The New World

Although this composer adopted various styles, he remains best known for mythologizing the historical American experience in a broadly accessible musical language. This ballet, one of several written in the late 1930s and early 40s, tells the story of a notorious historical outlaw. The composer, who was born in and lived most of his life in New York City, rather enjoyed the irony of his music becoming nearly synonymous with the rugged beauty and mythology of the American West