Three Places in New England
Encyclopedia
The Three Places in New England (Orchestral Set No. 1) is a composition for orchestra by Charles Ives
. It was composed across a long span of time (sketches date back from 1903, while the latest revisions were made in 1929), however the bulk was written between 1911 and 1914. The piece is famous for its use of musical quotation
and paraphrasing, as explained later in this article. Three Places consists of three movements in Ives’ preferred slow-fast-slow movement order:
The three movements are ordered with the longest first and the shortest last, and a complete performance of the piece lasts eighteen or nineteen minutes.
The piece has become one of Ives' most commonly performed compositions. It showcases most of the signature traits of his style: layered textures
, with multiple, simultaneous melodies, many of which are recognizable hymn
and marching tunes; masses of sound, and tone cluster
s; and sudden, sharp textural contrasts.
Each of the three movements is named for a place in New England
, USA. Each is carefully composed to make the listener feel as though he or she is at that very place, experiencing its unique atmosphere. Ives’ use of paraphrasing American folk tunes is particularly important in creating such an effect, as it provides the listener with some sort of tangible reference point from which to access the music. In this way, Ives makes the music accessible even though it makes heavy use of chromaticism
which, at the time of its writing, was seen as an avant-garde trait.
Three Places in New England aims to paint a picture of American ideals, lifestyle and patriotism at the turn of the century.
The Housatonic at Stockbridge, the third piece in the set, was composed in 1911 along with the opening piece, The “St.-Gaudens” in Boston Common (Col. Shaw and his Colored Regiment). By 1912, after finishing Putnam’s Camp, Ives had settled on the form of a three-movement orchestral set, and had written the majority of it.
In 1929, Nicolas Slonimsky
, then the conductor of the Boston Chamber Orchestra, contacted Ives about the possibility of performing Three Places. Slonimsky had been pressured by Ives’ contemporary, American composer Henry Cowell
, to perform an Ives piece for some time, and Three Places caught his attention.
The thorough reworking required to transform Three Places from an orchestral score to one that could be performed by a much smaller chamber orchestra renewed Ives' interest in the piece. Slonimsky required the piece be re-scored for: 1 flute
, 1 oboe
, 1 English horn, 1 clarinet
, 1 bassoon
, 2 horns
, 2 trumpet
s, 1 trombone
, 1 percussionist, 1 piano
, 7 violin
s, 2 viola
s, 2 celli
and 1 bass
– a significantly smaller orchestra than the original piece was written for. While Ives was obviously glad to have his piece played, it is interesting to note his comments on the re-scoring - on the full score of The Housatonic at Stockbridge, Ives comments that “piano may be used for Bassoons throughout… a poor substitute…”
Three Places was first performed on February 16, 1930 by Slonimsky before the American Committee of the International Society for Contemporary Music, in New York City
. Although the piece had only been rehearsed once, the Committee was sufficiently impressed to recommend the work to the International Committee who surprisingly turned it down for performance at their festival. The first public performance was scheduled for 10 January 1931. Ives himself was in attendance – in fact, he was funding the concert himself! The performance received mild applause and Ives congratulated the performers backstage – “Just like a town meeting – every man for himself. Wonderful how it came out!”
After the mild success of Three Places debut performance, Slonimsky and Ives were inspired to take the piece abroad. In fact, Ives is one of the first American
composers to have been ‘taken abroad’ (played outside of America). Slonimsky performed Three Places in Paris on June 6, at a concert he described as “absolutely extraordinary” because of the attendance of many important composers and critics of the time. Their first experience of Ives left them impressed; Ives’ music was not just interesting because it was composed by an American – it fascinated them because the music described America. Unbeknownst to the listeners, Ives was calling attention to American ideals, issues, experiences and perspectives. For instance, in The St. Gaudens’, Ives paraphrases ragtime
, Slave plantation
songs such as Old Black Joe and even patriotic American Civil War
tunes such as Marching through Georgia. The combination of such songs elicits images of the fight for freedom in America, and America’s strong morals on that subject. International recognition solidified the image of Ives as an American composer (especially strengthened by his use of borrowing from typically American sounding pieces).
Three Places in New England became the first work of Ives’ to be commercially published. Slonimsky had been in touch with C.C. Birchard (a publisher from Boston) on Ives’ behalf and, by 1935, the two had negotiated a deal. Ives and Slonimsky both checked the score through, note by note, to make sure the engravings were correct. It was painstaking work, but well worth it when, in 1935, Ives held his first work in his hands. In his typical manner, however, Ives requested that the binding bear his name in as small a font as possible, as to not make him look egotistical.
Despite publication, very little interest in performance was aroused. Ives’ masterpiece thus went unappreciated for many years. Following the curtailment of Slonimsky’s conducting career, the piece lay dormant until 1948, when Richard Burgin
programmed Three Places on a Boston Symphony Orchestra concert. The practice of performing Ives’ chamber scores as full orchestral pieces was thus established, and has continued to this day.
