The Music of Wes, Web Or Not
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THE MUSIC OF WES, WEB OR NOT Thesis for the Degree-0f M. M. met-am. STATE UNIVERSITY R035 MAME MUENNiG-‘l' ' 1976 751138;“- I; ‘ 3- can '6 mum 30!? ' LIBRARY BINDIRS [M r.r‘v . » vhf/AD ,' "I ABSTRACT THE MUSIC OF IVES, BORROWED OR NOT BY Rose Marie Muennich The music of Charles Ives is his own, whether it is borrowed or not. It is true that most of Ives's music is borrowed from other sources, primarily folk-tunes, patriotic hymns, and his own music; but why and what he dees with his borrowings and why he does it is what makes it uniquely Ives's music. He was born and raised in Danbury, Connecticut, and later settled in New York, as an insurance salesman. As a child he studied music with his father, and received a degree in Music Composition, in 1898 from Yale University. While Ives received a traditional background in music, which included the study of works by Bach, Dvorak, and other "Classical" composers, it was his everyday musical experience_that led him to his own distinct style of composition. People and events were related to the music that Ives heard in his lifetime, and were, therefore, a great influence on the way music was recorded in his mind and eventually on paper, in the form of his own music. The relationship between Ives's music and the music he borrowed resulted in his Rose Marie Muennich recreation of past events, so he borrowed material in order to project his own ideas to the listener, through music. Ives used borrowed material in several ways, preferring to rework melodic lines by omitting tones, altering the measure- sequence, expanding and/or contracting intervals, changing the original key, or ornamenting the melodic lines. Sometimes he retained the original rhythmic divisions of a borrowed tune but shifted the pulse or accent by using irregular meter sig- natures such as 5/4, 7/4, and 9/2, in place of 3/4, 4/4, and 6/8. At times, Ives also retained the original melody, but changed the original note values. He expanded or created other harmonies by adding diminished or augmented octaves to thir- teenth chords, adding major or minor thirds above chordal accompaniments of hymns, or by constructing tone clusters of superimposed major or minor seconds or thirds, and sometimes a combination of both. Ives experimented with different instrumental textures by writing as many as twenty different melodic phrases and rhythmic lines against each other, as in the Fourth Symphony. He exploited the possibilities of vocal writing by composing melodic lines that contained leaps of major and minor sevenths, written against dissonant pitches in the accompaniment, a practice that was not common at this time. Sometimes Ives composed with conventional forms of music in mind, such as A—B-A or sonata designs, but like others, he did not always adhere strictly to these forms. Many times, especially in his songs, he off-set or off- balanced the form rhythmically and/or harmonically in one or Rose Marie Muennich both of the sections. For example, in Ives's song, "Karen," the B section is off-balanced rhythmically within itself. He wrote a four-measure introduction and then added the voice part, the first three phrases (each four measures in length) in 3/4. Ives then changed the fourth phrase to four measures of 3/8 followed by a measure of 4/4, with the last note of the phrase returning to 3/4. He concluded the song by recapitula- ting the four-measure introduction, with the last measure an octave higher. It is also interesting to note that while a tonic, tonic, dominant pattern is established in three beats, the song ends on a dominant seventh chord as opposed to tonic. Ives also composed music that, at times, involved more than one borrowed tune. Sometimes he chose to present one familiar melody at a time, as in the outer movements of his Second Sonata for violin and piano (each is based on a differ- ent hymn-tune). His use of two or more tunes within a move- ment or entire work, is represented in "Lincoln, the Great Commoner," which contains such patriotic hymns as "Battle Hymn of the Republic" and "America." But Ives was also known to write two or more tunes simultaneously, an example being the third movement of the Fourth Symphony, with Lowell Mason's "Missionary Chant" as the fugue subject and Oliver Holden's ”Coronation: All Hail the power of Jesus' name" as the countersubject. Two of Ives's compositions, "Lincoln, the Great Commoner" and the Second Sonata for violin and piano, serve to Rose Marie Muennich illustrate the various ways that he used borrowed material. Limited citations of other works will also be included. The Appendices list all of Ives's works