Charles Ives

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Charles Ives

Charles Ives is known in our day as the “Father of American Music,” but in his day, he was known just like everyone else- an ordinary man living his life. He was born in Danbury, Connecticut on October 20, 1894 (Stanley 1) to his mother, Sarah Hotchkiss Wilcox Ives and father, George White Ives (A Life With Music, Swafford 4). His father was renowned for being the Union’s youngest bandmaster and having the best band in the Army (The Man His Life, Swafford 1). Little Charles was influenced early in his life by his father who had libertarian ideas about music (Stanley 1). Although Danbury prided itself as “the most musical town in Connecticut”, the people did not give the musical profession respect or understanding (The Man His Life, Swafford 1). One day, his father commented on a stonemason’s off-key singing by saying, “Look into his face and hear the music of the ages. Do not pay too much attention to the sounds—for if you do you may miss the music. You won’t get a wild, heroic ride to heaven on pretty little sounds” (The Man His Life, Swafford 2). Thus was young Charles’ introduction to music.

He began his musical career by banging on the piano with his dad’s drum parts using his fists. George interrupted him by saying “it’s all right if you do that Charles, if you know what you’re doing”, and sent him for drum lessons down the street (The Man His Life, Swafford 1). George Ives also taught his son to respect the strength of vernacular music. As a Civil War band leader he understood how sentimental tunes such as "Tenting Tonight on the Old Camp Ground," "Aura Lee," Stephen Foster songs, and marches and bugle calls were all apart of the experience of war and the memories of soldiers. Many of Ives's ...

... middle of paper ...

..., Matt. The Grove Dictionary of Music. Ed. Sadie Stanley

MacMillan Press Ltd., London, 1996. On-line Berlin Archive

Available at http://w3.rz-berlin.mpg.de/cmp/ives.html

2. Sudik, Nancy F. “Charles Ives- Father of American Music”

17 August 2000: n.pag. On-line. Internet.

Available at http://housatonic.org/ives.html

3. Swafford, Jan. “Charles Ives- A Life With Music”.

Washington Post Reporter. 28 July 1996. Washington Post Index

Online.

4. Swafford, Jan. “Charles Ives- The Man, His Life”

1998: n.pag. Online. Internet.

Available at http://www.charlesives.org/I_life.htm

5. Machlis, Joseph. Introduction to Contemperary Music

Published-1979 Penguin

Pages 335-349

6. Block, Geoffrey. Ives Concord Sonata. Cambridge: Cambridge University

Press: 1996. Online. Cambridge Text Archive.

Internet. Available at http://www.mta.ca/search/ives

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