updated 30 October 2012

Charles Ives

American composer born 20 October 1874 in Danbury, Connecticut; died 19 May 1954 in New York City.

Charles Edward Ives was born 20 October 1874, in the town of Danbury, Connecticut, where his family, over the generations, had become prominent businesspeople. His father, George, who served as a bandleader for the Union Army during the American Civil War, played a central role in his son’s education, teaching him the basics of the classical tradition while at the same time encouraging Charles’ taste in bold musical experimentation. Around the age of twelve, Ives began composing, while also playing the drum in the marching bands his father led. He learned piano and organ, the latter of which would become his primary instrument. At the age of fourteen, Ives was hired as a church organist at the Second Congregational Church in Danbury, becoming the state’s youngest professional organist. He was also highly athletic, and a passionate and devoted baseball player.

In 1893, he began attending Hopkins Grammar School in New Haven, and entered Yale University the following year, two months before the death of his father, which would affect him deeply. During this period he composed a series of settings for psalms as well as Variations on America for organ. During the four years Ives spent at Yale, he had an active social life, and was a member of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity and the Wolf’s Head Society. He studied Greek, Latin, mathematics, and literature, pursuing his composition studies with Horatio Parker, who helped him hone his knowledge of the European classical music tradition. Under Parker’s supervision, he composed his Symphonie n° 1 (1895-1898) as his senior thesis.

In 1898, Ives took a job with a New York insurance company, while continuing to play organ in different churches in the area. In 1906, he quit playing the organ professionally and gave up on the idea of a career as a musician. In 1907, he and his friend Julian W. Myrick, founded their own insurance agency, Ives & Myrick, where Ives worked until his retirement. It was during this period that Ives suffered his first heart attack, the precursor of other physical and mental health issues. His writings from the beginning of the twentieth century show his taste for experimentation, notably From the Steeples and the Mountains (1901-1902), for brass and bells; Hallowe’en, for string quartet and piano (1906); and his two Contemplations for small orchestra: The Unanswered Question and Central Park in the Dark (1906). In 1908, he married Harmony Twichell (the couple had met in 1905), who would remain a pillar for him throughout his life.

The insurance agency prospered during this time, and Ives spent evenings and weekends composing, sheltered from the major institutions and actors of the New York music scene, many of whom were unaware of his work. He was nevertheless prolific, creating daring and inspiring pieces such as the imposing Second sonata “Concord. Mass., 1840-60” (1911-1915) for piano; the Second string quartet (1911-1913); and orchestral pieces such as Three Places in New England (1911-1912) and Symphony n° 4 (1910-1916). In 1918, however, another series of heart attacks affected Ives’ health considerably; he fell into a period of depression and stopped composing almost entirely. His “Universe” Symphony (1911-1928), which he started during this period, remained incomplete. A private printing of Essays Before a Sonata was released in 1920, and, in 1922, a collection of 114 songs.

In 1930, Ives retired from his insurance agency and began revising his work. He championed the work of the rising generation of ultra-modern composers, financing their concerts and the publication of their scores. Between March and May of 1932, at the urging of his friends, he wrote Memos, a collection of his reminiscences and reflections, and then spent a year in Europe. Toward the end of the 1920s, Ives’ music had begun to attract attention in the music world, thanks in particular to Henry Cowell who published the second movement of Symphony n° 4 in New Music in 1927, and to Nicolas Slonimsky, who conducted performances of Three Places in New England in the United States and Europe in 1930 and 1932. John Kirkpatrick’s premiere of Ives’s complete “Concord” Sonata in 1939, and a Pulitzer Prize in 1947 for Symphony n° 3 (premiered in a performance by Lou Harrison in 1946) launched Ives’s reputation as a major composer of his time. Charles Ives died in New York on 19 May 1954.


© Ircam-Centre Pompidou, 2012

Sources

J. Peter Burkholder, Henry Cowell et Sydney Cowell, John Kirkpatrick, Vivian Perlis, Gianfranco Vinay (voir ressources documentaires).

Charles Ives : le nostalgique visionnaire

By Max Noubel

Charles Ives: Vision and Nostalgia

The music of Charles Ives is deeply rooted in memories of his happy childhood, which he spent surrounded by diverse types of music. Ives was a belatedly acknowledged pioneer of American modern music, composing imaginative and original works that combine vernacular, trivial, spiritual, and art music — genres previously understood as irreconcilable.

A Father’s Influence

Throughout Ives’s artistic journey, his father deeply influenced his practice and acted as an instigator, guide, and model. George Ives had benefited from a thorough training in classical music, including theory and counterpoint, in New York with a teacher from Germany. His background, along with his activity as the bandmaster of the Danbury marching band, opened his son’s mind — and ears — to popular music. George taught his son counterpoint and theory through the works of J. S. Bach and other great masters of Western art music, thus making Charles aware of the importance of rigorous compositional technique.

George was nonetheless partial to musical experimentation: he warned Charles against all forms of academicism and urged him to give full range to his creative impulses, no matter how transgressive or daring. Charles described how his father would practice polytonality by having his family sing a song like “Swanee River” in E-flat while he accompanied in C.1 The elder Ives also experimented with microtonality, which inspired one of his son’s last pieces, Three Quarter-Tone Pieces (1923-1924). On musical instruments, George sought to imitate various sound events, be they created by men or by nature. Years after his father’s death, Charles Ives would compose Central Park in the Dark (1906), which, according to his program notes, is a “picture-in-sound of the sounds of nature and of happenings that men would hear […] when sitting on a bench in Central Park on a hot summer night.” George also enjoyed creating unexpected polyrhythms and polyharmonies, namely by crossing — in a delightful sonic confusion — two marching bands while they played different tunes. One can hear the influence that this experience had on Charles in the second movement of Three Places in New England, “Putnam’s Camp, Redding, Connecticut” (1912), which includes a sound clash created by two orchestral ensembles simultaneously playing two different types of music.

