An Ives Newsletter (October 1, 2002)
I hope you’ll read below about some new recordings and books, coming concerts, and other good
things. Please encourage others to register their names at our website www.charlesives.org.

Happy Birthday
October 20 (Sunday) is the 128th anniversary of Ives’s birth. Find a way to celebrate. Encourage
your local classical radio station to play some Ives that day (and every day!). (Visit our Ives
website and check out your own birthday on the “Programming Guide” calendar.)

Coming Concerts
On Saturday, October 5 pianist Ciro Longobardi will perform Ives’s “Concord” Sonata as part of
the 2002 Festival Traiettorie in Parma, Italy (at Teatro Farneseciro). Info: www.traiettorie.it

On Sunday, November 17 the American Symphony Orchestra (Leon Botstein conducting)
celebrates its 40th anniversary with a concert called “American Originals” including Ives’s
Symphony No. 4, John Alden Carpenter’s Skyscrapers, and Morton Feldman’s Coptic Light. 3
pm, Avery Fisher Hall (Lincoln Center), NYC. Tickets are $50, $35, $22. Please call
(212) 868-9ASO [Monday-Friday 10:00-5:00] or visit www.americansymphony.org

(The Charles Ives Society website has a “Performance Calendar” to which you can post your own
coming event if it includes a work of Ives.)

New CD
Pianist James Nalley new recording of Ives’s First Piano Sonata has just been released by the
Eroica label, JDT3097 (along with Copland’s Sonata for piano).

Ives on the web
The full text of Ives’s original printing of his “Essays Before a Sonata” (Knickerbocker Press,
1920) is now available on line through Project Gutenberg
ftp://ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext03/ivess10.txt. Once downloaded the text is fully
searchable.

Dave Lewis has done a fine job of posting Ives’s works for the AllMediaGuide which can be
visited at http://allclassical.com/cg/acg.dll?p=acg&sql=1:7494~W#WORKS

Here’s a surprise even to those who assembled content for the Ives Society’s website. The
designer, Steven McLure, embedded in the upper LH corner of the homepage
(www.charlesives.org) are series of “flash” words which slowly reveal and disappear. Take a look
and figure out for yourselves the source of these words. (The answer is given at the bottom of this
newsletter.)

New publication
You might have missed that there is an interesting new Ives publication in Spanish: Superposición
y gradualidad en Hallowe'en de Charles Ives (Superposition and gradualism in Hallowe'en by
Charles Ives). Authors: Etkin, Mariano; Cancián, Germán; Mastropietro, Carlos; Villanueva,
María Cecilia (Research Group on Musical Analysis at the National University of La Plata,
Argentina). Publisher: Editorial de la Universidad Nacional de La Plata, La Plata, Argentina,
2000. ISBN Nr. 950-34-0189-5

New Ives advocacy
Aloma Bardi, a tireless champion of Charles Ives, has founded in Italy The International Center
for American Music, Inc., (www.icamus.org) a non-profit association devoted to the knowledge
and appreciation of American music, both in the United States and in European Countries, mostly
through live performance. The International Center for American Music, Inc. is a non-profit
corporation that intends to promote knowledge and appreciation of American music through
performance conceived in an innovative, interdisciplinary way, and through conferences, meetings
and translations of scholarly publications regarding American music. The main effort of the Center
is to offer performances of American music, both in European countries and in the US. The
activity of the Center is conducted on the international level.
The International Center for American Music was founded by Aloma Bardi in the United
States (City of Ann Arbor, State of Michigan). The Center initiated its activity and became
operative upon receiving official notice of incorporation, on 25 January 2002. The Board of
Advisors of the International Center for American Music includes authorities in the field, such as
H. Wiley Hitchcock and Richard Crawford among American specialists, and Gianfranco Vinay
and Marcello Piras among European specialists. Aloma Bardi serves as Executive Director for the
Center. She is responsible for its artistic projects. A website for the International Center for
American Music is currently being created. In its complete form, the website will display
information on the nature and goals of the Center, its current projects, a calendar of events, an
archive of past events. In addition, information regarding composers will be provided, whose
music is performed in the events planned by the Center, and about the artists who perform it. With
time, this website is expected to grow into an innovative and effective educational tool.The
website of the Center will be accessible to the general public of internet users, with no
subscription fee, and with no special technical requirements on the part of the users. Aloma Bardi
e-address is alomabardi@icamus.org.