alphabetically, according to specific categories. Works derived from earlier compositions of his are indicated, as well as borrowed material from other composers. Each appendix is also prefaced with pertinent information relating to specific works within a category, or the category as a whole. THE MUSIC OF IVES, BORROWED OR NOT BY Rose Marie Muennich A THESIS Submitted to Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF MUSIC Department of Music 1976 Copyright by ROSE MARIE MUENNICH 1976 To My Parents ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The writer wishes to thank her major advisor, Professor Russell E. Friedewald, for his guidance and helpful sugges- tions during the preparation of the thesis. She also wishes to thank Professors Theodore Johnson and Richard Klausli for reading the thesis and making further suggestions for its improvement. Musical examples and text are reprinted by kind permission of the copyright owners as follows: "Sailor's Hornpipe” and "White Cockade,“ from Tradition- al Music of America by Ira. W. Ford. Copyright 1940 by E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc., reprinted with their permission. "America," from Songs of Many Wars edited and arranged by Kurt Adler. Copyright 1943 by Howell, Soskins, Publishers, copyright expired. "Battle Hymn of the Republic," from Folk Songs of Many Nations collected and edited by Louis C. Elson. Copyright 1930 by Theodore Presser Co., reprinted with their permission. Ives, “Lincoln, the Great Commoner," from New Music Edition. Copyright 1953 by Theodore Presser Co., reprinted with their permission. Ives, "Second Sonata" for violin and piano. Copyright 1951 by G. Schirmer, Inc., reprinted each time with their permission. 'Nettleton" or ”Come, Thou Fount of every blessing," from The Methodist Hymnal. Copyright 1932, 35, and 39 by The United Methodist Publishing House. Public Domain. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. O iii Chapter I. AN INTRODUCTION TO THE LIFE OF IVES. II. IVES BORROWS FROM VARIOUS MUSICAL SOURCES. 10 III. HOW IVES USED BORROWED MATERIAL IN HIS OWN 14 MELODY . 14 RHYTHM . 22 HARMONY. 28 TEXTURE. 32 FORM . 34 APPENDICES O O O C C O O O O O O O C O O 0 INTRODUCTION. 39 APPENDIX A. CHORAL MUSIC . 40 Boys' Voices . 40 Double Chorus (boys' and mixed voices--SATB) 40 Double Chorus (mixed voices--SATB) . 41 Male Chorus (TB) . Male Unison Chorus . 41 Mixed Chorus (SATB). 42 Mixed Unison Chorus. 45 Mixed Chorus (high and low voices-~SATB 45 B. ORCHESTRAL MUSIC . O 46 46 Chamber or Theater Orchestra . O 48 Symphony or Large Orchestra. O 52 Pieces for Orchestra (Take-offs) O Brass or Military Band . 0 53 C. ORGAN MUSIC. 55 57 D. PIANO MUSIC. 0 O O O O O O O O O 0 Single Piano Pieces, Studies and 58 Other Single Piano Pieces. 58 Solo Piano Pieces and One Duet . 59 Piano Trios. 60 Piano Quintets . 61 Piano Quintet and Voices . 61 iv Page E. STRING MUSIC. 62 String Quartets 62 Set 63 Violin Sonatas. 63 F. VOCAL MUSIC . 66 G. MISCELLANEOUS ENSEMBLE MUSIC. 79 BIBLIOGRAPHY 81 AN INTRODUCTION TO THE LIFE OF IVES Charles Edward Ives was born in Danbury, Connecticut, to George and Mary Parmelee Ives, on 20 October 1874. His early years, when most people called him Charlie, were spent in Danbury, where his first exposure to music was by way of the town band rehearsals held by his father. The music that was most familiar to Ives was the popu- lar music of the time, which he heard at dances, outdoor camp meetings, churches, country fairs, and minstrel-shows. Music of this nature included "Swanee River," "Camptown Races,” ”Turkey in the Straw," "Beulah Land," ”Nearer, My God to Thee," "Old Black Joe," and so on. He was also familiar with all of the popular songs of his father's friend, Stephen Foster. However, Charlie's father saw to it that this was not the only type of musical expression that his son heard. His father gave him a traditional background in music, but he did not limit Charlie's mind and ears to Bach, or any other composer, style, or type of music. Charlie often listened to chamber works of Handel, Bach, and Beethoven, as performed by his father and his friends, and he himself studied and performed works such as a Bach toccata for organ (a specific title is not mentioned in Ives's writings) and Mendelssohn's F-minor Organ Sonata. But he also heard the music played at town band rehearsals (Ives became a member at the age of twelve), music at church, patriotic songs during holidays, and the musical experiments of his father. George Ives liked to work with quarter-tones, which he produced on the slide cornet and also with tuned glasses. He used these quarter-tone pitches to create new tunes, and then he asked the family to try to sing them.