George also introduced his son to the music of Stephen Foster, who, in the nineteenth century, had risen to fame with songs like “Old Black Joe,” “Massa’s in de Cold Ground,” “Oh! Susanna,” and “Swanee River.” Charles greatly admired the composer who had given the American song its credentials, and would later cite and paraphrase his songs at length. He even dreamed, early on in his career, of becoming Foster’s successor.

Charles played in his father’s marching band, often at the drums. He became familiar with various types of popular music through this experience. He remained emotionally attached to these popular practices, as testified by the evocation of a street parade in The Circus Band (circa 1894) — where the piano imitates the percussion — and by the parody of an amateur and out-of-tune orchestra in “Country Band” March for Theater Orchestra (1903).

Finally, George trained his son as a remarkable pianist, and even envisioned his career as a concert pianist. The young Charles, however, instead pursued a career as an organist.

In the midst of this broad and opened sound world, and through a non-hierarchical approach to various musical practices, Charles Ives forged, in his teenage years, his identity as a composer.

Early Compositions and School Years

One of Ives’s earliest works is Holiday Quickstep for Theater Orchestra, which his father conducted in 1888 at Danbury’s Taylor Opera House. Most other early compositions are marches, such as March No. 2 “The Son of a Gambolier” (circa 1892), or hymns, sentimental salon melodies, or daring organ pieces. Variations on “America” (circa 1892) is an example of the last; it includes two interludes that contain bitonality, already revealing Ives’s fondness for musical cheekiness and humor.

In 1893, Ives moved to New Haven to prepare for his studies at Yale University. Around this time, he composed a considerable body of work for religious services, as well as pieces that reveal willpower, creativity, and a talent for experimentation inherited from his father. A notable piece from this year is Song for Harvest Season, in which a fugue subject enters four times, each time transposed by a fourth. During the summer of 1894, he composed a series of psalms — perhaps inspired by his experience with church choirs — in which he used polytonality (Psalm 67), whole-tone scales (Psalm 54), and independent layers to organize the voices (Psalm 150). He tried his hand at an interval-based structure, where each verse is built around a different interval (Psalm 24). He created tonal ambiguity by using non-functional modulations and building dissonances between root-position chords. He even motioned toward atonality by using clusters and complex aggregates. These experiments, carried out meticulously and methodologically, served him in his later works. Ives also had an intensive professional life as an organist. He secured a position at the Center Church in New Haven (1895-1898) and played at other churches in Bloomfield, New Jersey, and New York until 1902.

Between 1894 and 1898, Ives studied composition at Yale with Horatio Parker. Like many other American composers of his generation, Parker had studied in Germany and consequently strived to defend and transmit the German musical heritage. For Ives, Parker represented the antithesis of his father, namely because of the former’s visceral rejection of experimental works, of his contempt for popular music, and his exclusive interest for the Great European — especially German — art music traditions. Nonetheless, even though Ives later criticized his teacher’s academic style for curbing his creativity, Parker’s teaching was valuable. His lessons enabled Ives to deepen his musical knowledge, namely with respect to orchestration and large forms. Parker also taught Ives how to make qualitative distinctions between “utilitarian” and often superficial music — of the kind played in Danbury — and “pure” music from the highest European art traditions. Under Parker, Ives composed String Quartet No. 1 “From the Salvation Army” (1896), whose last movement contains citations from hymns, Symphony No. 1 (1896-1998) — influenced by Johannes Brahms and Antonín Dvořák — as well as lieder and settings of poems, such as Ich grolle nicht (1898).

Outside his church engagements and the constraints imposed by Parker, Ives led a fruitful musical life. He became known on campus for composing light music for the marching bands, songs like The Bells of Yale (1897-1898) for the university choirs, and pieces for student parties. The piece Yale-Princeton Football Game (1898), which depicts in music a sports event, testifies to Ives’s interest in sound atmospheres. Ives also spent time in vaudeville theaters. He was a regular pianist at the Hyperion Theater, where he performed improvisations and ragtime, a genre he held in high regard and later used in Ragtime Dances (1902-1904).

Part-Time Composing

In 1898, Ives moved to New York to work in an insurance company, in a position that would give him financial independence. He was no longer obligated to follow the rigid academic style that Parker taught, but he nonetheless composed the cantata The Celestial Country (1898-1899) to contain explicit references to his former teacher’s oratorio, Hora Novissima. He also composed Symphony No. 2 (1900-1902), which, though steeped in European romantic traditions, uses popular melodies and religious hymns that evoke a distinctive American sound. In 1902, perhaps disappointed by the lukewarm reactions to the premiere of The Celestial Country, he quit his activities as an organist and refused all professional engagements as a performer. He gave up his career as a professional musician and preferred to make a living in business. From then on, he composed freely in the evenings and weekends, far from the conservatism of musical institutions and the opinions of music critics.

Although some pieces from this period harken to traditional classical genres, Ives completely stopped writing pure music. During his university studies, he had deepened his knowledge of works by the great writers, and he was now becoming increasingly interested in the idea that music could translate the spirit of literature. He thus turned to a programmatic approach to composition, where memories of sounds from his childhood and student life became his primary inspiration. For example, Symphony No. 3: The Camp Meeting (1901-1904) and Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 4 “Children’s Day at the Camp Meeting” both refer to the religious gatherings he attended as a child in Danbury.

Freed from Parker’s influence, Ives returned to the teachings of his father. He composed such experimental pieces as From the Steeples and the Mountains (1901-1902), a polytonal and atonal piece for four sets of bells and two brass instruments, and Hallowe’en for string quartet and piano (1906), which uses aleatory elements: the piece is played several times, while the performers change freely the instrument combinations, tempi, and dynamics. Ives often associated humor and experimentalism. For example, in the second movement of the Trio for Violin, Cello, and Piano (1904-1905) entitled “TSIAJ” (standing for This Scherzo is a Joke), a large number of songs and hymns follow one another without interruption, in a gleeful polytonal jumble. The Gong on the Hook and Ladder or Firemen’s Parade on Main Street (1911) uses atonality, polyrhythm, irrational time durations, and meter changes.

