Why Charles Ives died. Charles Ives biography

Initial musical education received under the guidance of his father, a military bandmaster. In 1894-98 he studied at Yale University, where he studied composition with H. Parker and organ playing with D. Buck. Since 1899, church organist in New York and other cities.

The patriarchal environment of his childhood and childhood played an important role in shaping Ives's creativity. teenage years; in the provinces he constantly heard folk music, was a participant in rural musical holidays. The roots of his work are in folk songs and religious hymns, in wind music performed by village musicians ( early writings Ives written for brass band, in which he played percussion instruments).

Ives developed his own musical style, combining elements of traditional everyday music with unusual, sharp harmonies and original instrumentation. Ives's work is characterized by lyricism and humor, a penchant for philosophical content along with the rationalism of musical language.

In a number of works, Ives sought to reflect the life of his homeland. Thus, in the episodes from the 2nd sonata for violin and piano, sharp collisions of different intonation and rhythmic elements reproduce pictures of noisy village festivities.

Ives began writing music in the 90s. 19th century, but until the end of the 30s. His works were not known in the 20th century. (It was only in 1947 that he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for the 3rd Symphony, written in 1911.) Ives received real recognition posthumously when American musicians discovered in his artistic heritage the features of an original creative individuality of a strongly national character and proclaimed Ives the founder of a new American school.

Ives's most famous works - the 2nd piano sonata (Concord, 1909-15), the 3rd and 4th symphonies, overture No. 2 - are replete with sharp techniques of dissonant atonal and polytonal writing. Techniques of sound imaging are characteristic of the style of the 4th sonata for violin and piano “Children's day at the camp meeting”, 1915).

In some compositions, Ives used the unique serial writing technique he discovered, as well as the means of the quarter-tone system (“Three quartertone piano pieces” for two pianos, 1903-24). Ives owns essays and articles on quarter-tone music (“Some quartertone impressions”, 1925, etc.).

Works: cantata Celestial country (1899); for orc. - 5 symphonies (1898-98, 1897-1902, 1901-04, 1910-16, 5th, Holidays- Holidays, 1904-13), Universe (Universe symphony - fragments of a symphony, 1911-16), Central park in darkness (Central park in the dark, 1898-1907), Three villages in New England (Three places in New England, 1903-14) and other program plays, overtures (1901-12), pieces for a large symphony. and chamber orc., Ragtime dances (Ragtime dances, 1900-11) for theater. orc.; strings quartet (1896) and other chamber instruments. ensembles; 2 fp. sonatas; 5 sc. sonatas; op. for organ; plays for various instr.; op. for choir, song cycles based on Amer. poems. poets (114 songs, 1884-1921).

Literature: Rakhmanova M., Charles Ives, "SM", 1971, No. 6, p. 97-108; Copland A., The Ives case in our new music, N. Y., 1941; Сowell H. and S., Charles Ives and his music, N. Y., 1955; Letters from Ch. Ives to N. Slonimsky, in the book: Slonimsky N., Music since 1900, N. Y., 1971, p. 1318-48.

G. M. Schneerson

Ives's work was greatly influenced by folk music, which he listened to in his rural provincial childhood - folk songs, spiritual and religious hymns. Ives's unique musical style combines elements of folklore, traditional everyday music with complex, sharp, dissonant atonal and polytonal harmony, and sound imaging techniques. He developed original equipment serial writing, used the quarter-tone system.

Essays

Cantata “Celestial country” (Celestial country, 1899).
For orchestra - 5 symphonies (1898-98, 1897-1902, 1901-04, 1910-16, 5th, Holidays, 1904-13), Universe (Universe symphony - fragments of a symphony, 1911-16), " Central park in the dark (1898-1907), Three places in New England (1903-14) and other program plays, overtures (1901-12), pieces for a large symphony and chamber orchestras, Ragtime dances (Ragtime dances, 1900-11) for theater orchestra.
String Quartet (1896) and other chamber instrumental ensembles, including “The Unanswered Question” (1906, later an orchestral version was created)
2 piano sonatas (including the second piano sonata - “Concord”, 1909-15).
5 violin sonatas (including the fourth sonata for violin and piano - “Children’s day at the camp meeting”, 1915).
Works for organ.
Pieces for various instruments (including “Three quartertone piano pieces” for two pianos, 1903-24).
Works for choir, song cycles based on poems by American poets (114 songs, 1884-1921).
Articles on quarter-tone music (including “Some quartertone impressions”, 1925).