In the 1970s, interest in Three Places in New England was piqued once again. This time it was regarding the differences between the 1914 scoring, much of which was lost, and the 1929 score, which had been rewritten for Slonimsky’s chamber orchestra. Much research was undertaken by James Sinclair at Yale University
. It was concluded that the 1914 version could not be reproduced in its entirety, as only 35% of the second movement survived Ives’ cutting for the 1929 version. Sinclair managed to create what is currently believed to be the closest replication of the 1914 score for full orchestra by using what scraps, sketches and notes of Ives’ he could find.
monument of the same title on the corner of Beacon and Park Streets in Boston, MA. The monument took over fourteen years of work by the world-renowned artist Augustus Saint-Gaudens
in honor of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment - the first all-Black regiment
to serve in the Union Army
during the American Civil War
. The official name of the monument is the Robert Gould Shaw Memorial. Colonel Robert Shaw
was the white commander who led the Regiment in their fateful assault on Fort Wagner
, South Carolina
. Of the six hundred men who stormed the fort, two hundred and seventy, including Shaw, were killed. However, they fought with courage and valor, and were duly recognized.
s in the bass. Ives uses chromaticism
, placed distantly below the themes of the piece, to keep it sounding like a vague recollection of the events that occurred, rather than a vivid depiction.
The piece builds to a dynamic high before rapidly receding, perhaps to signify the fate of the regiment at Fort Wagner
. From a full, rich C-major chord at m. 63 (rehearsal H), the piece falls into minor disarray and, for the last two and a half minutes, it can be heard as a solemn memorial to those lost, or the crushed hopes of hundreds of Black soldiers who came to fight for the freedom of other Blacks.
tunes such as Massa’s in de Cold Ground and Old Black Joe
, and the patriotic Civil War
songs Marching Through Georgia
and The Battle Cry of Freedom. The paraphrasing of these pieces is especially clear in the opening bars of the piece, where motives from the three main sources interweave to create a sort of ‘American’ sounding pentatonic melody, typical of the 19th century American song.
Throughout the opening of the piece, ostinato
s based upon minor third intervals are heard in the bass instruments. These are intended to evoke images of a solemn trudge down to battle. What is really interesting about these is that they, too, are derived from the same four source materials as the main melody in the piece. Throughout the four (Marching Through Georgia
, Old Black Joe
, The Battle Cry of Freedom and Massa’s in de Cold Ground) we see minor third intervals playing a huge role.
Ives chose these source materials because of their musical similarities and the possibility of creating fresh, seamless motives from them. Furthermore, the pieces have strong extra-musical associations which Ives takes full advantage of in order to create his solemn 'Black March'. Mixing patriotic Civil War
songs with old Slave plantation songs creates a vivid image, and works to honor those who fell fighting for the emancipation of Blacks during the Civil War.
, was established as a historic landmark by the Connecticut
legislature
in 1887 and named in honor of the American Revolutionary War
General Israel Putnam
. Putnam had set up a camp in the area during the winter of 1778-79. This site has been preserved as a historic treasure because of Putnam’s important role in the Revolutionary War – especially the battle of Bunker Hill
. 4 July celebrations are often held at the site due to its historic significance.
James Sinclair, who was responsible for the work done in the 1970s to recreate the original score of Three Places, correlated many of the measures in the score for Putnam’s Camp with the program as described by Ives. A picture has since been generated which shows the measures of the piece along with their programmatic significance.
patriotic tunes for this work in order to create the imagery of franticly patriotic 4 July celebrations. The opening measures are typical Ives, using heavy chromaticism
and varying time signatures (4/4 battles with 9/8) to create the image of a community marching band. What is created is a touchingly realistic interpretation, which resolves shortly after the start of the piece into a B-flat march. However, chromaticism
and disarray is never far from breaking through, which gives the impression that the musicians are not professional.
Ives also experimented with quoting
famous musical excerpts in different keys from the main theme. This idea was brought about when Ives had been listening to a marching band, and could still hear one band marching away while the other marched towards him, thus sounding in two keys simultaneously. This gives an idea of the festivities of the day and the aforementioned touch of frantic patriotism.
Many American patriotic tunes, such as Yankee Doodle
are quoted during the piece. A fascinating quotation can be heard in the last two measures of the piece, with the national anthem resolving to a completely unexpected, dissonant chord at the very end.
