| Abstract |
This authoritative volume of 453 letters written by and to composer Charles Ives (1874-1954) provides unparalleled insight into one of the most extraordinary and paradoxical careers in American music history. The most comprehensive collection of Ives's correspondence in print, this book opens a window on Ives's complex personality and his creative process. Letters deal with the composer's day-to-day concerns, his health, family life, and friendships; the composition, performance, and editing of his music, and his activities as a patron and sponsor of new music concerts, publications, and recordings. Though Ives spent much of his career out of the mainstream of professional music-making, he corresponded with a surprisingly large group of musicians and critics, including John J. Becker, Henry Bellamann, Leonard Bernstein, John Cage, Aaron Copland, Henry Cowell, Ingolf Dahl, Walter Damrosch, Lehman Engel, Clifton J. Furness, Lou Harrison, Bernard Herrmann, John Kirkpatrick, Serge Koussevitzky, John Lomax, Francesco Malipiero, Radiana Pazmor, Paul Rosenfeld, Carl Ruggles, E. Robert Schmitz, Nicolas Slonimsky, and Peter Yates. Ives's letters also shed light on his relationships with his father and wife, both of whom greatly influenced his creative life, and show how important Ives was as a patron to Henry Cowell's New Music and to the larger modern music community. Meticulously annotated to contextualize Ives's work both historically and musically, these letters tell Ives's story in his own words and offer an important new perspective on American music. |