During this period, Ives also composed the two Contemplations: The Unanswered Question and Central Park in the Dark (1906). In both, Ives played with contrasting layers of sound: in the first, the string section creates a simple tonal background on which wind instruments intervene with atonal music, whereas in the second, the strings create an atonal background that accompanies popular music motives played by the other instruments. These Contemplations reveal another facet of Ives’s music, in which profound existential and metaphysical questions come to the fore. For example, in The Unanswered Question the trumpet repeats, according to Ives, the perennial question of existence.2 The aesthetic program of his Symphony No. 4, written only a few years later, is similar: the prelude invokes the human quest for existential truth, and the following three movements are Existence’s answers to humanity’s questions.

Mature Period

A decade of creative maturity preceded Ives’s heart attack in 1918. Over several years, he wrote a series of large-scale works that draw material from his preexisting compositions, which renders their chronology nearly impossible to determine. For example, the Symphony No. 4 (1910-1916) uses elements from fourteen previous works. In these masterpieces, Ives reached a proficiency in composition hitherto unknown in American music. In the second and fourth movements of the Symphony No. 4, as well as in the String Quartet No. 2 (1907-1913) and other pieces, the counterpoint encompasses tonal, atonal, chromatic, diatonic, and whole-tone strata, which create fluid heterophonic textures and highly complex polyrhythms. Musical citations abound in these mature works. In The Fourth of July (1911-1913), the popular patriotic songs “Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean,” “The Battle Cry of Freedom,” “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” and “Marching through Georgia” are superposed as to create a highly dissonant polytonal and polyrhythmic texture. Ives henceforth cited hymns, patriotic and popular songs, and themes from the art music canon in fragments, like fleeting memories. The coherence of these works can, paradoxically, be found in their unique profusion of heterogeneous music. Ives was composing in a context in which American composers strived to free themselves from the European masters — whose influence was limited to the greater urban centers. In a country where most music took the form of marches, hymns, and popular songs, the second Viennese School composers and Igor Stravinsky were for the most part unknown. Starting in the late 1920s, a young generation of American composers, in the process of constructing their own identity, would begin to discover Ives and his pioneering work.

Ives’s musical maturity was reached in parallel with his increasing involvement with the spiritual values of transcendental philosophy. According to the transcendentalist and Unitarian theologian William Ellery Channing (1780-1842), transcendentalism asserted the inalienable integrity of mankind and the immanence of the Divine in human instincts. The philosophy constructed the thrilling notion of human nature as divine and gave primacy to individual conscience. Ives adopted this idealistic movement, which, like himself, was the fruit of New England culture. Transcendentalism’s opposition to anything that could limit individual thought or action and its rejection of dogma, tradition, herd-like mentalities, and authority, be it religious or secular, resonated with Ives’s aversion for restricting musical conventions, aesthetic diktat, and conservative American musical institutions, which had led him to withdraw from the New York music scene. Ives named all four movements of the Second Sonata for Piano “Concord, Mass. 1840-60” (1911-1915) after famous figures of the Concord School of Philosophy (I. Emerson; II. Hawthorne; III. The Alcotts; IV. Thoreau). His Essays before a Sonata, self-published in 1920, testify to the influence of Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson. Emerson’s idealism, his trust in intuition and experience, as well as his belief in the innate kindness of men, God, and nature represented for Ives the perfect combination of spirituality, creativity, and industry. In the Essays, the closing lines of the prologue testify to Ives’s universal and visionary conception of music: “But we would rather believe,” he wrote,

that music is beyond any analogy to word language, and that the time is coming, but not in our lifetime, when it will develop possibilities inconceivable now, — a language so transcendent, that its heights and depths will be common to all mankind.3

Ives’s transcendentalism was combined with other values he held dear. Among these were patriotism—as seen in his Holidays Symphony (1897-1913), where each movement is named after an American celebration or holiday (I. Washington’s Birthday; II. Decoration Day; III. The Fourth of July; IV. Thanksgiving)—as well as social and humanitarian issues, as in The Anti-Abolitionist Riots for piano (1908) and in songs like Lincoln, the Great Commoner (1913), An Election (1921), and Majority (The Masses) (1921).

The United States’ entry into war in 1917 deeply affected Ives and disillusioned him. Health problems (heart attacks and chronic depression) also impaired his creativity. Between 1919 and 1921, he nonetheless managed to gather some of his previously composed songs and to write some twenty new ones. The 114 Songs were self-published in 1922. After Sunrise (August 1926), Ives completely gave up composition, leaving some works unfinished. His most ambitious work would have been the Universe Symphony, written in three sections: I. Past: Formation of the Waters and Mountains; II. Present: Earth, Evolution in Nature and Humanity; III. Future: Heaven, the Rise of All to the Spiritual. Ives had envisioned that the work would be played by two or more orchestras positioned in valleys and on mountainsides, where the music would imitate “the eternal pulse,” the planetary movement of the earth, and the outline of the mountains reaching toward the sky.

Despite Ives’s loss of inspiration, he did not abandon his compositions. He spent the remainder of his life reviewing and editing his scores, sometimes adding dissonances to make them sound more modern. These late additions compromise neither his pioneering work, nor the importance of his role in the evolution of music in the early twentieth century. Above all, Ives played a critical role in constructing the musical identity of his country. Through nostalgia for his past, he saw a new direction for American music: his creativity opened the way for an experimental movement and led other composers with very different aesthetics to draw inspiration from his work.


1. Cited in Henry and Sydney COWELL, Charles Ives and His Music, New York, Oxford University Press, 1955, pp. 28-29.
2. Ives in the foreword to the score.
3. Charles IVES, Essays before a Sonata, London: Knickerboker Press, 1920, 10.

Sources
voir bibliographie (ressources documentaires)

© Ircam-Centre Pompidou, 2012

Catalog sources and details

Université de Yale http://drs.library.yale.edu *(lien vérifié en juillet 2012).*Les dates de compositions sont souvent approximatives ou représentent une fourchette de dates. Pour plus de précisions, consulter les notes du catalogue raisonné de l’Université de Yale susmentionné.