First drafts were written primarily in the summer of 1908. The version was reworked in 1911, and then again in 1913, extending the atmospheric ‘mists’ and ‘running water’ sounds far longer than the original two measures allocated. The final scoring was completed in 1914. It was arranged for song in 1921 to lines excerpted from Robert Underwood Johnson
’s poem To the Housatonic at Stockbridge, but appears in orchestral form when played as a part of Three Places in New England. The final movement features a good deal of strident polyrhythmic activity in the strings coupled with a hymn-like tune (borrowing from Beethoven's Fifth motif) with some altered chords thrown into the mix.
had been a hiking trip in western Massachusetts
and Connecticut
. They enjoyed the experience so much that they chose to go back to the Berkshires the very next weekend. Whilst there they took a walk by the Housatonic River
near Stockbridge, Massachusetts
. Ives recalled:
s in the upper strings
to create the image of mist and fog rolling over swirling waters, and English horns and violas to mimic the sound of singing from a church across the river.
’s hymn tune
Dorrance
. The paraphrase uses the following methods:
The piece is thus classed as an extended paraphrase melody.
Charles Ives
Charles Edward Ives was an American modernist composer. He is one of the first American composers of international renown, though Ives' music was largely ignored during his life, and many of his works went unperformed for many years. Over time, Ives came to be regarded as an "American Original"...
. It was composed across a long span of time (sketches date back from 1903, while the latest revisions were made in 1929), however the bulk was written between 1911 and 1914. The piece is famous for its use of musical quotation
Musical quotation
Musical quotation is the practice of directly quoting another work in a new composition. The quotation may be from the same composer's work , or from a different composer's work ....
and paraphrasing, as explained later in this article. Three Places consists of three movements in Ives’ preferred slow-fast-slow movement order:
- I. The "St. Gaudens" in Boston Common (Col. Shaw and his Colored Regiment)
- II. Putnam's Camp, Redding, Connecticut
- III. The Housatonic at Stockbridge
The three movements are ordered with the longest first and the shortest last, and a complete performance of the piece lasts eighteen or nineteen minutes.
The piece has become one of Ives' most commonly performed compositions. It showcases most of the signature traits of his style: layered textures
Texture (music)
In music, texture is the way the melodic, rhythmic, and harmonic materials are combined in a composition , thus determining the overall quality of sound of a piece...
, with multiple, simultaneous melodies, many of which are recognizable hymn
Hymn
A hymn is a type of song, usually religious, specifically written for the purpose of praise, adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification...
and marching tunes; masses of sound, and tone cluster
Tone cluster
A tone cluster is a musical chord comprising at least three consecutive tones in a scale. Prototypical tone clusters are based on the chromatic scale, and are separated by semitones. For instance, three adjacent piano keys struck simultaneously produce a tone cluster...
s; and sudden, sharp textural contrasts.
Each of the three movements is named for a place in New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
, USA. Each is carefully composed to make the listener feel as though he or she is at that very place, experiencing its unique atmosphere. Ives’ use of paraphrasing American folk tunes is particularly important in creating such an effect, as it provides the listener with some sort of tangible reference point from which to access the music. In this way, Ives makes the music accessible even though it makes heavy use of chromaticism
Chromaticism
Chromaticism is a compositional technique interspersing the primary diatonic pitches and chords with other pitches of the chromatic scale. Chromaticism is in contrast or addition to tonality or diatonicism...
which, at the time of its writing, was seen as an avant-garde trait.
Three Places in New England aims to paint a picture of American ideals, lifestyle and patriotism at the turn of the century.
History
Three Places in New England was composed between 1903 and 1929. The set was completed in 1914, but was later revised for performance in 1929. The second piece, Putnam’s Camp, Redding, Connecticut is responsible for the lower end of the composition dates – it was created from two short theater orchestra pieces composed by Ives in 1903. The pieces, "Country Band" March and Overture & March: “1776” were completed successively in 1904. Lyman Brewster, Ives’ uncle, had asked him to compose the pieces for his play Major John Andre which, sadly, was never performed due to Brewster’s untimely death. It was not until the early fall of 1912 when Ives began tinkering with these compositions again. The satisfaction that Ives derived from working on the Fourth of July, in which he used the trio section of 1776 may have been the catalyst for inspiring him to reuse these lost songs and create a longer piece. By October, 1912, Ives had a complete ink score-sketch of Putnam’s Camp. The final version of the piece clearly resembles its source materials, as we shall see later in this article – however, many of the complex musical jokes that littered the originals had been ironed out and replaced with simpler alternatives.The Housatonic at Stockbridge, the third piece in the set, was composed in 1911 along with the opening piece, The “St.-Gaudens” in Boston Common (Col. Shaw and his Colored Regiment). By 1912, after finishing Putnam’s Camp, Ives had settled on the form of a three-movement orchestral set, and had written the majority of it.
In 1929, Nicolas Slonimsky
Nicolas Slonimsky
Nicolas Slonimsky was a Russian born American composer, conductor, musician, music critic, lexicographer and author. He described himself as a "diaskeuast" ; "a reviser or interpolator."- Life :...
, then the conductor of the Boston Chamber Orchestra, contacted Ives about the possibility of performing Three Places. Slonimsky had been pressured by Ives’ contemporary, American composer Henry Cowell
Henry Cowell
Henry Cowell was an American composer, music theorist, pianist, teacher, publisher, and impresario. His contribution to the world of music was summed up by Virgil Thomson, writing in the early 1950s:...
