American Overview! (1874-1954)

§ Born and raised in Danbury, . § Father George Ives was local bandleader; fostered sense of experimentation in his children. § Rugged New England individualism; interest in transcendentalist movement (e.g., Thoreau, Emerson, Hawthorne)

§ Accomplished organist and avid baseball fanatic. § Musical influences include Beethoven, American folk tunes, patriotic music, church hymns, negro spirituals, Stephen Foster songs; later .

§ Unique combination of patriotic nostalgia and progressive experimentation.

Variations on “America” (1891), for organ Charles Ives (1874-1954)

§ Studied music composition with at (1894-98) § No. 1 was his senior thesis, submitted as a graduation requirement. § Went into business as an insurance salesman in order not to compromise his musical vision; co- founded Ives & Myrick Insurance Co. in 1907.

§ Married to Twitchell in 1908 and moved to City. § Composed on evenings and weekends; supported his compositional activity with wealth accumulated as an insurance executive.

Symphony No. 1, Movement I (1898) Symphony No. 2, Movement IV (1897-1902) Charles Ives (1874-1954)  Ives in Battery Park (c.1913).

 Ives at the time of his marriage to Harmony Twitchell (1909).

Offices of Ives & Myrick, .

String Quartet No. 2, Movement II—“Arguments” (1913-15) Symphony No. 4, Movements II & III (1910-16)!

Charles Ives (1913) Charles Ives (1874-1954) § Suffered chronic health problems beginning in 1907, eventually resulting in a complete cessation of new compositional work in the early 1920s. § Creative work for the remainder of his life devoted to constant reworking and editing of his earlier works.

1935

1945

§ Spent his later years supporting new American music and young . § Public recognition of his work came late in life, championed by , , Aaron , , , , and . § Won the in Music (1947) for the Third Symphony (1904). American Music Chronology Charles IVES Edgard VARÉSE

Henry COWELL “” John BECKER Stravinsky / “” Aaron COPLAND “Boulangerie”

EXPERIMENTAL Elliott CARTER TRADITIONAL Leonard BERNSTEIN “The ” Christian WOLFF ! uptown Lou HARRISON

Ralph SHAPEY ! downtown LaMonte YOUNG Terry RILEY “Minimalists” Laurie ANDERSON Meredith MONK John ADAMS Tania LÉON “” Michael GORDON American Experimentalists! Carl Ruggles (1876-1971) George Antheil (1900-1959) Sun-Treader (1926-31) Ballet mécanique (1923-25)

Edgard Varése (1883-1965) Ruth Crawford Seeger (1901-1953) (1929-31) (1931) American Traditionalists!

 L-R: Virgil Thomson, Walter Piston, Herbert Elwell, and Aaron Copland. Photographed in Nadia Boulanger’s home (1925).

”Boulangerie”: Nadia Boulanger and her class, Paris (1923). Aaron Copland is just to the right of Mdme. Boulanger. American Regionalism

Thomas Hart Benton: The Arts of the West (1932)

 Grant Wood: American Gothic (1930) American Traditionalists!

 Aaron Copland (seated) with Leonard Bernstein (c. 1940).

 L-R: Aaron Copland, Samuel Barber, Gian-Carlo Menotti (1945).

Aaron Copland: (1938) Samuel Barber: (1936) Copland, Barber, Menotti, Bernstein American Traditionalists!

Virgil Thomson, Leonard Bernstein, Walter Piston, William Schuman, and Aaron Copland. Photographed at Philharmonic Hall in New York (1970). Uptown/Downtown!

Columbia-Princeton Composers: Mario Davidovsky, Milton Babbitt, Vladimir Ussachevsky, & Otto Luening, with student composers Pril Smily and Alice Shields at Columbia-Princeton Studio (1970).

 New York School: Christian Wolff, Earle Brown, John Cage, Morton Feldman. Photographed in New York, 1962 (archives of Earle Brown). Recent American Music! John Corigliano (b. 1938) Tania Léon (b. 1943) Symphony No. 1 (1988-89) Indígena (1991)

Joseph Schwantner (b. 1943) Michael Daugherty (b. 1954) …and the mountains rising nowhere (1977) Desi (1991) Recent American Music!

“Bang on a Can” founders: Julia Wolfe, David Lang, Michael Gordon

Bang on a Can! Additional Slides! Manuscript of Charles Ives’ Fourth of July from the “Holidays” Symphony (1904-13) Recent American Music! Representative Works:! § for (1977)! § Altered States (1980)—soundtrack; Academy Award nomination § Fantasy: Concerto for Flute !& (1982) § Symphony No. 1 (1988-89)—orchestra; § (1991)— § The Red (1997)— soundtrack; Academy Award § Symphony No. 2 (2000)—orchestra; Pulitzer Prize

John Corigliano! (b. 1938)

Corigliano Representative Works:! § …and the mountains rising nowhere (1977) —wind ensemble § Aftertones of Infinity (1978)—orchestra; Pulitzer Prize § Sparrows (1980)—soprano & chamber ensemble ! § Music of Amber (1981)— mixed chamber ensemble § From a Dark Millenium (1981)—wind ensemble § New Morning for the World (1982)—speaker & orchestra § Distant Runes and Incantations (1984) —amplified & orchestra

Joseph Schwantner! (b. 1943)

Schwantner Representative Works:! § Haiku (1973)—ballet ! § Batá (1985)—orchestra § Rituál (1987)—solo piano § Batéy (1989)—vocal ensemble § Parajota Delaté (1988)—wind ensemble ! § Indígena (1991)—large chamber ensemble § Scourge of Hyacinths (1994)—chamber opera § Singin’ Sepia (1996)—soprano & chamber ensemble § Horizons (1999)—orchestra

Tania Léon! (b. 1943)

Léon Representative Works:! § (1988-93)—orchestra § Desi (1991)—orchestra; band § Sing Sing: J. Edgar Hoover (1992)—string quartet & tape § (1993)—solo & chamber ensemble ! § Metal (1994)—brass ensemble ! § Le Tombeau de Liberace (1996)—solo piano & chamber orchestra § (1997)— chamber opera § (1998)—orchestra § Used Car Salesman (2000)—percussion quartet

Michael Daugherty ! (b. 1954)

Daugherty