Autres pièces
  • Exercices :
    *Canon in A Minor [I], 1895 ;
    *Canon in A minor [II], pour trio à cordes, 1898 ;
    *Canon in C, pour trio à cordes, 1898 ;
    *Canon in D [I], pour trio à cordes, 1895 ;
    *Canon in D [II], pour soprano, ténor (?) et clavier, 1896 ;
    *Canon in E, pour trio à cordes, 1896 ;
    *Canon in F, à quatre voix, 1896 ;
    *Canon in G flat, pour trio à cordes, 1896 ;
    *Canon in G, à quatre voix, 1896 ;
    *Counterpoint Exercise in A, à quatre voix, 1892 ;
    *Counterpoint Exercise in C, à quatre voix, 1892 ;
    *Counterpoint Exercise in D flat, à trois voix, 1897 ;
    *Counterpoint Exercise in E [I], à trois voix, 1892 ;
    *Counterpoint Exercise in E [II], à trois voix, 1892 ;
    *Counterpoint Exercise in F, à quatre voix, 1892 ;
    *Exercises in Fugal Answers, 1893 ;
    *Burlesque Amen, 1891 ;
    *Burlesque Cadenza, 1892 ;
    *Burlesque Canon in C, à quatre voix à l’unisson, 1892 ;
    *Burlesque Canon in F, 1892 ;
    *Burlesque Exercise in C [I], 1892 ;
    *Burlesque Exercise in C [II], 1893 ;
    *Burlesque Exercise in C [III], pour deux instruments et orgue, 1892 ;
    *Burlesque Exercise in C [IV], 1896 ;
    *Burlesque Exercise in C Minor, 1895 ;
    *Burlesque Harmonization in C, 1892 ;
    *Burlesque Harmonization in F over E flat, 1891 ;
    *Burlesque Harmonizations of “London Bridge”, Peer international, 1891 ;
    *Burlesque Heart-Song, pour voix, 1900 ;
    *Burlesque Song-Opening, D-G, 1919 ;
    *Burlesque Whole-Tone Exercise, 1897 ;
    *Election Memo, 1912 ;
    *Experiments, 1891 (?) ;
    *Fugue in Four Keys [I], 1893 ;
    *Fugue in Four Keys [II], 1893 ;
    *Take-Off on “Surprise Symphony”, 1909 ;
    *Polytonal Canon, 1899 ;
    *Polytonal Exercise, 1892.
  • Pièces perdues ou projets :
    *Autumn Landscapes from Pine Mountain, pour orchestre, 1904, perdu ;
    *Two Contemplations, pour orchestre, 14:30 min., projet ;
    *Down East Overture, pour orchestre, 1897-98, perdu ;
    *Hawthorne Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, 1910, perdu ;
    *List: Music and Democracy!, entre 1935 et 1942, projet de 27 mouvements ;
    *March No. 1, 1890-92, dérivé de March No. 1 for Piano, with “Year of Jubilee”, perdu ;
    *March No. 6, with “Here’s to Good Old Yale”, 1889-97, d’après March No. 6 for Piano, with “Here’s to Good Old Yale”, perdu ;
    *Three Outdoor Scenes, pour orchestre, 11 minutes, I.Allegro vivace; II.Largo sostenuto: The Pond; III.Central Park in the Dark, projet ;
    *Overture: The American Woods, 1889, perdu ;
    *Piece for Horns and Strings (on “Watchman”), pour cor (2 ?) et cordes, 1905, perdu ;
    *Quarter-Tone Chorale for Strings, pour quintette à cordes, 1913-14, perdu, reconstitué Alan Stout, publié par Peters en 1974, créé le 20 mai 1975 à New York par le Juilliard ensemble, direction : Richard Dufallo ;
    *Ragtime Dance, 1902-1903, perdu, mouvement développpé dans la Sonata No. 3 for Violin and Piano ;
    *Set: Sounds!, projet en quatre mouvements : I.Mulbery Tre [Mulberry Trees] Mountain Trees; II.Hanover Sq[uare] before War Walking Song; III.Park Sq[uare]; IV.Thoreau ;
    *Set for Orchestra: Tone Pictures of Some Bygone Days, 23:30 minutes, c. 1930, I.The Rockstrewn Hills Join in with the Church Bells; II.Calcium Light Night on the Campus; III.A Yale-Princeton Football Game; IV.Central Park in the Dark; V.The Question of Existence-A Cosmic Landscape ;
    *Set of Cartoons or Take-Offs, 1898-1916, en partie perdu, mouvement III, voir Take-Off No. 3: Rube Trying to Walk 2 to 3!!, mouvement VII, voir Take-Off No. 7: Mike Donlin-Johnny Evers, mouvement VIII, voir Take-Off No. 8: Willy Keeler at Bat ;
    Set of Overtures: Men of Literature, pour orchestre, 1904-1912, en partie perdu, I. Robert Browning, voir Robert Browning Overture ; II. [Ralph Waldo] Emerson, voir Emerson Overture for Piano and Orchestra ; III. Matthew Arnold, voir Matthew Arnold Overture ; IV. [Bronson] Alcott, voir Alcott Overture ; V. Walt Whitman, perdu ; VI. [John Greenleaf] Whittier, perdu ; VII. Henry Ward Beecher, perdu ou seulement en projet ;

