As continued from yesterday, we are looking at the strange music from the beginning of the twentieth century. Charles Ives is an interesting case of someone whose upbringing was the quintessence of boring perfection but whose music stretches the sonic limits.
Ives' early musical exposure came from his father who was a bandleader in the civil war. The theory instruction Ives received from his father was anything but standard and experimentation was encouraged. Ives also gained exposure to hymns while serving as a church organist. He attended Yale and as a top athlete was chided because his passion for music got in the way of his athletic career. His senior project was his first symphony, a masterful mixture timbres and dynamics. Ives' creative license quickly spiraled out of control and he eventually began writing songs in which the voice and the accompaniment have little or nothing to do with one another. Many speculate that his preference for such music came from listening simultaneously to his father's band and other bands perform simultaneously from across town square while growing up.
Fun Fact: As with Jean Sibelius, one day Ives walked downstairs weeping one day and told his wife: "Nothing sounds right!" and that he could no longer compose. He spent the last 30 years of his life without creating any new compositions but if you mention his name around those in the field of insurance you may get an avid response. Ives was as prolific in the insurance industry as he was in music!
Stay Tuned for the Soothing Sounds of Erik Satie...
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