Lyrics

Memos/ John Kirkpatrick, ed. New York: W. W. Norton, 1972

Memory

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Style

Ives's work was heavily influenced by the folk music he listened to in his rural provincial childhood - folk songs, spiritual and religious hymns. Ives's unique musical style combines elements of folklore, traditional everyday music with complex, sharp, dissonant atonal and polytonal harmony, and sound imaging techniques. He developed an original technique of serial writing and used the quarter-tone system.

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Literature about the composer

Ivashkin A. Charles Ives and the music of the twentieth century. Moscow: Soviet Composer, 1991.
Shneerson G. M. Ives Charles Edward // Musical encyclopedia in 6 volumes, TSB, M., 1973-1982, Vol. 1, p. 74-75.
Akopyan L. O. Music of the 20th century: encyclopedic Dictionary/ Scientific editor Dvoskina E. M. - M.: “Practice”, 2010. - P. 21-23. - 855 s. - 2500 copies. - ISBN 978-5-89816-092-0.
Rakhmanova M. Charles Ives, SM, 1971, no. 6, p. 97-108.
Cowell H. Cowell S. R. Charles Ives and His Music. New York: Oxford UP, 1955.
Rossiter F.R. Charles Ives and his America. New York: Liveright, 1975.
Block G. Charles Ives: a bio-bibliography. New York: Greenwood Press, 1988.
Burkholder J.P. All Made of Tunes: Charles Ives and the Uses of Musical Borrowing. New Haven: Yale UP, 1995.
Charles Ives and his world, ed. by J. Peter Burkholder. Princeton (NJ): Princeton University Press, 1996 (collection of articles).
Swafford J. Charles Ives: A Life with Music. New York: W. W. Norton, 1996.
Sherwood G. Charles Ives: a guide to research. New York: Routledge, 2002.
Copland A. The Ives case in our new music, N.Y., 1941.
Letters from Ch. Ives to N. Slonimsky, in the book: Slonimsky N., Music since 1900, N. Y., 1971, p. 1318-48.