Set of Proposed Movements [I], pour voix et orchestre de chambre, projet, 1922, I.The New River; II.Maple Leaves; III.Charlie Rutlage; IV.The Indians; V.Ann Street.Set of Proposed Movements [II], pour voix et orchestre de chambre, projet, 1922, I.At Sea; II.Disclosure; III.Swimmers; IV.The See’r; V.Walt Whitman; VI.Thoreau: VII.Old Home Day; VIII.Mists; IX.The Cage;Set of Proposed Movements [III], pour voix et orchestre de chambre, projet, 1922, I.Walking; II.Religion(ou ?)Those Evening Bells! ; III.The South Wind / Die Lotosblume; IV.The White Gulls; V.Two Little Flowers; VI.Like a Sick Eagle; VII.The Last Reader; VIII.Evening; IX.Immortality;Set of Proposed Movements [IV], pour voix et orchestre de chambre, projet, 1922, I.At Sea; II.The New River; III.The Indians; IV.The Rainbow;Set of Three Pieces, pour orchestre de chambre, 1934, I.Hallowe’en ; II. The Pond ; III. The Gong on the Hook and Ladder ;A Symposium-Five Movements for Orchestra, projet, 16:30 minutes, 1930, I.Processional (In the Church), voir Processional: Let There Be Light ; II. The Rainbow (In the Sky), voir The Rainbow (So May It Be!) ; III.Tone Roads (In the Wagon), voir Tone Roads et al. ; IV.The Unanswered Question (In Contemplation), voir The Unanswered Question ; V.Robert Browning (In the Heart and Mind), voir Robert Browning Overture ;Walking Suite, projet, pour orchestre de chambre, 1921, I.In the Car; II.In the Shop(Take-off: Factory noises); III.In the Yard; IV.In the Open;General Booth Enters into HeavenouSalvation, pour chœur d’hommes et fanfare, 1914, perdu ;Holiday March, pour fanfare, 1885-86, perdu ;March for Dewey Day, pour fanfare, avant 1899, perdu ;Overture: Town, Gown and State, pour fanfare, 1896, perdu ;Slow March, with “Adeste Fideles”, pour fanfare, 1886-87, perdu ;Largo for Violin and Organ, 1901, perdu, créé à New York le 16 déc. 1901 par William Haesche et Charles Ives ;List: Possible Movements for Sets, comprend I. December ; II. September ; III. Elégie ; IV. Maple Leaves ; V. The Children’s Hour ; VI. Nov. 2, 1920 ; VII. The Last Reader ; VIII. Religion ; IX. Serenity ; X. At the RiverTwo Little Flowers ; XI. [Two Little Flowers] ;Piece for Cornet and Strings (on “The Beautiful River”), 1905, perdu ;Piece for Cornet (on “Katy Darling”), perdu ;Pre-First String Quartet, 1894-98, perdu ;Pre-Pre-First Sonata for Violin and Piano, 1895, perdu ;Pre-Second String Quartet, 1904-055, perdu ;Set of Three Pieces for Chamber Ensemble, No. 1, projet, 8 minutes, 1934, I.Largo; II.* *Scherzo: All the Way Around and Back ; III. The Rainbow ;Set of Three Pieces for Chamber Ensemble, No. 2, projet, 8 minutes, 1934, I. Allegretto sombreoso: The “Incantation” ; II. Scherzo: Over the Pavements ; III. Adagio sostenuto: At Sea ;Sonata for Trumpet and Organ, 1900, perdu ;Sonata No. 5 for Violin and Piano: “New England Holidays”, projet, 1912-19, I. Washington’s Birthday ; II. Decoration day (Very slowly-Allegro, 7 minutes ; III. The Fourth of July ; IV. Thanksgiving and Forefathers’ Day ;Song without Words for Cello, 1890, perdu ;Trio for Violin, Clarinet, and Piano, 1902-03, perdu ;Walden Sounds, pour cloches, flûte, harpe éolienne, bois, cordes et piano, 1910, perdu ;Demon’s Dance Around the Pipe, pour piano, 1909, perdu ;A Full Game at The Spot, pour piano, 1894-98, perdu ;March No. 4 for Piano, pour piano, 1892, perdu ;Set of Three Pieces for Piano, c. 1911, projet, I. The Common (Largo) ; II. The Abolitionists (Allegro) ; III. The “St. Gaudens” (Adagio Andante) “moving marching faces of souls” ;The Slaves’ Shuffle, pour piano, 1909, perdu ;Sonata No. 3 for Piano, 1926-27, perdu ;Studies No. 3, 12, 13, 14, 17, 24, 25 and 26, pour piano, 1907-08, perdu ;The Alcotts for Organ, 1914, perdu ;Fugue for Organ, 1897-98, perdu ;Holiday Quickstep for Organ, 1890, perdu ;Memorial Slow March, pour orgue, 1901, perdu ;Piece for Communion Service, pour orgue, 1901, perdu ;Piece for Organ, with “Adeste Fideles”, perdu ;Postlude [I], pour orgue, 1896, perdu ;Postlude [II], pour orgue, 1897, perdu ;Postlude [III], Children’s Day Parade, pour orgue et quatuor à cordes, 1901, perdu ;Postlude in F for Organ, 1890, perdu ;Prelude [I], pour orgue (ad lib. quatuor à cordes ?), 1896-98, perdu ;Prelude [II], pour orgue, 1901, perdu ;Prelude [III], pour orgue, 1901, perdu ;Prelude [IV], pour orgue, 1896, perdu ;Prelude for Thanksgiving Service, pour orgue, 1897, perdu ;Preludes, pour orgue, 1901, perdu ;Recital Piece for Organ, 1896, perdu ;Sonata for Organ, 1897, perdu ;Thoreau for Organ, 1915, perdu ;Toccata, pour orgue, 1901, perdu ;Anthem: Religion, pour quatuor vocal et orgue, 1901, perdu ;Hymn-Anthem on “Eventide”, pour chœur d’hommes, harpe, piano et orgue, 1901, perdu ;Morning Service, pour chœur SATB et orgue, 1893-94, perdu ;Piece for Unison Chorus, Organ, and Strings, 1901-02, perdu ;Piece for Voices and Organ, perdu ;Psalm 23, pour chœur SATB et orgue, 1897-98, en partie perdu ;Te Deum, pour chœur SATB et orgue, 1890, perdu ;Vesper Service, pour chœur SATB et orgue, 1893-94, perdu ;The All-enduring, pour chœur d’hommes et orgue, 1896, perdu ;Benedict Arnold, projet d’opéra sur une pièce de Lyman Denison Brewster (1832-1904), Major John Andre, 1903-04 ;The Kimash Hills [ou] The Judgment Hall, projet d’opéra sur un texte de Sir Gilbert Parker (1862-1932), The Red Patrol tiré de A Romany of the Snows, 1907-08 ;DKE Show [I]: piece, pour clarinette et piano, 1896, perdu ; DKE Show [II], 1896, perdu ; Hells Bells: “Hail to Phi”, 1897, perdu ; Royal Rivals, 1894, perdu ; Ariel’s Departure, pour voix et piano, 1903, perdu ; Autumn [I], pour voix et piano, 1902, perdu ; Lost song [I], pour voix et piano, 1888 ; Lost song [II], pour voix et piano, 1892 ; Song with Violin and Organ, 1912, perdu ; Watchman! [I], pour soprano et orgue, 1901, perdu ; Hound of the Baskervilles, perdu.

