about the composer

Although virtually unknown until he ceased composing in 1925, Charles Ives (1874-1954) is considered one of the first great composers of concert music in the United States. His wholly original compositional voice represented a fundamental break with the European tradition and anticipated many musical techniques later developed elsewhere.

Ives was the son of the youngest bandmaster in the Union Army, George E. Ives, who was well-versed in many areas of music including counterpoint, ear training, and acoustics. George Ives shared an enthusiasm and curiosity about sound with his son, often engaging him in experiments with polytonality as well as grounding him in the music of Bach. Through his father, Ives acquired a similar interest in the exploration of traditional music of the United States and the European classical tradition. By the age of 12 he was composing, and by 14 he was the youngest salaried church organist in Connecticut. Through his work in various area churches, Ives became acquainted with numerous chanted psalms; these he would set to music, exploring such musical ideas as parallel triads, polytonality, and dissonant canon.

From 1894 to 1898 Ives attended Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. There he studied with Horatio Parker and soon realized he would have to keep his freest musical experiments to himself. Although somewhat ungrateful to Parker, Ives' compositional abilities were significantly improved under his tutelage, rendering such works as the First Symphony (c. 1898-1908) and String Quartet No. 1 (c. 1897-1900). In 1899 Ives moved to New York where he began to work in insurance, a job at which he was so skilled that it became a fruitful lifelong career. He continued to compose prolifically, however, writing The Unanswered Question (c. 1908) and Central Park in the Dark (c. 1909) while courting his wife-to-be Harmony Twichell.

While on vacation for health concerns in 1906, Ives and his friend and colleague Julius Myrick decided to form their own agency, Ives & Co. (later to become Ives & Myrick). In a few years they had a volume of business in insurance training that led the country. After leaving New York in 1911, Ives composed a number of works inspired by nature and transcendentalism, including the Concord piano sonata (c. 1916-1919) and the First Orchestral Set: Three Places in New England (c. 1912-1921). The following year Ives and his wife bought part of a farm in West Redding, Connecticut, dividing their time between it and New York City. The next few years produced such works as the Fourth Symphony (c. 1912-1925) and the World War I-inspired songs "In Flanders Fields", "He is there!", and "Tom Sails Away" (all 1917).

After Ives suffered a heart attack in 1918, he began to put his music in order, sending free printed copies to musicians he hoped would be interested. Several years later, just as performances of his music were occurring more frequently, Ives stopped composing new works altogether, apparently due to exhaustion and poor health. After 1925 he only revised and completed earlier works and finally retired from the insurance business as well.

From the late 1920's onward, Ives' compositions were premiered with increasing frequency. Significant performances included Three Places in New England by the Boston Chamber Orchestra, John Kirkpatrick's performances of the Concord sonata, and seven songs performed by Hubert Linscott and Aaron Copland at the first Yaddo festival in 1932. The growing acknowledgment and appreciation of Ives' music led to a Pulitzer Prize in 1947. Seven years later he died of a stroke at the age of 80.