Last week we discussed Antonín Dvořák
and his approach to creating an “American” sound in music. This week we will
look at an American-born composer who used a different approach to create his
American compositions: Charles Ives.
Ives was first exposed to music by his
father, George E. Ives, whose performance, teaching, direction of various
musical ensembles, and involvement with traveling shows left a lasting
impression on the burgeoning composer.
From a young age, Ives was surrounded by European classical music,
Protestant church music, and American vernacular music, saturating his musical
world with a cultural vocabulary to incorporate in his later “American” works.
How does European classical music,
Protestant church music, and American vernacular music find their way into
Ives’ compositions? Ives is known for his musical borrowing and quotation. In
his compositions, he often borrowed from the European classical music with
which he was quite familiar with while also quoting from American vernacular
songs and hymns. On Wednesday we will look at how Ives does this in one of his
symphonies.
