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CHARLES EDWARD IVES October 20, 1874 - May 19, 1954 bound by a common cause for modern music determined to extend beyond the rigidity of tradition free American music from European domination recognition began with a performance in 1939 of the “Concord Sonata” by John Kirkpatrick in Town Hall
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CHARLES EDWARD IVESOctober 20, 1874 - May 19, 1954 • bound by a common cause for modern music • determined to extend beyond the rigidity of tradition • free American music from European domination • recognition began with a performance in 1939 of the “Concord Sonata” by John Kirkpatrick in Town Hall • received the Pulitzer Prize (1947) following a performance in 1946 of his “Third Symphony”, conducted by Lou Harrison•
CHARLES EDWARD IVESOctober 20, 1874 - May 19, 1954 • performances are now given by the great orchestras of the world • Ives believed that man and nature together could transcend the pettiness of the materialists and the politicians of the world•
CHARLES EDWARD IVESMemos • I played in my father’s brass band • . . .in testing the divisions of the tone, father tried: the slide cornet, glasses for very small intervals. . . • George Ives
CHARLES EDWARD IVESMUSIC 1911 - 1920 Three Places in New England • Orchestral Set No. 1 • New England Symphony • full score completed in 1914 • Nicholas Slonimsky asked Ives in 1929 • premiered by the Boston Chamber Orchestra 1/10/31 at Town Hall in New York • Slonimsky’s orchestra was very small with only 13 strings • Ives was in attendance•
CHARLES EDWARD IVESMUSIC 1911 - 1920 Three Places in New England • The “Saint-Gaudens” in Boston Common • a bas-relief sculpture by Agustus Saint-Gaudens from the 1890’s as a monument to Colonel Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry - the first black regiment in the Union Army. • the monument is on the Boston Common across from the State House • Ives expresses his deep feeling for the oppression faced by the men of the regiment • Ives wrote a verse in tribute (read)•
The “Saint-Gaudens” in Boston Common • Moving-Marching-Faces of Souls!Marked with a generation of pain,Part freers of a Destiny,Slowly, restlessly swaying us on with youTowards other Freedom!. . .
CHARLES EDWARD IVESMUSIC 1920 - 1954 • Ives nusually did not attended performances of his own works • May 1954 - recovering from a minor operation but suddenly suffered a stroke and died in New York on May 19, 1954•
CHARLES EDWARD IVESSTYLES • manuscripts given to the Library of the Yale School of Music in 1956 by Mrs. Ives • continually altered sketches, adding dissonance • had a genius for melodic variation • quoted over 150 tunes • regarded the cultivation of personal idioms as a limitation • the lasting worth of his music may still lie in the future • sonatas and symphonies are part of the European - American mainstream•
The “INDIANIST” MOVEMENT • flourished from 1880s to 1920s • nourished by 19th c. Romanticism and such writers as: Cooper and Longfellow • 1888 - American Folklore Society founded to collect the remains of the vanishing American Folklore • 1880 - Theodore Baker transcribed some songs of the Iroquois, Cheyenne, Comanche, Dakota, Iowa, Kiowa and Ponca
The “INDIANIST” MOVEMENT • 1882 - Baker publishes his dissertation at the University of Leipzig (in German and never translated into English) • 1894 - Edward MacDowell takes themes for his Second (Indian) Suite, Op. 48 from Baker’s dissertation • 1892-1895 - Dvorak tells American composers how to create a “National” music • 1889-1890 - J. Walter Fewkes becomes the first to use the phonograph for recording Indian music and speech (Passamaquoddy of Maine in the winter of89-90)
The“INDIANIST” MOVEMENTand Arthur Farwell • Arthur Farwell (1872-1952) • proposed music that would include:” ragtime, Negro songs, Indian songs, Cowboy songs, and. . .new and daring expressions of our own composers. . .” • studied electrical engineering at MIT • became a composer after completing his degree at MIT • studied in Boston, Germany and Paris
“INDIANIST” MOVEMENTArthur Farwell • returned to the United States in 1899 • founded the Wa-Wan Press in 1901 (named after a tribal ceremony of the Omahas) • published works of young American composers • published until 1911
The “INDIANIST” MOVEMENTand Arthur Farwell • Three Indian Songs, Op. 32: • Song of the Deathless Voice; • Inketunga’s Thunder Song; • The Old Man’s Love Song • The Old Man’s Love Song, Op. 102, No. 2 • Navajo War Dance, Op. 102, No. 1 • Navajo War Dance, for piano • Pawnee Horses, for piano
WILLIAM GRANT STILL1895-1978 • the “Father” figure in American Black music • first Black composer to be extensively published • represents the “Harlem Renaissance” by elevating folk material • born in Woodville, Miss. • lived in Little Rock, attended Wilberforce College • heard an orchestra for the first time at Oberlin
WILLIAM GRANT STILL1895-1978 • worked for W.C. Handy • played oboe for Eubie Blake’s “Shuffle Along” • studied composition with George Whitefield Chadwick and Edgard Varese • wrote jazz arrangements for Artie Shaw and Paul Whiteman • a close friend of Howard Hanson, Leopold Stokowski and George Gershwin (who consulted him on matters of orchestration)
WILLIAM GRANT STILL1895-1978 • 1930 completes his (now) best known work: Symphony No. 1 (Afro-American) • this became the first symphony by a Black American composer to be performed by a major American orchestra in the United States • the premiere in 1931 was by the Rochester Philharmonic under the direction of Howard Hanson • the New York premiere was by the NY Philharmonic in 1935 in Carnegie Hall
WILLIAM GRANT STILL1895-1978 • Still said: “I knew I wanted to write a symphony; I knew it had to be an American work; and I wanted to demonstrate how the blues, so often considered a lowly expression, could be elevated to the highest musical level.” • each of the four movements is titled: • Moderato assai (Longings) • Adagio (Sorrows) • Animato (Humor) • Lento, con risoluzione (Aspirations)
The Duke • His gift lay in the inspiration he shared with his musicians • He composed and arranged for particular instrumental voices • He thought of musical textures in terms of colors
the 1960s • Probing different musical areas • suites with various themes • “Harlem” • “The River” • The River • composed in 1970 • an imaginary journey down the river beginning at the “Giggling Rapids”, passing through “The Lake”, and ending at “The Vortex” • “Meander” from “The River”
The Last Days • Played with the greats - Louis Armstrong, Count Basie • Became obsessed with music • lung cancer • sacred concerts (3) • Worked in the hospital • Opera “Queenie Pie” • Died on May 24, 1974