, to perform an Ives piece for some time, and Three Places caught his attention.
The thorough reworking required to transform Three Places from an orchestral score to one that could be performed by a much smaller chamber orchestra renewed Ives' interest in the piece. Slonimsky required the piece be re-scored for: 1 flute
Flute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
, 1 oboe
Oboe
The oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English, prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois" , "hoboy", or "French hoboy". The spelling "oboe" was adopted into English ca...
, 1 English horn, 1 clarinet
Clarinet
The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
, 1 bassoon
Bassoon
The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family that typically plays music written in the bass and tenor registers, and occasionally higher. Appearing in its modern form in the 19th century, the bassoon figures prominently in orchestral, concert band and chamber music literature...
, 2 horns
Horn (instrument)
The horn is a brass instrument consisting of about of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. A musician who plays the horn is called a horn player ....
, 2 trumpet
Trumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
s, 1 trombone
Trombone
The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
, 1 percussionist, 1 piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
, 7 violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
s, 2 viola
Viola
The viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...
s, 2 celli
Cello
The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
and 1 bass
Bass (instrument)
Bass describes musical instruments that produce tones in the low-pitched range. They belong to different families of instruments and can cover a wide range of musical roles...
– a significantly smaller orchestra than the original piece was written for. While Ives was obviously glad to have his piece played, it is interesting to note his comments on the re-scoring - on the full score of The Housatonic at Stockbridge, Ives comments that “piano may be used for Bassoons throughout… a poor substitute…”
Three Places was first performed on February 16, 1930 by Slonimsky before the American Committee of the International Society for Contemporary Music, in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. Although the piece had only been rehearsed once, the Committee was sufficiently impressed to recommend the work to the International Committee who surprisingly turned it down for performance at their festival. The first public performance was scheduled for 10 January 1931. Ives himself was in attendance – in fact, he was funding the concert himself! The performance received mild applause and Ives congratulated the performers backstage – “Just like a town meeting – every man for himself. Wonderful how it came out!”
After the mild success of Three Places debut performance, Slonimsky and Ives were inspired to take the piece abroad. In fact, Ives is one of the first American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
composers to have been ‘taken abroad’ (played outside of America). Slonimsky performed Three Places in Paris on June 6, at a concert he described as “absolutely extraordinary” because of the attendance of many important composers and critics of the time. Their first experience of Ives left them impressed; Ives’ music was not just interesting because it was composed by an American – it fascinated them because the music described America. Unbeknownst to the listeners, Ives was calling attention to American ideals, issues, experiences and perspectives. For instance, in The St. Gaudens’, Ives paraphrases ragtime
Ragtime
Ragtime is an original musical genre which enjoyed its peak popularity between 1897 and 1918. Its main characteristic trait is its syncopated, or "ragged," rhythm. It began as dance music in the red-light districts of American cities such as St. Louis and New Orleans years before being published...
, Slave plantation
Plantation
A plantation is a long artificially established forest, farm or estate, where crops are grown for sale, often in distant markets rather than for local on-site consumption...
songs such as Old Black Joe and even patriotic American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
tunes such as Marching through Georgia. The combination of such songs elicits images of the fight for freedom in America, and America’s strong morals on that subject. International recognition solidified the image of Ives as an American composer (especially strengthened by his use of borrowing from typically American sounding pieces).
Three Places in New England became the first work of Ives’ to be commercially published. Slonimsky had been in touch with C.C. Birchard (a publisher from Boston) on Ives’ behalf and, by 1935, the two had negotiated a deal. Ives and Slonimsky both checked the score through, note by note, to make sure the engravings were correct. It was painstaking work, but well worth it when, in 1935, Ives held his first work in his hands. In his typical manner, however, Ives requested that the binding bear his name in as small a font as possible, as to not make him look egotistical.
Despite publication, very little interest in performance was aroused. Ives’ masterpiece thus went unappreciated for many years. Following the curtailment of Slonimsky’s conducting career, the piece lay dormant until 1948, when Richard Burgin
Richard Burgin
For the American writer, see Richard Burgin Richard Burgin was a Polish-American violinist, best known as associate conductor and the concertmaster of the Boston Symphony Orchestra .-Early life:...
programmed Three Places on a Boston Symphony Orchestra concert. The practice of performing Ives’ chamber scores as full orchestral pieces was thus established, and has continued to this day.
In the 1970s, interest in Three Places in New England was piqued once again. This time it was regarding the differences between the 1914 scoring, much of which was lost, and the 1929 score, which had been rewritten for Slonimsky’s chamber orchestra. Much research was undertaken by James Sinclair at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
. It was concluded that the 1914 version could not be reproduced in its entirety, as only 35% of the second movement survived Ives’ cutting for the 1929 version. Sinclair managed to create what is currently believed to be the closest replication of the 1914 score for full orchestra by using what scraps, sketches and notes of Ives’ he could find.
