A Union of Diversities: Style in the Music of Charles Ives

In A Union of Diversities: Style in the Music of Charles Ives, Larry Starr writes a listener’s guide to Ives’s music, focusing on the composer’s distinctive use of numerous styles. The book presents accessible discussions that focus mainly on the songs for voice and piano. Starr provides score inserts for the reader to follow along with his narrative-style explanations, which include technical approaches to Ives’s use of harmony, melody, text-setting, and formal structures.

In the beginning of the book, Starr explains that Ives’s music is characterized by the combination of many styles into one piece. In particular, Ives freely incorporates music from folk traditions, the classical canon, church hymns, and his father’s dissonant musical experimentations. The composer brought these styles together in ways that led to a new musical aesthetic, which is readily apparent in his song literature.

In “The Things Our Fathers Loved,” for instance, Starr points out that Ives combines traditional musical styles of 19th century America with ‘modern’ leaning compositional experimentations. He describes that the opening melody begins in a tonal, folk-like manner, while the piano accompaniment introduces dissonances that clash with the singer. Soon enough, Ives also incorporates elements of chromaticism into the vocal line, which contrast with the folk-style beginning of the melody.

Other notable examples of analysis include his examination of “Psalm 90.” Here, Starr proposes that Ives uses a given musical style as a form of motivic material. Just as a melody can be developed into extended musical passages, Ives develops the various musical styles that he presents in the opening of Psalm 90 into later parts of the piece. The author also analyzes “Decoration Day,” providing a detailed chart that divides the piece into its distinctly styled sections. Throughout the book, Starr provides repeated explanations for how Ives creates continuity across the different styles: to this end, Ives introduces creative associations across motivic developments, pitch relationships, and moving pitch centers.

The author proposes that one does not need to know the historical and cultural references of Ives’s music to develop an appreciation for his aesthetic. As demonstrated throughout A Union of Diversities, Ives’s compositions have musical qualities that are engaging in their own right, and approachable for anyone who would like to listen.