EXPANDING THE THEORY: Cuartes Epwarp Ives— THEOLOGIAN IN Music wv tv now rie muste of Charles Ive sas familiar to concergoe 2 that of any American composer. His Conrd Sonata for piano fd his great Fourth Symphony have become part of the stn- Gard fare. Iie also known, atleast to musician, that this aelaim represents a profound shit in musical taste for which Ives him> self is pany zesponsble, for during the years when he was sively compering them (1995-1913) he way unable co have any (of hi major works performed in public. Thus he endured many ‘years of apparent total faire in musie peor to is ultimate suc- (er, Iveds musical innovation include radical departsres from ‘tational harmony and tonality dieord is music, too. They alto include ute of material drawn from the Sounds of America tural nature, city sects, marching bands, Stephen Foster Inclodes, and “What a Friend We Have in Jenu”—the whole without predentin serious composition "Those who have studied bis biography know that during the years of composition Tver devoted himself also tothe insurance business aad made «fortune in and that ater he wrote short bt passionate tacts and essays on socal politcal, and aesthetic topics. Very few, however, are aware that behind Ives the musi dan, Ives. the pamphleter, and Ives the inrurance executive sande sill another Ives, whom we may righty call Ives the theologian in whore choughs his activity in busines, in politics, 1 tnd in music has a common root. Thi chapter will therefore ‘explore the religious basis ofthe career of Charles E. Iver and will ask how the understanding ofthis lle, een interme of tt central or dominant images, may contribute to the larity of out ‘own theological vision In doing this, we will have to expand the ides of the ‘image which we have to fa employed, chat ofa metaphor in language Which iuminates life and thereby may illuminate our own faith. For Ives, though he made considerable use ofthe writen ‘word in insurance, iPpliies, an in musical eritcism, made his chief medium ofexpression not words but music tet His words were eloquent, but itis imposible to teat his music as periph ral to is life. So we are confronted here with the question of whether the tonal images of Ivers music (r of any music, ever) can be ‘translated’ into verbal images, whether there can be & ‘tansmigration of images: whether dominant metaphors can be sen to unify not only Ives’ literary and financial and politcal activites, but also his musical compositions. Will tbe posible to say what his muse means, to soy what he means by i, and ‘thus to say what Chaves Ives, that auman being, means oF i? 1 Present purposes aside, the sory of Ive if, ful f arama, agony, and final delight, is worth ‘ellng in its own right." He ‘anda heh he prepted inthe 130r and whch ian ten pe, ee with mach cer fl boreal iceman, ns Coes Bee ly, (Joan Kinpack (ew Yorks W-W. Novem 1872), Ther oe aos ‘recog data in vgs er wring Tener of ee ces hare [een ated wp in Chae es, nay Boe ena Te go ea On rained Hoard Boseigh (Nor Yee W. Warn 86) Te part of in bot wat spay pubes ose he ey Bg oe tthe nme pbliern 1961) res wt lt odnsons a anya hs com stony wien hey were puted snd ensued commento ‘apie valu in the marine sere he, and me of aes hve {sen publited withthe muse Many sie sil ae elec i Joe inipauick,capler, 4 Tarn Maps Canp fe acs Mone ‘apd Raed also Ch Eda 1874185 Garg 1900 The unpablahe weg ger ih ome evo er ae us.war bans Danbury, Connect, Oxtbe 20, 1974 the son {mrgive a Yaz tuncinans, tnt ar Parsee Samer dager Te her fly were ol New Bogand tel more recy Chase beh sled der 8 Sut asa aay banda during the Ca War Cares ad dc hn beter Mow bom teen onthe thn be woul bean owen Comer ye hale boyhood we loft tngr alo rein Mord bp eel, sal, mies tel cap eco ‘her playing wer inn grandmothers ucla wen fener ery ener, bok, cde and he ee Amrit Cid Age, and Mark Tin bom es wes ier low ar ryt poy het, ana fet tad town wa net ype to Han ‘Sul uivour tan the contestant cpt he Young Amen aice. A © boy Chae tod Thorens and moton an ound tt vrwe cy epost! inte temure oie in Dsiy, Connect ‘hsmple sting ev dott sore a snp choo ‘Ts we preven of te boy were bl nd mone Rulul ment the mle beberbood wom sp onal fury Mare nena nnrucion om hale Sl eve Elmers indoor, fom ld Tar reas oes alles t Ye Universi, but have et examine “The mary graphy esi Hey ad Sidney Cowl hr ean sta (Nem Yk Over Uoersy Pres, ed in oed mater th co put top fai on ee pa ‘ose rm Sp nd Mains (New Yor Alf A Kropl 1270, Rese Dry hn and tA ind (Kent Sete Une iy Peo 174; ran R Rowe, Cha tn Ms Ae (Ne Yor Ekeegh 1973) Helen Rie, Mac Come Yon nein Lint ie fC ee ek Aenea 07 dai ‘Voce Bacto, Cos Ihe Bde Mae (New Haves ale Univeiy Prem 185) Althea ower nok are af, Bat noe bas ade ‘evotie tinted ahi ena, ninco empay with We gon [even moro rong hbo non hy nd hyn. {at lone wile aceon whee beer ef eprom tol be ued Dal en Rex Many, ber my inept Son demande alg 16 spd perhaps adegree of sissy softness, How to avoid the later? Luckily his father started Charles on that