Excerpt characterizing Ives, Charles

I tried to calm down, took a deep breath and tried again. Only this time I didn’t try to touch anything, but decided to just think about what I wanted - for example, for the cup to be in my hand. Of course, this did not happen, she again just simply moved sharply. But I was jubilant!!! My whole insides simply squealed with delight, because I already realized that sharply or not, this was only happening at the request of my thought! And it was absolutely amazing! Of course, I immediately wanted to try the “new product” on all the living and inanimate “objects” around me...
The first one I came across was my grandmother, who at that moment was calmly preparing her next culinary “work” in the kitchen. It was very quiet, the grandmother was humming something to herself, when suddenly a heavy cast-iron frying pan jumped up on the stove like a bird and crashed onto the floor with a terrible noise... The grandmother jumped up in surprise no worse than the same frying pan... But, we must give her her due, right away pulled herself together and said:
- Stop doing that!
I felt a little offended, because no matter what happened, out of habit, they always blamed me for everything (although this moment this, of course, was absolutely true).
- Why do you think it’s me? – I asked pouting.
“Well, it seems like we don’t have ghosts yet,” the grandmother said calmly.
I loved her very much for her equanimity and unshakable calm. It seemed that nothing in this world could truly “unsettle” her. Although, naturally, there were things that upset her, surprised her, or made her sad, she perceived all this with amazing calm. And that’s why I always felt very comfortable and protected with her. Somehow, I suddenly felt that my last “prank” interested my grandmother... I literally “felt in my gut” that she was watching me and waiting for something else. Well, naturally, I didn’t keep myself waiting long... A few seconds later, all the “spoons and ladle” hanging over the stove flew down with a noisy roar behind the same frying pan...
“Well, well... Breaking is not building, I would do something useful,” the grandmother said calmly.
I was already choked with indignation! Well, please tell me, how can she treat this “incredible event” so calmly?! After all, this is... SUCH!!! I couldn’t even explain what it was, but I certainly knew that I couldn’t take what was happening so calmly. Unfortunately, my indignation did not make the slightest impression on my grandmother and she again calmly said:
“You shouldn’t spend so much effort on something you can do with your hands.” Better go read it.
My outrage knew no bounds! I couldn’t understand why what seemed so amazing to me didn’t cause any delight in her?! Unfortunately, I was still too young a child to understand that all these impressive “external effects” really do not give anything other than the same “external effects”... And the essence of all this is just intoxication with the “mysticism of the inexplicable” gullible and impressionable people, which my grandmother, naturally, was not... But since I had not yet matured to such an understanding, at that moment I was only incredibly interested in what else I could move. Therefore, without regret, I left my grandmother, who “did not understand” me, and moved on in search of a new object of my “experiments”...
At that time, my father’s favorite, a beautiful gray cat, Grishka, lived with us. I found him sleeping soundly on warm stove and decided that this was a very good moment to try my new “art” on him. I thought it would be better if he sat on the window. Nothing happened. Then I concentrated and thought harder... Poor Grishka flew off the stove with a wild cry and crashed his head on the windowsill... I felt so sorry for him and so ashamed that I, all around guilty, rushed to pick him up. But for some reason all the fur of the unfortunate cat suddenly stood on end and he, meowing loudly, rushed away from me, as if scalded by boiling water.
It was a shock for me. I didn’t understand what happened and why Grishka suddenly disliked me, although before that we were very good friends. I chased him almost all day, but, unfortunately, I was never able to beg for forgiveness... His strange behavior lasted for four days, and then our adventure was most likely forgotten and everything was fine again. But it made me think, because I realized that, without wanting it, with the same unusual “abilities” I can sometimes cause harm to someone.
After this incident, I began to take much more seriously everything that unexpectedly manifested itself in me and “experimented” much more carefully. All the following days, naturally, I simply fell ill with the mania of “movement.” I mentally tried to move everything that caught my eye... and in some cases, again, I got very disastrous results...
So, for example, I watched in horror as shelves of neatly folded, very expensive, dad’s books fell “organized” onto the floor and with shaking hands I tried to put everything back in place as quickly as possible, since books were a “sacred” object in our house and Before you took them, you had to earn them. But, fortunately for me, my dad wasn’t at home at that moment and, as they say, this time it “blown away”...
Another very funny and at the same time sad incident happened with my dad’s aquarium. My father, as long as I remember him, was always very fond of fish and dreamed of one day building a large aquarium at home (which he later realized). But at that moment, for lack of anything better, we simply had a small round aquarium that could only hold a few colorful fish. And since even such a small “living corner” brought dad spiritual joy, then everyone in the house looked after him with pleasure, including me.

Probably, if the musicians of the early 20th century. and on the eve of the First World War they learned that the composer Charles Ives lived in America and heard his works, they would have treated them as a kind of experiment, a curiosity, or even would not have noticed at all: so unique was he himself and the soil on which which he grew up. But no one knew Ives then - very for a long time he did nothing at all to promote his music. Ives’s “discovery” occurred only in the late 30s, when it turned out that many (and, moreover, very different) methods of the latest musical writing were already tested by the original American composer in the era of A. Scriabin, C. Debussy and G. Mahler. By the time Ives became famous, he had not composed music for many years and, seriously ill, cut off ties with outside world. One of his contemporaries called Ives’s fate an “American tragedy.” Ives was born into the family of a military conductor. His father was tireless experimenter- this trait passed on to his son, (For example, he instructed two orchestras going towards each other to play various works.) From his childhood and youth, spent in a patriarchal environment, Ives’s “hearing” of America, the “openness” of his work, which probably absorbed everything that sounded around him, began. Many of his compositions contain echoes of Puritan religious hymns, jazz, and minstrel theater. As a child, Charles was brought up on the music of two composers - J. S. Bach and S. Foster (a friend of Ives’s father, an American “bard”, author of popular songs and ballads). With his serious attitude to music, alien to any vanity, and sublime structure of thoughts and feelings, Ives would later resemble Bach.

Ives wrote his first works for a military orchestra (he played percussion instruments in it), and at the age of 14 he became a church organist in his hometown. But besides this, he played the piano in the theater, improvising ragtime and other plays. After graduating from Yale University (1894-1898), where he studied with H. Parker (composition) and D. Buck (organ), Ives works as a church organist in New York. He then served as a clerk for an insurance company for many years and did so with great enthusiasm. Subsequently, in the 20s, moving away from music, Ives became a successful businessman and a prominent insurance specialist (author of popular works). Most of Ives's works belong to the genres of orchestral and chamber music. He is the author of five symphonies, overtures, program works for orchestra (Three Villages in New England, Central Park in the Dark), two string quartets, five sonatas for violin, two for piano, pieces for organ, choruses and more than 100 songs. Most of their major works Ives wrote for a long time, over several years. In the Second Piano Sonata (1911-15), the composer paid tribute to his spiritual predecessors. Each of its parts depicts a portrait of one of the American philosophers: R. Emerson, N. Hawthorne, G. Topo; the entire sonata bears the name of the place where these philosophers lived (Concord, Massachusetts, 1840-1860). Their ideas formed the basis of Ives's worldview (for example, the idea of merging human life with the life of nature). Ives's art is characterized by a high ethical spirit; his discoveries were never of a purely formal nature, but were a serious attempt to identify the hidden possibilities inherent in the very nature of sound.