Here’s to Ives I
On August 18 at the Lincoln Center in New York City, Neely Bruce produced his “Convergence”
—a wild homage to George and Charles Ives (among others!). His work opened with a serenade
by ten performing ensembles, ending with a short solo set by Barry Harris, the famous jazz
pianist. Immediately thereafter two parades steped off in the plaza, leaving Amsterdam Houses to
parade around Lincoln Center, marching through each other directly in front of the Metropolitan
Opera House. During the course of the piece stationary groups changed location, two fife and
drum corps appeared, etc. The combined forces were as follows:

Four marching bands
Nine choruses
Three organs
Three handbell choirs
Two fife and drum corps
Two solo trumpets
Bagpipes
A mariachi
A samba
African drummers and dancers
Native American ensemble (Algonquin)
A jazz quartet
Chamber orchestra
Full orchestra

Says Neely Bruce: “The whole shootin' match is inspired by George Ives, Charles's father, who
marched two bands through each other in Danbury, Connecticut in the 1880s.So this piece uses
specific pieces from the 18th century and the oral tradition of the 19th century, in a manner
inspired by composers of the 20th century, and has been written down in the 21st century. In a
real way CONVERGENCE is an attempt to summarize at least one point of view about the
history of American music.” Wish I could have been there!

Here’s to Ives II
Here’s an interesting (if not exhaustive) survey of works dedicated to Ives or based on Ives’s
music (in alphabetical order):

Louis Andriessen “Anachronie I (in memory of Charles Ives)” (orch, 1966-67)
Larry Austin “Fantasies on Ives’s Universe Symphony” (orch, 1974–93)
Henry Brant “Homage to Ives” (Baritone, 3 orch groups, and piano, 1975)
Aaron Copland “Night Thoughts (Homage to Ives)” (piano, 1972)
Robert Anthony Di Domenica “Gone are the Rivers and Eagles (Variations on two songs by
Ives)” (orch)
Henrik Otto Donner “Moonspring or Sym. l’Hommage a Charles Ives” (strings and Hammond
organ, 1964)
Michael Finnissy “Ives” (piano, 1974)
Ulf Grahn “Hommage a Charles Ives” (str orch, 1968)
Lou Harrison “At the Tomb of Charles Ives” (sml orch, 1963)
Krzystof Knittel “Homage to Charles Ives” (wind qnt, viola, string bass, piano, and perc, 1992)
Stanislaw Krupowicz “Unquestioned Answer, variations on a theme by Ives” (sml orch, 1984)
David Mahler “Three Pieces After Charles Ives” (sml orch, 1990)
Stephen Montague “After Ives...” (piano, tape, and optional: flute, string qnt, 1991–93)
Sergey Pavlenko “Ayvz-kompozitsiya” [An Ives Composition], Concerto No. 2 for Cello and
Strings (1993)
Francesco Pennisi “Lettera a Charles Ives” (flute and harpsichord, 1974; #3 of “Carteggio”)
Laslo Sary “Grand Sonata” (piano, 1986; Ives’s “Concord” to be played upside-down with
chance reordering of the systems)
Jurg Wyttenbach “Patchwork an der Wascheleine (C. Ives), scenic collage” (vocal, 1979)
Douglas Young “Circus Band & Other Pieces (after Ives)” (orch, 1977–80)

Inspired by Ives
Christopher Swan has written “a substantial poem entitled ‘Poem After Hearing Charles Ives'
Concord Sonata.’” If you’re interested or (especially) have an idea about where it might be
published, contact him at <chrishmael@hotmail.com>.

Answered Question
The words that “flash” near the logo (upper LH corner) on the Ives homepage are lifted from
Ives’s rhyme-dripping lyrics to his song “Romanzo (di Central Park).” (Thanks again to Steven
McLure for designing the new look for www.charlesives.org (and leaving a trace of his own sense
of humor).