Catalog source(s)

Université de Yale http://drs.library.yale.edu *(lien vérifié en juillet 2012).*Les dates de compositions sont souvent approximatives ou représentent une fourchette de dates. Pour plus de précisions, consulter les notes du catalogue raisonné de l’Université de Yale susmentionné.

Autres pièces
  • Exercices :
    *Canon in A Minor [I], 1895 ;
    *Canon in A minor [II], pour trio à cordes, 1898 ;
    *Canon in C, pour trio à cordes, 1898 ;
    *Canon in D [I], pour trio à cordes, 1895 ;
    *Canon in D [II], pour soprano, ténor (?) et clavier, 1896 ;
    *Canon in E, pour trio à cordes, 1896 ;
    *Canon in F, à quatre voix, 1896 ;
    *Canon in G flat, pour trio à cordes, 1896 ;
    *Canon in G, à quatre voix, 1896 ;
    *Counterpoint Exercise in A, à quatre voix, 1892 ;
    *Counterpoint Exercise in C, à quatre voix, 1892 ;
    *Counterpoint Exercise in D flat, à trois voix, 1897 ;
    *Counterpoint Exercise in E [I], à trois voix, 1892 ;
    *Counterpoint Exercise in E [II], à trois voix, 1892 ;
    *Counterpoint Exercise in F, à quatre voix, 1892 ;
    *Exercises in Fugal Answers, 1893 ;
    *Burlesque Amen, 1891 ;
    *Burlesque Cadenza, 1892 ;
    *Burlesque Canon in C, à quatre voix à l’unisson, 1892 ;
    *Burlesque Canon in F, 1892 ;
    *Burlesque Exercise in C [I], 1892 ;
    *Burlesque Exercise in C [II], 1893 ;
    *Burlesque Exercise in C [III], pour deux instruments et orgue, 1892 ;
    *Burlesque Exercise in C [IV], 1896 ;
    *Burlesque Exercise in C Minor, 1895 ;
    *Burlesque Harmonization in C, 1892 ;
    *Burlesque Harmonization in F over E flat, 1891 ;
    *Burlesque Harmonizations of “London Bridge”, Peer international, 1891 ;
    *Burlesque Heart-Song, pour voix, 1900 ;
    *Burlesque Song-Opening, D-G, 1919 ;
    *Burlesque Whole-Tone Exercise, 1897 ;
    *Election Memo, 1912 ;
    *Experiments, 1891 (?) ;
    *Fugue in Four Keys [I], 1893 ;
    *Fugue in Four Keys [II], 1893 ;
    *Take-Off on “Surprise Symphony”, 1909 ;
    *Polytonal Canon, 1899 ;
    *Polytonal Exercise, 1892.
  • Pièces perdues ou projets :
    *Autumn Landscapes from Pine Mountain, pour orchestre, 1904, perdu ;
    *Two Contemplations, pour orchestre, 14:30 min., projet ;
    *Down East Overture, pour orchestre, 1897-98, perdu ;
    *Hawthorne Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, 1910, perdu ;
    *List: Music and Democracy!, entre 1935 et 1942, projet de 27 mouvements ;
    *March No. 1, 1890-92, dérivé de March No. 1 for Piano, with “Year of Jubilee”, perdu ;
    *March No. 6, with “Here’s to Good Old Yale”, 1889-97, d’après March No. 6 for Piano, with “Here’s to Good Old Yale”, perdu ;
    *Three Outdoor Scenes, pour orchestre, 11 minutes, I.Allegro vivace; II.Largo sostenuto: The Pond; III.Central Park in the Dark, projet ;
    *Overture: The American Woods, 1889, perdu ;
    *Piece for Horns and Strings (on “Watchman”), pour cor (2 ?) et cordes, 1905, perdu ;
    *Quarter-Tone Chorale for Strings, pour quintette à cordes, 1913-14, perdu, reconstitué Alan Stout, publié par Peters en 1974, créé le 20 mai 1975 à New York par le Juilliard ensemble, direction : Richard Dufallo ;
    *Ragtime Dance, 1902-1903, perdu, mouvement développpé dans la Sonata No. 3 for Violin and Piano ;
    *Set: Sounds!, projet en quatre mouvements : I.Mulbery Tre [Mulberry Trees] Mountain Trees; II.Hanover Sq[uare] before War Walking Song; III.Park Sq[uare]; IV.Thoreau ;
    *Set for Orchestra: Tone Pictures of Some Bygone Days, 23:30 minutes, c. 1930, I.The Rockstrewn Hills Join in with the Church Bells; II.Calcium Light Night on the Campus; III.A Yale-Princeton Football Game; IV.Central Park in the Dark; V.The Question of Existence-A Cosmic Landscape ;
    *Set of Cartoons or Take-Offs, 1898-1916, en partie perdu, mouvement III, voir Take-Off No. 3: Rube Trying to Walk 2 to 3!!, mouvement VII, voir Take-Off No. 7: Mike Donlin-Johnny Evers, mouvement VIII, voir Take-Off No. 8: Willy Keeler at Bat ;
    Set of Overtures: Men of Literature, pour orchestre, 1904-1912, en partie perdu, I. Robert Browning, voir Robert Browning Overture ; II. [Ralph Waldo] Emerson, voir Emerson Overture for Piano and Orchestra ; III. Matthew Arnold, voir Matthew Arnold Overture ; IV. [Bronson] Alcott, voir Alcott Overture ; V. Walt Whitman, perdu ; VI. [John Greenleaf] Whittier, perdu ; VII. Henry Ward Beecher, perdu ou seulement en projet ;

