Charles Ives

Charles Edward Ives (October 20, 1874–May 19, 1954) was an American composer of classical music. He is widely regarded as one of the first American classical composers of international significance. Ives's music was largely ignored during his life, and many of his works went unperformed for many years. Over time, Ives would come to be regarded as one of the "American Originals", a composer working in a uniquely American style, with American folk tunes woven through his music, and a reaching sense of the possibilities in music.

Reception

Ives's music was largely ignored during his life, and many of his works went unperformed for many years. His tendency to experimentation and his increasing use of dissonance were not well taken by the musical establishment of the time. The difficulties in performing the rhythmic complexities in his major orchestral works made them daunting challenges even decades after they were composed. One of the more damning words one could use to describe music in Ives's view was "nice", and his famous remark "use your ears like men!" seemed to indicate that he did not care about his reception. On the contrary, Ives was interested in popular reception, but on his own terms.

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Early supporters of his music included Henry Cowell and Elliott Carter. Invited by Cowell to participate in his periodical New Music, a substantial number of Ives's scores were published in the journal, but for almost 40 years he had few performances that he did not arrange or back, generally with Nicolas Slonimsky as the conductor.

Related Topics:
Henry Cowell - Elliott Carter - Nicolas Slonimsky

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His obscurity began to lift a little in the 1940s, when he met Lou Harrison, a fan of his music who began to edit and promote it. Most notably Harrison conducted the premiere of the Symphony No. 3 (1904) in 1946. The next year, this piece won Ives the Pulitzer Prize for Music. However, Ives gave the prize money away (half of it to Harrison), saying "prizes are for boys, and I'm all grown up". Leopold Stokowski took on the Symphony No. 4 not long thereafter, regarding the work as "the heart of the Ives problem".

Related Topics:
1940s - Lou Harrison - Pulitzer Prize for Music

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At this time, Ives was also promoted by Bernard Herrmann who worked as a conductor at CBS, and in 1940 became principal conductor of the CBS Symphony Orchestra. While there he was a champion of Charles Ives' music.

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Over time, Ives has come to be regarded as one of the "American Originals", a composer working in a uniquely American style, with American folk tunes woven through his music, and a reaching sense of the possible in music. He would find praise from Arnold Schoenberg, who regarded Ives as a monument to artistic integrity, and from the New York School of William Schuman. In the present, Michael Tilson Thomas is an enthusiastic exponent of Ives's symphonies as is musicologist Jan Swafford. Ives's work is regularly programmed in Europe.

Related Topics:
Arnold Schoenberg - William Schuman - Michael Tilson Thomas - Jan Swafford

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At the same time Ives is not without his critics. Many people still find his music bombastic, pompous. Others find it, strangely enough, timid in that the fundamental sound of European traditional music is still present in his works. His onetime supporter Elliot Carter called his work incomplete. But this may be a case of artistically "killing one's father".

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