barber were also important American composers, but Appalachian Spring is specifically associated with Copland.