Fanfare for the Common Man

Uncommon card · No. 161430

Fanfare for the Common Man is a musical work by the American composer Aaron Copland. It was written in 1942 for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (which premiered it on March 12, 1943) under conductor Eugene Goossens and was inspired in part by a speech made earlier that year by then American Vice President, Henry A. Wallace, in which Wallace proclaimed the dawning of the "Century of the Common Man". Several alternative versions have been made and fragments of the work have appeared in many subsequent U.S. and British cultural productions, such as in the musical scores of films. In June 2026, CBS News included the work in its list of the 250 essential American songs of the past 250 years.

Read on Wikipedia · Image CBS Television, Public domain