El Salón México

El Salón México is a symphonic composition in one movement by Aaron

Copland, which uses Mexican folk music extensively. The work is a musical
depiction of an eponymous dance hall in Mexico City and even carries the
subtitle, "A Popular Type Dance Hall in Mexico City." Copland began the work
in 1932 and completed it in 1936. The Mexico Symphony Orchestra gave the
first performance under the direction of Carlos Chávez (1937). The piece was
premiered in the U.S. in 1938. Although Copland visited Mexico early in the
1930s, he based this tone poem not on songs he heard there, but rather on
written sheet music for at least four Mexican folk songs that he had obtained:
"El Palo Verde," "La Jesusita," "El Mosco," and "El Malacate." The powerful
refrain that appears in the piece three times stems from "El Palo Verde."
Critics have variously described the piece as containing two, three, or four
parts, but many listeners find that it moves seamlessly from one theme to
another with no clear internal boundaries.

At least two arrangements of the piece exist in addition to the orchestral

score. Copland adapted the work for the 1947 musical film Fiesta, directed by
Richard Thorpe for MGM. Leonard Bernstein created arrangements for solo
piano and for two pianos, four-hands very shortly after the premiere.