Ives-3

Charles Ives, Symphony nr.3. Daan Admiraal, March 2009

Charles Edward Ives (1874-1954) before his professional life as an insurance man had some small jobs as an organist at churches in Connecticut, New Jersey and New York. His last organ post, which he held from 1899 through 1902, was at the Central Presbyterian Church in Manhattan. Later Charles Ives made career and attained fortune as an insurance executive. He got a certain fame as a part-time composer. He had the misfortune that the majority of his works were largely ignored and remained unperformed for many years.

In 1901 while organist in New York Ives composed and performed 3 organ works that were the prototypes of the Third Symphony. These 3 organ pieces are lost. Only their titles survive: 1.Prelude; 2. Postlude; 3. Piece for Communion. From 1902-1904 the organ pieces were expanded to become his Third Symphony 'The Camp Meeting'.

The subtitle of the symphony 'The Camp Meeting' and the titles of the three movements (1. Old Folks Gatherin'; 2. Children's Day; 3. Communion) look descriptive but maybe only refer to the elements which were the basic material of the composition: religious hymn tunes.

Camp meetings are a phenomenon of American frontier Christianity. The movement of thousands of persons to what had previously been trackless wilderness in the 18th century in America had led to something of a religious vacuum. Not only were there few authorized houses of worship, there were even fewer ordained ministers to fill their pulpits. The "camp meeting" was an innovative response to this situation. Word of mouth told that there was to be a religious meeting at a certain location. Due to the primitive means of transportation, if this meeting was to be more than a few miles' distance from those attending, it would necessitate their leaving home for its entire duration, or as long as they desired to remain, and camping out at or near its site, as usually there were neither adequate accommodations or the funds necessary to obtain them. At a large camp meeting, many came from over a large area, some out of sincere religious devotion or interest, others out of curiosity and a desire for a break from the arduous frontier routine, although many in this latter group often became sincere converts as well. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_meeting)

The history of the manuscripts and the printed score after 1904 is highly interesting:

The manuscript score was finished in 1904.

In 1909 Ives made a revised score (lost).

In 1911 an ink copy was made from the 1909 score (lost). It is supposed that this copyist's full score was given to Gustav Mahler who was the conductor of the New York Philharmonic in 1909-11. Ives recalls: "he was quite interested in it." Mahler apparently took the score on his return to Vienna where it disappeared after his death in 1911.

Like many other works the Symphony nr.3 was completely ignored and had to wait many years until Lou Harrison, a great fan of Ives' music, premiered this symphony in 1946.

In 1947 the Symphony, edited by Lou Harrison was published Arrow Press.

Some years later the rights were assigned tot Associated Music Publishers.

In 1964 AMP published a revised full score, with preface, footnotes, corrections and revisions by Henry Cowell.

In 1990 the Charles Ives Society Critical Edition edited by Kenneth Singleton was published and reprinted in 2001.

As we have seen the Symphony nr.3 is the orchestral offspring of the 3 lost organ pieces that were mentioned above. It will be no surprise to find out that a Symphony derived from organ music written for the church is mainly based on hymn tunes. Thanks to the research of the pianist and great Ives scholar John Kirkpatrick (1905-1991) 6 Christian hymn tunes were identified as the basic melodic material of the Symphony. All the hymn melodies are given in the Preface of the 1990 score but without text. In the Preface an analysis from an unpublished study of Kirkpatrick (1956) outlines their usage in the Symphony.

In the Hymnary, a hymn web site: http://www.hymnary.org/ I found detailed information about music and text, composers, poets and scripture references. These settings which were the basic of Ives' invention are given below.

The Ives Society has short recordings of all the tunes on their website: http://www.charlesives.org/borrowedhymns.htm. Paul Berry, tenor with organ accompaniments performed by Alexis Zingale. It is well worth to listen to the 6 hymnes in their church context for voice and organ before listening to the Third Symphony.

The 6 hymnes as listed by Kirkpatrick and an other tune: There's Music in the Air:

Az =AZMON.	First line: Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing.
Er = ERIE.	First Line: What a friend we have in Jesus
Fo = FOUNTAIN.	First Line: There is a fountain filled with blood
HL = THE HAPPY LAND;	First Line: There is a happy land, far, far away
Na = NAOMI;	First Line: Our children, lord, in faith and prayer
Wo = WOODWORTH.	First Line: Just as I am, without one plea
Mus = There's Music in the Air	First Line: There's Music in the Air.

John Kirkpatrick gives this shortlist of their use in the 3 movements of the symphony:

Mvt i: AZMON, ERIE, WOODWORTH.

Mvt ii: FOUNTAIN, HAPPY LAND, NAOMI, There's Music in the Air.

Mvt iii: AZMON, WOODWORTH.

Three hymnes are known with strange names.

