Wiki User December 08, 2009 3:08PM. His parents were Harris Morris Copland and Sarah Mittenthal Copland. Copland, the son of Russian-Jewish immigrants, was born in New York City and attended public schools there. From Alzheimer's disease and Respiratory Failure. Among their five children, Aaron was the youngest one. An older sister taught him to play the piano, and by the Aaron Copland was born to a conservative Jewish family of Lithuanian origin on 14 November 1900, in Brooklyn, New York. Aaron Copland, American composer who achieved a distinctive musical characterization of American themes in an expressive modern style. His remains were cremated and scattered at Tanglewood. How did Aaron Copland die? Aaron Copland.