Essays Before a Sonata | Page 4

of freedom." A graduate of Yale, he became a
multi-millionaire in the American insurance industry, introducing
brilliant innovations within that industry. He also, unlike a few
composers, found the time and the money (being a shrewd and practical
businessman) to get married and have children.
His accomplishments for which he is best known, however, are those in
the field of music. At the time of its composition, Ives' music was
probably the most radically modern in history, and by itself had enough
material to serve as the foundation of modern 20th century music. For
example, at the turn of the century, this eccentric composer created
band works featuring multiple melodies of multiple time signatures
opposing and complimenting each other within the same piece. Ives
was also a revolutionary atonal composer, who created, essentially
without precedent, many atonal works that not only pre-date those of
Schoenberg, but are just as sophisticated, and arguably even more so,
than those of the 12-tone serialist.
Among those atonal works was his second, "Concord" piano sonata,
one of the finest, and some would say the finest, works of classical
music by an American. It reflects the musical innovations of its creator,
featuring revolutionary atmospheric effects, unprecedented atonal
musical syntax, and surprising technical approaches to playing the
piano, such as pressing down on over 10 notes simultaneously using a
flat piece of wood.
What a mischievious creative genius!
And yet, despite the musically innovative nature of these works, from a
thematic standpoint, they are strictly 19th century. Ives, like American
band-composer Sousa, consciously infused patriotic or "blue-blood"
themes into his pieces. In the "Concord," he attempted to project,
within the music, the 19th century philosophical ideas of the American
Transcendentalists, who obviously had a great impact on his
world-view.
Thus, while other atonal composers such as Schoenberg or Berg
attempted to infuse their music with "20th century" themes of hostility,
violence and estrangement within their atonal music, the atonal music
of Ives is, from a thematic standpoint, really quite "tonal."
Ives wrote the following essays as a (very big) set of program notes to

accompany his second piano sonata. Here, he puts forth his elaborate
theory of music and what it represents, and discusses Transcendental
philosophy and its relation to music. The essays explain Ives' own
philosophy of and understanding of music and art. They also serve as
an analysis of music itself as an artform, and provide a critical
explanation of the "Concord" and the role that the philosophies of
Emerson, Hawthorne, Thoreau and the Alcotts play in forming its
thematic structure.
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**** "ESSAYS BEFORE A SONATA," BY CHARLES IVES
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****
INTRODUCTORY FOOTNOTE BY CHARLES IVES
"These prefatory essays were written by the composer for those who
can't stand his music--and the music for those who can't stand his
essays; to those who can't stand either, the whole is respectfully
dedicated."
INTRODUCTION
The following pages were written primarily as a preface or reason for
the [writer's] second Pianoforte Sonata--"Concord, Mass., 1845,"--a
group of four pieces, called a sonata for want of a more exact name, as
the form, perhaps substance, does not justify it. The music and prefaces
were intended to be printed together, but as it was found that this would
make a cumbersome volume they are separate. The whole is an attempt
to present [one person's] impression of the spirit of transcendentalism
that is associated in the minds of many with Concord, Mass., of over a
half century ago. This is undertaken in impressionistic pictures of
Emerson and Thoreau, a sketch of the Alcotts, and a Scherzo supposed
to reflect a lighter quality which is often found in the fantastic side of
Hawthorne. The first and last movements do not aim to give any
programs of the life or of any particular work of either Emerson or
Thoreau but rather composite pictures or impressions. They are,
however, so general in outline that, from some viewpoints, they may be
as far from accepted impressions (from true conceptions, for that matter)
as the valuation which they purport to be of the influence of the life,
thought, and character of Emerson and Thoreau is inadequate.
I--Prologue

How far is anyone justified, be he an authority or a layman, in
expressing or trying to express in terms of music (in sounds, if you like)
the value of anything, material, moral, intellectual, or spiritual, which is
usually expressed in terms other than music? How far afield can music
go and keep honest as well as reasonable or artistic? Is it a matter
limited only by the composer's power of expressing what lies in his
subjective or objective consciousness? Or is it limited by any
limitations of the composer? Can a tune literally represent a stonewall
with vines on it or with nothing on it, though it (the tune) be made