masculine’ insures, the drum, and soon he was discovering that piano keyboard ould be made to play drum notes, to! But we have hete touched on alifeong tension: Charlie would be obliged to scorn “men in skins," eflminacy in musical taste, and any sgh himself or others of being "a God damned sity." One wonders, looking long at the photographs of Charley’ father, whether George Ives the bundmaster—though in 1885 he wore a U.S. (Grant Civil War beard—was the orginal ofthis abhored sasy ‘mage, and whether Chiles’ own music and manner were effort ‘o reject in his father, and thus im himself the sapect of softness ‘he atsociated with his sire. In any case, when young Chater ‘compositions were admired, and he wat asked what he played, he chose to reply, “Shortstop.” ‘Nevertheless, his edueaton war preeminently a musical one At home, George Ives expected the major band insiruments 10 ‘ye learned and played, and theory mastered. Moreover, George was a Yankee innovator, gifted with pene pitch and a ais for invention, fond of inventing machines to make sounds not ord natly heard from bandsands—a system of waterglasses to play ‘quarter-ione tunes, for example. George was always trying #0 siretch the familys ears to new sounds: be would mae them ing ‘hymn in one key while the accompaniment was played in snother, Thus Charles was forced :o lear the rules of harmony and interval by learning also what it wa like to break these rues, foundations were being Isid for later creativity. Meanwhile ‘Charlie was busy as organist a the Baptist church (beginning on his fifteenth birthday), member of his father's town band, com poser of pieces for band and for organ, and, as time permited, member ofthe Danbury Alerts basebal team. He also attend Danbury Academy and Danbury High School, and at eighteen ‘went away to Hopkins Grammar School in New Haven to pre- pare for Yale. Growing up in Danbury meant religious opportunity as well Church attendance war at Fst Congregational forthe Ives, ‘but Chai was tent to the Methodist Sunday schoo, his mother having been brought up Methodist. When he began his organist * Leu fm John Kinks oe td June 173 urjo, he began 3 cre tht oo him, during adoexcence and Sou sarod, oe Bap, Episcopal, Consersona, ad Preyestn churches. More arorable than eure, though, tere hs experince of ateniag the rummer camp "astngs which bad become a fetre of late ninetentventry rat New England. Naurly, Charlie remembered his father Trading te moe ad the grand singing remem en nas abe otos Cary Mes eie freon of swore chen ng ie Nat, be Soa Bend Dye 0 the ike were sng 8 toande of Ad i singing and ee preaching ak inward le? Did te rot hath on a church Alas graphs have tet icarneds or hav ol, What we drow a nfo feen expense an inva ot came as he of tem {Skea aot church ova ering but wi hi hors tmrcing ba“ tren ornng os Memorial Day ivan by marl menage bande mecing dove Sete nin tee mn et ent come newer ad eae men of i et comes array tpg tmpone, a at he ST wae ah na SOO "Amc ener abr dated hence hae ofnineeen and enya. e gue up he Bybut pcstina Ch fan canter espe ante a ue tthe eat ves = Lei ey a he Sth ning al singing st fone pe beaver” and stein gh ‘het detec sds, sop on emp etn Sou oo ns"Prochaideen Godby ino {na hg man someone noe st 2 toy Mena, p82 ‘en een Boi Ea Bera Smt. p30 Sviour—be tet an wfc cowapee inary ae ewes th vaste i bum, he doe he aman eve as soho tenth and be known tat Co ming nethng ae Eat ‘The sum of Charles Ives home year is undoubtedly postive ‘on any seale we have considered. He was » good balplayer and ‘was to get beter, pitching for Hopkins in a memorable defeat of the Yale freshman wat. He was a good orgenat youngea in {he sate,” sid the Denby News in 1888) and his music won his fathers praise and trust. While he was no vttuoro inthe Dan Dury schools, he was not dropout, either. To any chroniler who looked in upon Danbury cica 1802, eightecn-year-old Carle Ives must have seemed secure in his fil, inthe world ‘of his peer, and in the rise of his are. ‘Yet there was in that very success the yeast of costly fire ‘Let Sidney Cowell tell the story he compe» band ple, Haily Qik Sip This waste les ve emotion to win coment in he pb rom, ‘cas aproved ate young compos apnea. Whe i net the plete wus prorat the bao the Decrntog a eee atc at ooreone enh nai hen ram ove paving Charis pee a ebay wn iarered moos laying handball aga he bare dor ih hs ask he hoe? Why this curing of the back when the father’s band plays the son's tune? Why the refusal ofthe unavoidable risk of Hate oF raise? Is there noe here a premonition, a at experince ofthe {reat and cosy risk which making music entails? And i not Significant that what his sure young ear told hima in 1688 wa ‘ausical success was just a8 painfl, in ite way, ab what hin businessman's judgment would tell him in 1919 was, though not ‘musical failure, yet failure in music, fallure in winning. an audience for his work?” 2 pp. 30-1 2 Gr pp 90:91, aod Kip, ed Many pp 14-07. The yshodymanis flare and ncn noes gray dente coon 9