I. The "St.-Gaudens" in Boston Common (Col. Shaw and his Colored Regiment)
Composed between ca. 1913 and ca. 1923, revised in 1929. It is possible that initial sketches of this piece were penned as far back as May 1911, when Ives moved to Hartsdale, New York. The distinguishing characteristic of the movement is a very sophisticated handling of harmonic progressions (which are technically atonal) but still managing to support a diatonic related melody, the interval of a minor third dominating.The place and its history
The first movement of Three Places in New England, St.-Gaudens, is a tribute to an American Civil WarAmerican Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
monument of the same title on the corner of Beacon and Park Streets in Boston, MA. The monument took over fourteen years of work by the world-renowned artist Augustus Saint-Gaudens
Augustus Saint-Gaudens
Augustus Saint-Gaudens was the Irish-born American sculptor of the Beaux-Arts generation who most embodied the ideals of the "American Renaissance"...
in honor of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment - the first all-Black regiment
Regiment
A regiment is a major tactical military unit, composed of variable numbers of batteries, squadrons or battalions, commanded by a colonel or lieutenant colonel...
to serve in the Union Army
Union Army
The Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. It was also known as the Federal Army, the U.S. Army, the Northern Army and the National Army...
during the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. The official name of the monument is the Robert Gould Shaw Memorial. Colonel Robert Shaw
Robert Gould Shaw
Robert Gould Shaw was an American officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War. As colonel, he commanded the all-black 54th Regiment, which entered the war in 1863. He was killed in the Second Battle of Fort Wagner, near Charleston, South Carolina...
was the white commander who led the Regiment in their fateful assault on Fort Wagner
Fort Wagner
Fort Wagner was a beachhead fortification on Morris Island, South Carolina, that covered the southern approach to Charleston harbor...
, South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
. Of the six hundred men who stormed the fort, two hundred and seventy, including Shaw, were killed. However, they fought with courage and valor, and were duly recognized.
The piece itself and the imagery it evokes
Ives himself referred to the piece as a brooding 'Black March'; the imagery being inspired by a reflective experience at the monument. The piece elicits images of a long, slow march South to battle by the 54th. It achieves this with the use of minor 3rd ostinatoOstinato
In music, an ostinato is a motif or phrase, which is persistently repeated in the same musical voice. An ostinato is always a succession of equal sounds, wherein each note always has the same weight or stress. The repeating idea may be a rhythmic pattern, part of a tune, or a complete melody in...
s in the bass. Ives uses chromaticism
Chromaticism
Chromaticism is a compositional technique interspersing the primary diatonic pitches and chords with other pitches of the chromatic scale. Chromaticism is in contrast or addition to tonality or diatonicism...
, placed distantly below the themes of the piece, to keep it sounding like a vague recollection of the events that occurred, rather than a vivid depiction.
The piece builds to a dynamic high before rapidly receding, perhaps to signify the fate of the regiment at Fort Wagner
Fort Wagner
Fort Wagner was a beachhead fortification on Morris Island, South Carolina, that covered the southern approach to Charleston harbor...
. From a full, rich C-major chord at m. 63 (rehearsal H), the piece falls into minor disarray and, for the last two and a half minutes, it can be heard as a solemn memorial to those lost, or the crushed hopes of hundreds of Black soldiers who came to fight for the freedom of other Blacks.
Ives' use of borrowing in the piece
Ives makes great use of musical borrowing in this piece. Of particular significance is the main melody, which is made up of a patchwork of motives from old plantationPlantation
A plantation is a long artificially established forest, farm or estate, where crops are grown for sale, often in distant markets rather than for local on-site consumption...
tunes such as Massa’s in de Cold Ground and Old Black Joe
Old Black Joe
"Old Black Joe" is a parlor song by Stephen Foster . It was published by Firth, Pond & Co. of New York in 1853. Ken Emerson, author of Doo-Dah!, indicates that Foster's fictional Joe was inspired by a servant in the home of his father-in-law, Dr. McDowell of Pittsburgh...
, and the patriotic Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
songs Marching Through Georgia
Marching Through Georgia
"Marching Through Georgia" is a marching song written by Henry Clay Work at the end of the American Civil War in 1865. It refers to U.S. Maj. Gen...
and The Battle Cry of Freedom. The paraphrasing of these pieces is especially clear in the opening bars of the piece, where motives from the three main sources interweave to create a sort of ‘American’ sounding pentatonic melody, typical of the 19th century American song.