Before other composers, Ives came to many of the modern expressive means. From his father’s experiments with different orchestras there is a direct path to polytonality (the simultaneous sound of several keys), volumetric, “stereoscopic” sound and aleatorics (when the musical text is not rigidly fixed, but from a combination of elements appears anew each time, as if by chance). Ives's last major project (the unfinished "Worldwide" Symphony) assumed the location of orchestras and choirs in the open air, in the mountains, at different points in space. Two parts of the symphony (Music of the Earth and Music of the Sky) were supposed to sound... simultaneously, but twice, so that listeners could alternately fix their attention on each. In some works by Ives before A. Schoenberg almost came close to the serial organization of atonal music.

The desire to penetrate the depths of sound matter led Ives to the quarter-tone system, completely unknown classical music. He writes Three Quarter-Tone Pieces for Two Pianos (suitably tuned) and the article “Quarter-Tone Impressions.” Ives devoted more than 30 years to composing music, and only in 1922 did he publish a number of works at his own expense. For the last 20 years of his life, Ives retired from all activities, which was facilitated by increasing blindness, heart disease and nervous system. In 1944, in honor of Ives's 70th birthday, a anniversary concert. His music was highly appreciated by the greatest musicians of our century. I. Stravinsky once noted: “Ives’s music told me more than the novelists describing the American West... I discovered a new understanding of America in him.”

The founder of the new American school of composition of the 20th century.

Charles Edward Ives English Charles Edward Ives
(1913)
basic information
Date of Birth	The 20th of October(1874-10-20 )
Place of Birth	Danbury, Connecticut
Date of death	May 19(1954-05-19 ) (79 years old)
A place of death	NY
A country	USA USA
Professions
Years of activity	1890s - 1926
Tools	organ
Genres	symphony
Awards
charlesives.org
Media files on Wikimedia Commons

Biography

Charles Ives is the son of military bandmaster George Ives (1845-1894), who became his first music teacher. From 1887 (from the age of 13) he worked as an organist in the church. He graduated from Yale University (1894-1898), where he studied composition (class of X. Parker) and playing the organ (class of D. Buck). He began composing music in the 90s of the 19th century. Since 1899 - church organist in New York and other cities. He worked for various insurance companies, opened his own business, and introduced a number of innovations in real estate insurance. He achieved significant success in the insurance business, which allowed him to support his family while pursuing music as a hobby. After 1907, heart problems began, and diabetes and other diseases were added over time. At the beginning of 1927 he stopped composing and soon left the business.

Until the early 1940s, his works were rarely performed and were practically unknown. Ives was truly recognized only after his death, when he was declared one of the most significant American composers. The first recognition came in the 1940s, when Ives's work was highly praised by Arnold Schoenberg. Ives was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his 3rd Symphony (1911). In 1951, the premiere of Ives's Second Symphony (-) was conducted by Leonard Bernstein.

Style

Along with Wallingford Rigger, Henry Cowell, Carl Ruggles and John Becker, he was one of the "American Five" of avant-garde composers.

Selected Works

For orchestra

Symphony No. 2 (1902)
Symphony No. 3 (1904)
Symphony No. 4 (1916)
Symphony No. 5 "Holidays in New England" (1913)
Unanswered question ()
Central park at night (Central park in the dark, 1907)
Three places in New England (1903-14)
"Robert Browning" and other overtures (1901-12)
Ragtime dances, 1900-11 for theater orchestra

For piano

Three-page sonata (1905)
Sonata No. 1 (1909)
Three quartertone piano pieces for two pianos (1924)
19 studies for piano (various years)

For other compounds

Cantata "Celestial country"
String quartet () and other chamber instrumental ensembles
5 violin sonatas (including the fourth sonata for violin and piano - “Children’s day at the camp meeting”,