About the House

Photo: Geoffrey Notkin

he house known as Rock Hill was built around 1940 on Lower Washington Street, in a section of the city of Peekskill that subsequently became part of Cortlandt Manor. Originally constructed by an architect for himself, the six-room, ranch-style house with a separate cottage and garage sits atop 2.5 secluded, hilly acres in a quiet residential area. As a visitor leaves the road and ascends a long, winding driveway through the woods, the House comes gradually into view. One’s first impressions are of lush greenery and stone walls; the large picture windows afford a glimpse of knotty pine within.

Photo: Geoffrey Notkin

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Aaron Copland bought Rock Hill in 1960, after several years of renting houses in New York's lower Hudson River Valley. He moved in following that summer's Tanglewood Festival, and was still surrounded by unpacked cartons when journalists from Time and Newsweek visited the house to interview him for his coming 60th birthday in November. Though born and raised in Brooklyn and a city-dweller for many years, Copland adored country living (and this house in particular). As he explained to his biographer, Vivian Perlis, "one look at the grounds [at Rock Hill] with the Hudson in the distance, the gardens, and woods, and the house with the separate studio, and I was sold! When I first saw the studio, I said that it looked like a room where a composer could write music." He lived at Rock Hill for three decades, longer than in any of his previous homes.

Photo: Geoffrey Notkin

During those years, Rock Hill served as the base from which Copland pursued his multifaceted international career. Although his compositional work was then winding down, Copland worked on a considerable amount of music at Rock Hill, including the Nonet for strings, Emblems for symphonic band, the orchestration of much of the great Eight Poems of Emily Dickinson, the Duo for flute and piano, and the orchestral works Connotations, Inscape, and Music for a Great City. He was also pursuing extensive activities as a conductor, recording artist, author, lecturer, and, as always, tireless proponent of contemporary music. The house became a mecca of musical activity, with a steady stream of visitors that included aspiring young composers, illustrious colleagues, interviewers, scholars, and schoolchildren.

Photo: Geoffrey Notkin

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While Copland House was never intended to be a museum, reminders of Copland’s presence are to be found throughout. His own workdesk (made of wide-plank barnwood supported by a simple saw-horse-like base, characteristic in its simplicity and practicality) still stands where Copland placed it in the studio – right next to a brand new grand piano generously provided by Steinway & Sons.

Photos of Copland and his friends and colleagues, books and magazines (musical and literary) that he loved to read, and various other memorabilia are to be found at the house. One may enjoy what is left of Copland’s beloved view of the Hudson River through now-mature trees while sitting on a Harvard chair, a memento of his occasional activities at that institution.

Copland House, Inc. hopes this historic home will convey a sense of Copland’s values and personality. The comfortable, unpretentious surroundings in which the composer lived certainly reflect the "atmosphere of tranquility and seclusion" that Copland found so necessary for his work. Above all, Copland House and all its activities represents a living embodiment of this extraordinary man’s lifelong, fervent advocacy of American music and its creators.