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×ÓÅ ÂÉÏÇÒÁÆÉÉ (all bio) ÎÁÚÁÄ (back) ÚÁËÒÙÔØ ÏËÎÏ (close) Charles Ives
Country: USA
Birth: Oct 20, 1874 in Danbury, CT
Death: May 19, 1954 in New York, NY
Period: Modern
Generations before Copland, Cage, or Babbitt, Charles Ives (1874 - 1954) produced what is perhaps the most innovative and influential body of work in the history of American music. For someone of his eventual stature, he was also among the least popular of composers, at least in his own lifetime; his greatest works remained unperformed for years, many until well after his death.
Such a paradox is merely one among many when it comes to Charles Ives. He was a forward-looking innovator of singular imagination, yet his nostalgia for a vanishing way of life is an essential element in the fabric of his music. Ives benefitted greatly from his formal musical education, yet expressed indifference and even outright ridicule toward the university training of musicians and the academic establishment. Never willing to compromise, Ives chose not to pursue a conventional musical career following his graduation from Yale in 1898. Instead, he entered the insurance business, became a very wealthy man, and continued to compose, using evenings, weekends, and vacations to produce what later came to be recognized as some of the most remarkable music of its time.
One of the most fascinating and pervasive elements of Ives' style is his use of quotation and other direct references to pre-existing musical works. The variety of sources Ives draws upon in this manner is staggering, from Beethoven to Tchaikovsky to turn-of-the-century popular songs like Hello, Ma Baby. But the richest wellspring of such material in Ives' music is American hymn tunes and band music, especially those examples associated with the Civil War. Tunes like Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean and In the Sweet Bye and Bye recur throughout the entire corpus of Ives' works, often in a distant, nostalgic atmosphere, at other times in a devout, wry, or satirical context. | |
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