long line
English composer
Definition
Copland's gift for melodic writing that breathes in long phrases, often spanning many bars before resolving — a quality shared with his teacher Nadia Boulanger.
Interpretive Guidance
The long melodic line in Copland requires breath-shaped phrasing: a gentle rise toward a peak, a natural taper at the end, and no cutting of phrase tails. In the Sonata's third movement, each phrase must feel inevitable and unhurried. Do not subdivide the phrase into smaller gestures.