Symphony No. 3

Symphony No. 3, symphony for orchestra by American composer Aaron Copland that premiered in Boston on October 18, 1946, with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and its conductor, Serge Koussevitzky, who had commissioned the work.

The first movement begins with a gentle theme from the woodwinds and strings recalling the dawn. There are bolder interjections from the brass section, but the languid spirit of the opening is never lost. By contrast, the second movement begins with a shout of timpani and brass, reminiscent of the composer’s Fanfare for the Common Man (1942), written a few years earlier. The movement is dominated by high-spirited and dancelike ideas, which appear in turn with heroic declarations. The symphony’s slowest tempi are in the poignant and reflective third movement.

The fourth movement opens with the triumphant main theme of Fanfare for the Common Man, though it is unexpectedly whispered by the woodwinds before it reemerges assertively in the brass and percussion. Much of the fourth movement builds on the Fanfare for the Common Man’s signature rising three-note arpeggio, which Copland reimagines in a variety of new guises.