Throughout the opening of the piece, ostinato
Ostinato
In music, an ostinato is a motif or phrase, which is persistently repeated in the same musical voice. An ostinato is always a succession of equal sounds, wherein each note always has the same weight or stress. The repeating idea may be a rhythmic pattern, part of a tune, or a complete melody in...
s based upon minor third intervals are heard in the bass instruments. These are intended to evoke images of a solemn trudge down to battle. What is really interesting about these is that they, too, are derived from the same four source materials as the main melody in the piece. Throughout the four (Marching Through Georgia
Marching Through Georgia
"Marching Through Georgia" is a marching song written by Henry Clay Work at the end of the American Civil War in 1865. It refers to U.S. Maj. Gen...
, Old Black Joe
Old Black Joe
"Old Black Joe" is a parlor song by Stephen Foster . It was published by Firth, Pond & Co. of New York in 1853. Ken Emerson, author of Doo-Dah!, indicates that Foster's fictional Joe was inspired by a servant in the home of his father-in-law, Dr. McDowell of Pittsburgh...
, The Battle Cry of Freedom and Massa’s in de Cold Ground) we see minor third intervals playing a huge role.
Ives chose these source materials because of their musical similarities and the possibility of creating fresh, seamless motives from them. Furthermore, the pieces have strong extra-musical associations which Ives takes full advantage of in order to create his solemn 'Black March'. Mixing patriotic Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
songs with old Slave plantation songs creates a vivid image, and works to honor those who fell fighting for the emancipation of Blacks during the Civil War.
List of known source pieces
- Old Black JoeOld Black Joe"Old Black Joe" is a parlor song by Stephen Foster . It was published by Firth, Pond & Co. of New York in 1853. Ken Emerson, author of Doo-Dah!, indicates that Foster's fictional Joe was inspired by a servant in the home of his father-in-law, Dr. McDowell of Pittsburgh...
- Massa’s in de Cold Ground
- Marching Through GeorgiaMarching Through Georgia"Marching Through Georgia" is a marching song written by Henry Clay Work at the end of the American Civil War in 1865. It refers to U.S. Maj. Gen...
- The Battle Cry of Freedom
- ReveilleReveille"Reveille" is a bugle call, trumpet call or pipes call most often associated with the military or summer camp; it is chiefly used to wake military personnel at sunrise...
- Deep RiverDeep River (song)"Deep River" is an anonymous spiritual of African American origin. It has been sung in several films, including the 1929 film version of Show Boat, although it was not used in the original show...
II. Putnam’s Camp, Redding, Connecticut
Composed from two earlier pieces, “Country Band March” and Overture & March: “1776,” both [1904], Putnam’s Camp was finished in 1912. It is thought that Ives' work on Fourth of July was the impetus for this work, since he had just recently used the trio section of 1776 in Fourth of July. The distinguishing characteristic of this movement is the combining of multiple divisions of the orchestra playing against each other while occasionally throwing in asymmetrical phrases and/or wild dissonances.The place and its history
Putnam’s Camp, near Redding, ConnecticutRedding, Connecticut
Mark Twain, a resident of the town in his old age, contributed the first books for a public library which was eventually named after him.-Government:...
, was established as a historic landmark by the Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
legislature
Legislature
A legislature is a kind of deliberative assembly with the power to pass, amend, and repeal laws. The law created by a legislature is called legislation or statutory law. In addition to enacting laws, legislatures usually have exclusive authority to raise or lower taxes and adopt the budget and...
in 1887 and named in honor of the American Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
General Israel Putnam
Israel Putnam
Israel Putnam was an American army general and Freemason who fought with distinction at the Battle of Bunker Hill during the American Revolutionary War...
. Putnam had set up a camp in the area during the winter of 1778-79. This site has been preserved as a historic treasure because of Putnam’s important role in the Revolutionary War – especially the battle of Bunker Hill
Battle of Bunker Hill
The Battle of Bunker Hill took place on June 17, 1775, mostly on and around Breed's Hill, during the Siege of Boston early in the American Revolutionary War...
. 4 July celebrations are often held at the site due to its historic significance.
The piece itself and the imagery which it evokes
It is easier to tell what sorts of imagery Ives aimed to evoke with this piece, since he wrote out a program describing the story being told and included it with the score:
Once upon a '4 July,' some time ago, so the story goes, a child went here on a picnic, held under the auspices of the first Church and the Village Cornet Band. Wandering away from the rest of the children past the camp ground into the woods, he hopes to catch a glimpse of some of the old soldiers. As he rests on the hillside of laurels and hickories the tunes of the band and the songs of the children grow fainter and fainter; --when-"mirabile dictu"--over the trees on the crest of the hill he sees a tall woman standing. She reminds him of a picture he has of the Goddess Liberty, --but the face is sorrowful--she is pleading with the soldiers not to forget their "cause" and the great sacrifices they have made for it. But they march out of camp with fife and drum to a popular tune of the day. Suddenly, a new national note is heard. Putnam is coming over the hills from the center,-the soldiers turn back and cheer. --The little boy awakes, he hears the children's songs and runs down past the monument to "listen to the band" and join in the games and dances.
