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Serialism in the Works of Charles Ives

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 February 2010

Nachum Schoffman
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Extract

It has become a commonplace of musical historiography to point out that Charles Ives's experiments antedate the currency of most of the innovations of 20th-century compositional technique. But such a statement, when unsubstantiated by musical facts, understates the case, and leaves a vaguely derogatory impression of dilettantism. Ives accomplished more than merely experimenting with new techniques. He understood and assimilated the far-reaching implications of his innovations, saw their limitations and shortcomings, developed from them satisfactory and well-synthesized forms, and moulded them into a language to express his world view.

Type
Research Article
Information
Tempo , Issue 138 , September 1981 , pp. 21 - 32
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1981

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References

1 Krenek, Ernst, ‘Serialism’, in Vinton, John, ed., Dictionary of Contemporary Music (N.Y.: Dutton, 1971) p.670 Google Scholar.

2 Tone Roads No. 1 (Peer, c.1949 Google Scholar)

3 On the Antipodes, in 19 Songs (New Music 9/1: 10 1935) No. 18 Google ScholarPubMed. The first edition of this was mistakenly entitled ‘18 Songs’ although it contained nineteen. This was rectified in subsequent editions.

4 Footnote to the song On the Antipodes, 19 Songs, p.44.

5 Aeschylus and Sophocles, in 19 Songs, No.6. For a detailed analysis of this song, see Schoffman, Nachum, The Songs of Charles Ives (Doctoral Dissertation. The Hebrew University, 1977), pp. 185–208 Google Scholar.

6 Explanatory notes, 19 Songs, p. 52. For a detailed explanation of the manner in which the polytonality of this passage conforms to Greek theory, see Schoffman, , The Songs of Charles Ives, pp. 186–189 Google Scholar.

7 Ives, Charles, Memos, ed. Kirkpatrick, John (N.Y.: Norton, 1972) p. 56 Google Scholar.

8 The Cage, in 114 Songs (Redding, Conn.: privately published, 1923) No. 64 Google Scholar. I have corrected a misprint in 114 Songs: the sixth chord in m. 1 should be a sixteenth-note, and not an eighthnote. It appears correctly in the version for chamber orchestra: In the Cage, in Set for Theatre or Chamber Orchestra (1906–1911) New Music 5/2 January 1932. For a detailed analysis of this song, see Schoffman, , The Songs of Charles Ives, pp. 28–35 Google Scholar.

9 Ives, , Memos, p. 64 Google Scholar.

10 Ives, , Memos, p. 101 Google Scholar.

11 After Scherzo: Orer the Parements for Chamber Orchestra (Peer, c 1954).

12 After ‘Vote for Names’, Negative Q2636 in the Ives Collection, Yale University Library. For a detailed analysis see Schoffman, Nachum, ‘Charles Ives's Song “Vote for Names”’, (Current Musicology 23/1977: 56–68)Google Scholar.

13 Henderson, Clayton Wilson, Quotation as a Style Element in the Music of Charles Ives (Doctoral Dissertation, Washington University, 1969) pp. 60–64 Google Scholar; ‘Ives' Use of Quotation’, (Music Educators Journal 61/2: 24–28).

14 Ives, , Memos, p. 140 Google Scholar.

15 Ives, , Memos, p. 105 Google Scholar.

16 String Quartet No. 2 (Peer, c 1954)Google Scholar.

17 Soliloquy, or a Study in 7ths and Other Things, in 34 Songs (New Music 7/1: 10 1933) No. 24 Google Scholar. For detailed analyses of this song, see: Henry, and Cowell, Sidney, Charles Ives and his Music (London: Oxford University Press, 1955) pp. 157–159 Google Scholar; Schoffman, , The Songs of Charles Ives, pp. 46–52 Google Scholar.

18 The voice part is barred differently from the piano part. The numbering of the measures here refers only to the bar lines in the piano part.

19 For a detailed analysis of this song, see Schoffman, , The Songs of Charles Ires, pp. 209–234 Google Scholar.

20 On the Antipodes, in 19 Songs, No. 18.

21 Ives, , Memos, p. 64 Google Scholar.

22 This refers to the original version, for chorus and orchestra. In the later arrangement for voice and piano (1921) the sixth verse was deleted.

23 Ives, , Memos, p. 164 Google Scholar.

24 Ives, , Memos, p. 164 Google Scholar.

25 Schoffman, , ‘Charles Ives's Song “Vote for Names’”, p. 58 Google Scholar.

26 Cowell, , Charles Ives and his Music, p. 177 Google Scholar.

27 See note 8.

28 Ives, , Memos, p. 56 Google Scholar.

29 Kirkpatrick, John, A Temporary Mimeographed Catelogue of The Music Manuscripts and Related Materials of Charles Edward Ives, 1874–1954 (New Haven: Yale University Library, 1960) p. 210 Google Scholar; Ives, , Memos, pp. 265, 328Google Scholar.

30 Kirkpatrick, , Catalogue, p. 27 Google Scholar.

31 Ives, Charles, Essays Before a Sonata and Other Writings, ed. Boatwright, Howard (N.Y.: Norton, 1962) p. 77 Google Scholar.

32 Ives, , Essays, p. 75 Google Scholar.

33 Ives, , Memos, p. 57 Google Scholar.

34 Ives, , Memos, p. 101 Google Scholar.

35 Ives, , Memos, p. 164 Google Scholar.