1. Charles Ives
By: Dayana Forte
American Composer who integrated American traditions of the time
into art music
2. Early Life
• Born in Danbury, CT 1874
• Well-known family
• Father; George E. Ives, bandmaster
• Played percussion in father’s band
• @ age 13, “Holiday Quickstep” march
• @ age 14, youngest salaried church organist in CT
3. Work Life
• 1st symphony while @ Yale University
• 1898, Graduated with music degree
• Hard time making a living as a musician
• Moved to NY, worked as an agent
• 1907, Founded NYC Life insurance company
• Endured a double-life to the point of damaging
health
• Retired in 1930
4. Music Life
• Virtuoso organist
• Yale Professor Horatio Parker
• Theory & Composition
• German composition English texts
• Mixed traditional with experimental styles
• Marrying Harmony Twitch in 1908 helped him
discover purpose for music.
5. • 3-part form , programmatic
• Fragmented melodies of “The
British Grenadiers” & “Yankee
doodle”
Listening Example
“Putnam’s
Camp” from
orchestra set
“Three Places
in New
England”
6. • Impressionistic piece, by evoking
the experience of being there.
• Polyphonic texture 3-dimensional
space
Listening Example
“The
Housatonic at
Stockbridge”
7. Nationalism
• 1908-1918 works described as modernist
nationalism
• Used many innovating techniques by
experimenting with new sounds that most people were
not familiar with
•For example:
-Dissonant sounds, polytextures, polytonalities
8. End
• 1930’s wrote Memos
• Henry Cowell made his works publicly known after
his death in 1954
Most of the musical developments of the 20th
century stem from Charles Ive’s numerous
innovations.
