Copland to Hold Norton Poetry Post Next Year

Composer Aaron Copland will hold the Charles Eliot Norton Professorship of Poetry next year, it was learned yesterday. It is not known whether the appointment has yet received final Corporation and Overseer approval.

Copland will fill the post for one year, delivering six or more public lectures. He is also expected to give at least one course in the Music Department, although his selection occurred so recently that no final decision has yet been reached.

Currently in Rome as a composer in residence at the American Academy, Copland will succeed playwright Thornton Wilder in the post. Two other composers, Paul Hindemith and Igor Strvinsky have held the position in recent years.

May Be House Resident

Members of the Music Department did not know yesterday whether Copland, who is unmarried, would live in one of the Houses while at the University; Wilder is currently living in Dunster.

Copland today is one of the most-played of living American-born composers. His 50th birthday last fall was marked by praise from all over the world.

He first won recognition in the 20's for his modern music which emphasized dissonances and jazz rhythms. Copland was the first American composer to win a Guggenheim fellowship. In 1945 he got a Pulitzer Prize for "Appalachian Springs" and last year an Academy Award for his score for "The Heiress."