Set of Proposed Movements [I], pour voix et orchestre de chambre, projet, 1922, I.The New River; II.Maple Leaves; III.Charlie Rutlage; IV.The Indians; V.Ann Street.Set of Proposed Movements [II], pour voix et orchestre de chambre, projet, 1922, I.At Sea; II.Disclosure; III.Swimmers; IV.The See’r; V.Walt Whitman; VI.Thoreau: VII.Old Home Day; VIII.Mists; IX.The Cage;Set of Proposed Movements [III], pour voix et orchestre de chambre, projet, 1922, I.Walking; II.Religion(ou ?)Those Evening Bells! ; III.The South Wind / Die Lotosblume; IV.The White Gulls; V.Two Little Flowers; VI.Like a Sick Eagle; VII.The Last Reader; VIII.Evening; IX.Immortality;Set of Proposed Movements [IV], pour voix et orchestre de chambre, projet, 1922, I.At Sea; II.The New River; III.The Indians; IV.The Rainbow;Set of Three Pieces, pour orchestre de chambre, 1934, I.Hallowe’en ; II. The Pond ; III. The Gong on the Hook and Ladder ;A Symposium-Five Movements for Orchestra, projet, 16:30 minutes, 1930, I.Processional (In the Church), voir Processional: Let There Be Light ; II. The Rainbow (In the Sky), voir The Rainbow (So May It Be!) ; III.Tone Roads (In the Wagon), voir Tone Roads et al. ; IV.The Unanswered Question (In Contemplation), voir The Unanswered Question ; V.Robert Browning (In the Heart and Mind), voir Robert Browning Overture ;Walking Suite, projet, pour orchestre de chambre, 1921, I.In the Car; II.In the Shop(Take-off: Factory noises); III.In the Yard; IV.In the Open;General Booth Enters into HeavenouSalvation, pour chœur d’hommes et fanfare, 1914, perdu ;Holiday March, pour fanfare, 1885-86, perdu ;March for Dewey Day, pour fanfare, avant 1899, perdu ;Overture: Town, Gown and State, pour fanfare, 1896, perdu ;Slow March, with “Adeste Fideles”, pour fanfare, 1886-87, perdu ;Largo for Violin and Organ, 1901, perdu, créé à New York le 16 déc. 1901 par William Haesche et Charles Ives ;List: Possible Movements for Sets, comprend I. December ; II. September ; III. Elégie ; IV. Maple Leaves ; V. The Children’s Hour ; VI. Nov. 2, 1920 ; VII. The Last Reader ; VIII. Religion ; IX. Serenity ; X. At the RiverTwo Little Flowers ; XI. [Two Little Flowers] ;Piece for Cornet and Strings (on “The Beautiful River”), 1905, perdu ;Piece for Cornet (on “Katy Darling”), perdu ;Pre-First String Quartet, 1894-98, perdu ;Pre-Pre-First Sonata for Violin and Piano, 1895, perdu ;Pre-Second String Quartet, 1904-055, perdu ;Set of Three Pieces for Chamber Ensemble, No. 1, projet, 8 minutes, 1934, I.Largo; II.* *Scherzo: All the Way Around and Back ; III. The Rainbow ;Set of Three Pieces for Chamber Ensemble, No. 2, projet, 8 minutes, 1934, I. Allegretto sombreoso: The “Incantation” ; II. Scherzo: Over the Pavements ; III. Adagio sostenuto: At Sea ;Sonata for Trumpet and Organ, 1900, perdu ;Sonata No. 5 for Violin and Piano: “New England Holidays”, projet, 1912-19, I. Washington’s Birthday ; II. Decoration day (Very slowly-Allegro, 7 minutes ; III. The Fourth of July ; IV. Thanksgiving and Forefathers’ Day ;Song without Words for Cello, 1890, perdu ;Trio for Violin, Clarinet, and Piano, 1902-03, perdu ;Walden Sounds, pour cloches, flûte, harpe éolienne, bois, cordes et piano, 1910, perdu ;Demon’s Dance Around the Pipe, pour piano, 1909, perdu ;A Full Game at The Spot, pour piano, 1894-98, perdu ;March No. 4 for Piano, pour piano, 1892, perdu ;Set of Three Pieces for Piano, c. 1911, projet, I. The Common (Largo) ; II. The Abolitionists (Allegro) ; III. The “St. Gaudens” (Adagio Andante) “moving marching faces of souls” ;The Slaves’ Shuffle, pour piano, 1909, perdu ;Sonata No. 3 for Piano, 1926-27, perdu ;Studies No. 3, 12, 13, 14, 17, 24, 25 and 26, pour piano, 1907-08, perdu ;The Alcotts for Organ, 1914, perdu ;Fugue for Organ, 1897-98, perdu ;Holiday Quickstep for Organ, 1890, perdu ;Memorial Slow March, pour orgue, 1901, perdu ;Piece for Communion Service, pour orgue, 1901, perdu ;Piece for Organ, with “Adeste Fideles”, perdu ;Postlude [I], pour orgue, 1896, perdu ;Postlude [II], pour orgue, 1897, perdu ;Postlude [III], Children’s Day Parade, pour orgue et quatuor à cordes, 1901, perdu ;Postlude in F for Organ, 1890, perdu ;Prelude [I], pour orgue (ad lib. quatuor à cordes ?), 1896-98, perdu ;Prelude [II], pour orgue, 1901, perdu ;Prelude [III], pour orgue, 1901, perdu ;Prelude [IV], pour orgue, 1896, perdu ;Prelude for Thanksgiving Service, pour orgue, 1897, perdu ;Preludes, pour orgue, 1901, perdu ;Recital Piece for Organ, 1896, perdu ;Sonata for Organ, 1897, perdu ;Thoreau for Organ, 1915, perdu ;Toccata, pour orgue, 1901, perdu ;Anthem: Religion, pour quatuor vocal et orgue, 1901, perdu ;Hymn-Anthem on “Eventide”, pour chœur d’hommes, harpe, piano et orgue, 1901, perdu ;Morning Service, pour chœur SATB et orgue, 1893-94, perdu ;Piece for Unison Chorus, Organ, and Strings, 1901-02, perdu ;Piece for Voices and Organ, perdu ;Psalm 23, pour chœur SATB et orgue, 1897-98, en partie perdu ;Te Deum, pour chœur SATB et orgue, 1890, perdu ;Vesper Service, pour chœur SATB et orgue, 1893-94, perdu ;The All-enduring, pour chœur d’hommes et orgue, 1896, perdu ;Benedict Arnold, projet d’opéra sur une pièce de Lyman Denison Brewster (1832-1904), Major John Andre, 1903-04 ;The Kimash Hills [ou] The Judgment Hall, projet d’opéra sur un texte de Sir Gilbert Parker (1862-1932), The Red Patrol tiré de A Romany of the Snows, 1907-08 ;DKE Show [I]: piece, pour clarinette et piano, 1896, perdu ; DKE Show [II], 1896, perdu ; Hells Bells: “Hail to Phi”, 1897, perdu ; Royal Rivals, 1894, perdu ; Ariel’s Departure, pour voix et piano, 1903, perdu ; Autumn [I], pour voix et piano, 1902, perdu ; Lost song [I], pour voix et piano, 1888 ; Lost song [II], pour voix et piano, 1892 ; Song with Violin and Organ, 1912, perdu ; Watchman! [I], pour soprano et orgue, 1901, perdu ; Hound of the Baskervilles, perdu.

