Celebrating Charles Ives at 150
Associated Music Publishers and the Wise Music Group are pleased to celebrate the 150th birthday year of composer Charles Ives.
In celebrating Ives' 150th, the Charles Ives Society produced a new commentary series, From the Ives Studio. Watch the latest episode below with Kyle Gann, author of Charles Ives's Concord: Essays After a Sonata.
In October, two in-depth profiles of Charles Ives were published by NPR and The New York Times, each celebrating pianist Jeremy Denk's new recording of the Concord Sonata and outlining the context in which Ives wrote his music.
Writer, radio host, and historian Joseph Horowitz created Charles Ives' America as part his Naxos DVD series Dvorak’s Prophecy — A New Narrative for American Classical Music. Now released on YouTube for Ives' 150th, it mixes revealing commentary by J. Peter Burkholder, Horowitz, William Sharp, James Sinclair, and Judith Tick with several performances.
Many musical and academic celebrations are taking place around the world. From November 9-21, 2024, a sesquicentennial celebration with contextualized performances, cross-disciplinary talks, and conversations exploring Charles Ives and his place in American history and culture is hosted by Bard College and The Orchestra Now (TŌN). Festival performances showcase the breadth of Ives’ output, including various orchestral pieces, piano works including the Concord Sonata, and a number of songs.
Sat, Nov 9 at 6 PM at Olin Hall on the Bard College campus
Sat, Nov 16 at 5 PM and Sun, Nov 17 at 12 PM at Olin Hall on the Bard College campus
Sat, Nov 16 at 7 PM and Sun, Nov 17 at 2 PM at the Fisher Center at Bard
Thu, Nov 21 at 7 PM at Carnegie Hall
Explore Catalog Highlights
Charles Ives composed his Symphony No. 3 between 1901 and 1904, while he was living in New York City and working as an insurance salesman. The symphony was first published and performed in 1946, and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in music in 1947.
Concord Symphony, orchestration by Henry Brant
"In choosing the Concord Sonata for orchestral treatment I felt, above all, that here Ives had achieved his most complete and comprehensive expression, and that of all his works, this was the one with the most immediate appeal." - Henry Brant
Postlude in F, edition by Kenneth Singleton
The Postlude in F dates from 1890-92, a time when Ives was working as a church organist. The Postlude in F bears a strong European imprint, which Ives biographer Jan Swafford finds reminiscent of Wagner’s Siegfried Idyll.
Symphony No. 4 performance edition
Newly revised in 2024, the Charles Ives Society Performance Edition of his Symphony No. 4 is based on the 2011 Critical Edition, realized and edited by Thomas M. Brodhead. This edition addresses the questions that are often raised in preparing performances of the Ives Fourth, making his masterwork easier to present than ever before.
The Emerson Concerto is one of the most radical works Ives ever created, but exists as a unfinished draft of his Emerson movement of the Concord Sonata. This performing version for piano and orchestra has been realized by the Ives scholar David G. Porter.