[1] He spent the time during this trip giving lectures and concerts after returning once again to Havana, which he considered to be a special place to him.

[2] This trip to Havana led him to write two pieces: Las agachadas, a choral work, and the Danzón cubano, for two pianos.

The composer premiered this work together with Leonard Bernstein on this occasion and dedicated it to Rudy Burckhardt, who was a friend of Copland and his lover who accompanied them while on their trip to Havana.

It was later compiled in an orchestral anthology of Copland's works, together with Quiet City, Lincoln Portrait, the Clarinet Concerto, and Three Latin-American Sketches.

[6] One of the last performances that Copland gave was in a concert by American fellow musician and Principal Pianist at the New York Philharmonic Paul Jacobs on December 15, 1979.

In the concert, Jacobs discussed the influence of jazz in modern classical music, as he performed pieces by Frederic Rzewski, William Bolcom and Copland's own Four Piano Blues.

The orchestral arrangement of the Danzón is scored for a piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, a cor anglais, two clarinets in B-flat, one bass clarinet in B-flat, two bassoons, one contrabassoon, four horns in F, three trumpets in B-flat, three trombones, a tuba, timpani, a xylophone, a large percussion section consisting of a bass drum, Chinese blocks, claves, a cowbell, cymbals, a gourd, maracas, a slapstick, a snare drum, and a woodblock, a piano and a large string section.