Rodeo (ballet)

The choreographer was given considerable creative control, choosing Aaron Copland as the composer after being impressed by his previous ballet, Billy the Kid.

Though Copland was initially reluctant to compose "another Cowboy ballet," De Mille persuaded him that this show would mark a significant departure from his previous work.

As de Mille found herself occupied with instructing a highly international cast in the mannerisms of American cowboys, Copland recommended that Oliver Smith design the sets,[1] in what would prove to be a prescient action.

Meanwhile, Copland arranged the music as a symphonic suite for orchestra titled Four Dance Episodes from Rodeo, which consisted chiefly of removing "Ranch House Party" and minor adjustments to the final two sections.

Though many of Copland's works incorporate traditional American folk tunes, Rodeo is unique in that it leaves them quite intact in the score, with very little alteration on the part of the composer.

The well-known main theme of "Hoe-Down" is based on a unique version of the American folk song "Bonyparte" or "Bonaparte's Retreat," played by Salyersville, Kentucky fiddler William Hamilton Stepp, which was recorded in 1937 by Alan Lomax for the Library of Congress.

An extremely skilled dancer, the choreographer nonetheless felt awkward in the offstage world, and the Cowgirl's unwillingness to subscribe to traditional gender roles mirrors De Mille's experience.

The cowboys enter to the railroad tune of "Sis Joe", envisioned by de Mille as an event "like thunder," which Copland obliges with heavy drums and brass.

Indeed, the section (written by Leonard Bernstein on behalf of an overworked Copland) opens with a honky-tonk theme played on a piano, accompanied by a more thoughtful clarinet.

[3] While the "Texas minuet" of the "Saturday Night Waltz" plays de Mille's transcribed version of "I Ride an Old Paint" (also known as "Houlihan") the cowboys and their girls pair off.

Finally, the "Hoe-Down" opens by vamping the first bar of William Hamilton Stepp's interpretation of the folk tune "Bonaparte's Retreat", which will become a major theme of the section.

[3] Building toward the end, Copland reintroduces "Bonaparte's Retreat" in canon, before returning to the Rodeo theme, which slows into the climactic kiss between the Cowgirl and the Roper.

Against this backdrop, the Cowgirl emotes strength, awkwardness, confidence, femininity and vulnerability, while executing rapid-fire footwork and pantomime, which mimics the bronco-busting of the men.

Any comic dancer who plays the Cowgirl must succeed at being a failure, only to emerge triumphant in the end when she finally dons a dress for dance night.

The girl in this case is a cowgirl, a tomboy whose desperate efforts to become one of the ranch's cowhands create a problem for the cowboys and make her the laughingstock of womankind.

Progressive rock band Emerson, Lake & Palmer recorded a version of "Hoe-Down" (with the title changed slightly to "Hoedown") for their 1972 album Trilogy.

At Bob Dylan's performances during his "Never-Ending Tour", he is introduced by his stage manager reading a short biography with "Hoe-Down" playing in the background.

"Hoe-Down" served as the basis for the soundtrack cue "In Training" from the film An American Tail: Fievel Goes West, composed by James Horner.