- Ives, Three Places In New England Score.
James Sinclair, who was responsible for the work done in the 1970s to recreate the original score of Three Places, correlated many of the measures in the score for Putnam’s Camp with the program as described by Ives. A picture has since been generated which shows the measures of the piece along with their programmatic significance.
Ives' use of borrowing in the piece
Ives heavily borrows AmericanUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
patriotic tunes for this work in order to create the imagery of franticly patriotic 4 July celebrations. The opening measures are typical Ives, using heavy chromaticism
Chromaticism
Chromaticism is a compositional technique interspersing the primary diatonic pitches and chords with other pitches of the chromatic scale. Chromaticism is in contrast or addition to tonality or diatonicism...
and varying time signatures (4/4 battles with 9/8) to create the image of a community marching band. What is created is a touchingly realistic interpretation, which resolves shortly after the start of the piece into a B-flat march. However, chromaticism
Chromaticism
Chromaticism is a compositional technique interspersing the primary diatonic pitches and chords with other pitches of the chromatic scale. Chromaticism is in contrast or addition to tonality or diatonicism...
and disarray is never far from breaking through, which gives the impression that the musicians are not professional.
Ives also experimented with quoting
Musical quotation
Musical quotation is the practice of directly quoting another work in a new composition. The quotation may be from the same composer's work , or from a different composer's work ....
famous musical excerpts in different keys from the main theme. This idea was brought about when Ives had been listening to a marching band, and could still hear one band marching away while the other marched towards him, thus sounding in two keys simultaneously. This gives an idea of the festivities of the day and the aforementioned touch of frantic patriotism.
Many American patriotic tunes, such as Yankee Doodle
Yankee Doodle
"Yankee Doodle" is a well-known Anglo-American song, the origin of which dates back to the Seven Years' War. It is often sung patriotically in the United States today and is the state anthem of Connecticut...
are quoted during the piece. A fascinating quotation can be heard in the last two measures of the piece, with the national anthem resolving to a completely unexpected, dissonant chord at the very end.
List of known source pieces
Ives used patriotic tunes to paint his image of a 4 July celebration at a historic camp site. This explains why there are so many borrowed parts:- The British GrenadiersThe British GrenadiersThe British Grenadiers is a marching song for the grenadier units of the British and Commonwealth militaries, the tune of which dates from the 17th century. It is the Regimental Quick March of the Grenadier Guards, Corps of Royal Engineers, the Honourable Artillery Company and the Royal Regiment of...
- Marching Through GeorgiaMarching Through Georgia"Marching Through Georgia" is a marching song written by Henry Clay Work at the end of the American Civil War in 1865. It refers to U.S. Maj. Gen...
- The Girl I Left BehindThe Girl I Left Behind"The Girl I Left Behind" also known as "The Girl I Left Behind Me" is a long-standing popular folk tune and song, dated by most authorities to the late 18th or early 19th century.-History:...
- Arkansas TravelerArkansas TravelerArkansas Traveler may have several meanings:*"The Arkansas Traveler" , a fiddle tune by Sanford Faulkner*Arkansas Traveler , an 1858 painting by Edward Payson Washburn*Arkansas Traveler made by the Southwest Manufacturing Co...
- Massa’s in de Cold Ground
- The Battle Cry of Freedom
- Yankee DoodleYankee Doodle"Yankee Doodle" is a well-known Anglo-American song, the origin of which dates back to the Seven Years' War. It is often sung patriotically in the United States today and is the state anthem of Connecticut...
- Columbia, Gem of the OceanColumbia, Gem of the Ocean"Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean" is a United States patriotic song which was popular during the mid-19th and early 20th centuries, especially during the Civil War era. It may have functioned as an unofficial national anthem in competition with "Hail, Columbia" and "The Star-Spangled Banner" until...
- Hail, ColumbiaHail, Columbia"Hail, Columbia" is an American patriotic song. It was considered, with several other songs, one of the unofficial national anthems of the United States until 1931, when "The Star-Spangled Banner" was officially named the national anthem...
- Tramp, Tramp, TrampTramp, Tramp, TrampTramp, Tramp, Tramp is an American comedy silent film directed by Harry Edwards. It features Harry Langdon and Joan Crawford.-Plot:The film tells of Harry a ne'er-do-well who falls in love with Betty...
III. The Housatonic at Stockbridge
Robert Underwood Johnson
Robert Underwood Johnson was a U.S. writer and diplomat. His wife was Katharine Johnson.-Biography:A native of Washington, D.C., Johnson joined the staff of The Century Magazine in 1873...
’s poem To the Housatonic at Stockbridge, but appears in orchestral form when played as a part of Three Places in New England. The final movement features a good deal of strident polyrhythmic activity in the strings coupled with a hymn-like tune (borrowing from Beethoven's Fifth motif) with some altered chords thrown into the mix.
