Charles Edward Ives (1874-1954)
Known for his independence from musical fads and his flair for
experimentation, Charles Edward Ives was truly a native son of Danbury.
His father George, who had served as a Civil War band leader, was
Charles' most influential teacher and had engaged himself in various
musical experiments. Thus it was that Charles interwove fragments from
traditional patriotic marches and hymns with the unconventional
techniques acquired from his father. Unfortunately, Danbury residents
and Americans in general were not receptive to this native son. When
several of his orchestral works premiered in New York, Los Angeles and
Boston during the 1930's, the audiences were openly hostile.The bulk
of Charles Ives's music was composed during the years between 1896 and
1916. During that time span, he graduated from Yale (1898), formed a
very successful insurance company with Julian Myrick (1907), and married
Harmony Twitchell (1910).
It was not until well after he stopped composing that a changing
public revised its assessment of his music. Finally, in 1947 Charles
Ives was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for the Third Symphony he had written
40 years earlier. By then a wealthy man due to success in his insurance
business, he gave away the $500 prize money.
[Sudik, Nancy F. "Charles Ives - Danbury's Most Famous
Composer" as cited in www.housatonic.org.]
Danbury Alerts, 1890.
When he was a boy, he disliked being called a piano player by his peers.
When much ado was made about his music and he was asked what he liked to
play, he would retort: "Shortstop!" He also rowed and played tennis and
football.
Mrs. Charles (Harmony Twitchell) Ives.
"(Harmony) was never in doubt that Charles Ives was a genius, and so he
was never in doubt." — a friend of the family
"The piano drew Mr. Ives like a magnet. He couldn't sit still for
long, and it seemed like he couldn't keep away from (it)."—Christine
Loring, secretary for Charles Ives.
The Insurance Offices of Ives & Myrick at Nassau and Liberty Streets,
New York.
"My things were done mostly in the 20 years or so between 1896 and
1916. In 1917 the war came and I did practically nothing in music. I did
not seem to feel like it. We were busy at the office at this time with
the extra Red Cross and Liberty Loan drives and all the problems that
the war brought…"
Pine Mountain
Charles Ives constructed this "shanty" on top of a mountain in the
Ridgebury section of Ridgefield, Connecticut in 1903. Perhaps the
panorama available from this spot inspired Ives to begin his "Universe
Symphony". He envisioned two orchestras playing across from each other
on mountaintops overlooking a valley. "If only I could have done it.
It's all there—the mountains and the field," he said.
The Fourth of July had been forgetten in a safe until Julian Myrick
(Charles Ives' business partner) asked Ives if he wanted it thrown away.
"Why, Mike! God that's the best thing I've written!"
"Mrs. Ives never once said, or suggested, or looked or thought there
must be something wrong with me—a thing implied, if not expressed by
almost everybody else, including members of the family. She never once
said: 'Now why don't you be good and write something nice the way they
like it.' Never. She urged me on my way to be myself and gave me her
confidence that no one else since Father had given me."—Charles Edward
Ives
The photos shown are in the Danbury Museum &
Historical Society's 1998 Calendar. The calendar measures 9 x 12 and is
printed on glossy paper.
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