Bibliographie

  • Philippe ALBÈRA, Vincent BARRAS [édit.], Charles E. Ives, Essais avant une sonate, Lausanne, L’âge d’homme, Contrechamps n° 7, 1986.
  • Geoffrey BLOCK, Charles Ives: a bio-bibliography, New York, Greenwood Press, 1988
  • J. Peter BURKHOLDER, Charles Ives, The Ideas Behind the Music, New Haven et Londres, Yale University Press, 1985.
  • J. Peter BURKHOLDER, All Made of Tunes: Charles Ives and the Uses of Musical Borrowing  New Haven et Londres, Yale University Press, 1995.
  • J. Peter BURKHOLDER, Charles Ives and His World, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1996.
  • Henry COWELL, Sydney COWELL, Charles Ives and His Music, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1969.
  • Stuart FEDER, Charles Ives, “My Father’s Song”: A Psycho-analytic biography, New Haven, Yale University Press, 1992.
  • Stuart FEDER, The Life of Charles Ives, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1999.
  • H. Wiley HITCHCOCK / Vivian PERLIS [édit.], An Ives Celebration: Papers and Panels of the Charles Ives Centennial Festival-Conference, Urbana, Chicago, Londres, University of Illinois press, 1977.
  • H. Wiley HITCHCOCK, Ives, London, New York, Toronto, Oxford University Press, 1977.
  • Charles IVES, Essays Before A Sonata and Other Writings [H. Boatwright éd.] London, Calder and Boyars, 1969. Première édition [typescript ] New York, The Knickerbocker Press, 1920.
  • John KIRKPATRICK (dir.), Charles E. Ives: Memos, Londres, Calder & Boyars, 1973.
  • Philip LAMBERT [édit.], Ives Studies, Cambridge, New York, Cambridge University Press, 1997.
  • Max NOUBEL, « La polytonalité dans l’œuvre de Charles Ives », dans Polytonalités (Philippe Malhaire, sous la dir. de), Paris, L’Harmattan, 2011, pp. 101-126.
  • Vivian PERLIS, Charles Ives Remembered: An Oral History, New Haven et Londres, Yale University Press, 1974.
  • Frank R. ROSSITER, Charles Ives & His America, Londres, Victor Gollancz, 1976.
  • Jan SWAFFORD, Charles Ives: A Life with Music, New York, W.W. Norton, 1996.
  • James B. SINCLAIR, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Music of Charles Ives, New Haven, Yale University Press, 1999.
  • Gianfranco VINAY, Charles Ives et l’utopie sonore américaine, Paris, Michel de Maule, 2001.
  • David WOOLDRIDGE, From the steeples and mountains,A Study of Charles Ives, New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1974.
  • David WOOLDRIDGE, Charles Ives: A Portrait, Londres, Faber & Faber, 1975.

Liens internet

  • The Charles Ives Society, Inc. http://www.charlesives.org *(lien vérifié en juillet 2012). *
  • Université de Yale, catalogue descriptif des œuvres de Charles Ives, http://drs.library.yale.edu (lien vérifié en juillet 2012).
  • J. Peter BURKHOLDER, « Charles Ives » (en anglais),dans Grove Music Online, ed. L Macy, http://www.grovemusic.com (lien vérifié en juillet 2012).

Discographie

  • Symphonies n° 1 & 4, Michael Tilson Thomas (dir.), Chicago Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, Sony Classics.
  • Piano Sonata n° 2 “Concord Massachusetts, 1840-1860”, Jay Gottlieb (piano), Pianovox PIA 503-2.
  • Sonatas for violin and piano, Hansheinz Schneeberger (violon), Daniel Cholette (piano), ECM New Series 1605 449 956-2.
  • String Quartets n° 1 & 2(+ BarberString Quartet), Emerson String Quartet, DG 435 864-2.
  • Symphonies n° 1 & 4, Michael Tilson Thomas (dir.), Chicago Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, Sony Classics
  • Symphony n° 2,Central Park in the Dark,The Unanswered Question,Tone Roads n° 1,Hymn for Strings,Hallowe’en,The Gong on the Hook and Lagger, New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein (dir.), DG 429 220-2.
  • The Complete Songs of Charles Ives, vol. 1-4 (divers artistes), Albany Records TROY077-TROY080.
  • The Celestial Country,Psalms**54, 67, 90, 135,Easter**Carol,Crossing**the Bar, BBC Singer, The Duke Quartet, membres du New London Orchestra, Stephen Cleobury (dir.), Collins Classics 14792.
  • *Three Places in New England,*The Unanswered Question,A Set of Pieces, Symphont n° 3 “The Camp Meeting”,Set n° 1, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, DG 439 869-2.