The place and its history
This piece was inspired by a walk that Ives took with his newly-married wife, Harmony, in June 1908. Their honeymoonHoneymoon
-History:One early reference to a honeymoon is in Deuteronomy 24:5 “When a man is newly wed, he need not go out on a military expedition, nor shall any public duty be imposed on him...
had been a hiking trip in western Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
and Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
. They enjoyed the experience so much that they chose to go back to the Berkshires the very next weekend. Whilst there they took a walk by the Housatonic River
Housatonic River
The Housatonic River is a river, approximately long, in western Massachusetts and western Connecticut in the United States. It flows south to southeast, and drains about of southwestern New England into Long Island Sound...
near Stockbridge, Massachusetts
Stockbridge, Massachusetts
Stockbridge is a town in Berkshire County in Western Massachusetts. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,947 at the 2010 census...
. Ives recalled:
We walked in the meadows along the river, and heard the distant singing from the church across the river. The mist had not entirely left the river bed, and the colors, the running water, the banks and elm trees were something that one would always remember.
The piece itself and the imagery which it evokes
Two days later, on 30 June 1908, Ives sketched some ideas which aimed to capture the atmosphere of the experience. He used irregular, quasi-isorhythmic ostinatoOstinato
In music, an ostinato is a motif or phrase, which is persistently repeated in the same musical voice. An ostinato is always a succession of equal sounds, wherein each note always has the same weight or stress. The repeating idea may be a rhythmic pattern, part of a tune, or a complete melody in...
s in the upper strings
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
to create the image of mist and fog rolling over swirling waters, and English horns and violas to mimic the sound of singing from a church across the river.
Ives' use of borrowing in the piece
Unlike the other pieces in this set, this piece is not important for its use of musical quotation, as there are no quotes of American folk music in it. Instead, this piece exemplifies Ives' use of paraphrase. Indeed, the entire melody is paraphrased from Isaac B. WoodburyIsaac B. Woodbury
Isaac Baker Woodbury was a 19th-century composer and publisher of church music.Woodbury studied with Lowell Mason in Boston and with teachers in Paris and London. Upon his return to Boston he taught music, played organ, and directed choral groups...
’s hymn tune
Hymn tune
A hymn tune is the melody of a musical composition to which a hymn text is sung. Musically speaking, a hymn is generally understood to have four-part harmony, a fast harmonic rhythm , and no refrain or chorus....
Dorrance
Dorrance
-People:* Anson Dorrance, American soccer coach* Arthur Calbraith Dorrance, American businessman* John Thompson Dorrance, American businessman* Tom and Bill Dorrance, founders of the Natural Horsemanship movement-Places:In the United States:* Dorrance, Kansas...
. The paraphrase uses the following methods:
- Rhythmic alteration (mm. 7-9, 11-12).
- Omission (mm. 9-10, 12-13)
- Repetition (mm. 17-19)
- Transposition (third, fourth verses)
- Elision (a single note in Ives’ melody takes the place of two notes in the source)
- Interpolation of new materials
- Variation of previously paraphrased materials (mm. 35-36, 37-38 vary material paraphrased for m. 23)
The piece is thus classed as an extended paraphrase melody.
List of known source pieces
- DorranceDorrance-People:* Anson Dorrance, American soccer coach* Arthur Calbraith Dorrance, American businessman* John Thompson Dorrance, American businessman* Tom and Bill Dorrance, founders of the Natural Horsemanship movement-Places:In the United States:* Dorrance, Kansas...
- Missionary Chant (possibly – it begins in the same way as Dorrnance except for an added note, which occasionally Ives adds to his paraphrased melody, suggesting Missionary Chant as a source piece)
Sources
- John Kirkpatrick, "Charles Ives", in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. Stanley Sadie. 20 vol. London, Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 1980. ISBN 1-56159-174-2
- J. Peter Burckholder, James B. Sinclair and Gayle Sherwood: "Charles Ives," Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed May 5, 2005, (subscription access)
- Program notes by Eric Salzman to CD Deutsche Grammophon CD 423243-2, Three Places in New England by Charles Ives, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Michael Tilson Thomas conducting.
- Burkholder, “All Made of Tunes”, New Haven, Yale University Press, ISBN 0-300-05642-7
- Hitchcock, “Ives: A Survey of the Music”, London, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-914678-21-3
- Morgan, “Twentieth-Century Music: A History of Musical Style in Modern Europe and America (Norton Introduction to Music History)”, W. W. Norton & Company, ISBN 0-393-95272-X
- Cooney, D. Von Glahn, “A Sense of Place: Charles Ives and “Putnam’s Camp, Redding Connecticut” in American Music, Vol. 14, No. 3. (Autumn 1996), pp.276-312.
- Ives, Three Places in New England, ed. James B. Sinclair (Score), Bryn Mawr, Mercury Music/ Theodore Presser.