'Azmon' is a city south of Canaan (Numbers 34:4-5). Mason, the composer, used (often obscure) biblical names for his tune titles, as he also did with

'Naomi' which has no specific significance for the song.

'Erie' was written in 1868 by Charles Crozat Converse. He named the song after the port town Erie, Western Pennsylvania.

Ives' use of the hymnes in the Symphony is often adventureous. Ives uses the composers technics of melodic fragmentation, melodic extension, interval change, inversion and polyphonic combination of varied fragments of different melodies. They can undergo such a thorough tranformation that it is hard to recognise them. For audiences that know the hymns well and by heart there must be a constant shift from complete recognition of wellknown melodic patterns with all the textual and even scriptural associations to a half-aware hearing of melodic fragments in such a mysterious texture that they are beyond identification. But an audience that doesn't know the hymns will completely fail you recognise them and will not understand the ingenious way Ives changes and combines them. Only when Ives uses the whole hymn in 'church harmony' the audience will suddenly feel 'this is a tune.' That is what in fact happens at the end of all the three movements. This process from the complex to the simple and from the fragmentation and tranformation to the climax of the original whole is called cumulative setting.

Some final remarks about the shadow lines and the bells.

The 'shadow lines' in the score are melodic lines that can be played softly by a small group or a single player. They were crossed out by Ives in the 1904 score but after WW-II he was clear about his intentions. In 1945 Ives mentioned them writing about 'a few measures in some of the braces which were crossed out ought to go in.' And in 1946: 'all the [shadow parts] were not put in, probably because I thought they would be mostly misunderstood - but it is better to have them in the final score - if it is ever published'.

A puzzling question is what to do with the bells (ad lib.) at the end of the Symphony. Ives writes 6 bell sounds (the triads b-minor and g-sharp minor alternating).

As in many scores the type of bell is not specified. The most common bells in the orchestra are tubular bells.

Ives wrote (1946 to Harrison): 'a piano offstage perhaps - but better small chimes, celeste or glockenspiel. (...). However, do whatever seems best, they don't always have to be played, especially in a small hall.'

Henry Cowell writes in a footnote in the score: Ives was very unsure about the bells. I do not think that he really wanted the sound of orchestra bells. He wanted a distant church bell (churchs bells, D.A.). One might record church bells and have them sound where written, near the end, from off-stage, perhaps not even in any particular rythme or pitch, just as a few real church-bell tones coming in and out ad lib.

The shadow lines and the bells are a characteristic revolutionary element in Ives' thinking. Here his music is not fully determinated but gives performers the choice of more solutions. Lou Harrison looking back in 1974 at his editorial work on the Symphony gave this beautiful description of the radical freedom of the music:

'Mr. Ives has really left us the most wonderful of playgrounds, a kind of people's park in which we are all arrangers of lovely things.'

Az		AZMON / Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing Text. Author: Charles Wesley (1739, alt.) Scripture References: st. 1-2 = Ps.145:10-12 st. 2 = Luke 4:18-19, Isa. 61:1-2 st. 3 = Acts 3:16, Rom. 5:1 st. 4 = Col. 2:14 st. 5 = Heb. 2:4 st. 6 = Matt. 11:5, Isa.35:6, Acts 3:8 st. 7 = Rev. 5:13 In 1739, for the first anniversary of his conversion, Charles Wesley (PHH 267) wrote an eighteen-stanza text beginning "Glory to God, and praise and love." It was published in Hymns and Sacred Poems (1740), a hymnal compiled by Wesley and his brother John. The familiar hymn "Oh, for a Thousand Tongues" comes from stanzas 1 and 7-12 of this longer text (this pattern already occurs in Richard Conyers's Collection of Psalms and Hymns 1772). Stanza 7 is the doxology stanza that began the original hymn. Wesley acquired the title phrase of this text from Peter Böhler, a Moravian, who said to Wesley, "If I had a thousand tongues, I would praise Christ with them all" (Böhler was actually quoting from Johann Mentzner's German hymn "O dass ich tausend Zungen hätte"). --Psalter Hymnal Handbook Music. Composer: Carl G. Gläser (1828) Adapter and Arranger: Lowell Mason (1839) Lowell Mason (PHH 96) adapted AZMON from a melody composed by Carl G. Gläser in 1828. Mason published a duple-meter version in his Modern Psalmist (1839) but changed it to triple meter in his later publications. AZMON is the preferred tune for this text in the United States. --Psalter Hymnal Handbook

Er		Text information First Line: What a friend we have in Jesus Title: What a Friend We Have in Jesus Author: Joseph M. Scriven (1855) Meter: 8.7.8.7 D Scripture: John 15:13 Topic: Friendship Source: Timeless Truths (http://library.timelesstruths.org/music/What_a_Friend_We_Have_in_Jesus); Faith Publishing House, Evening Light Songs, 1949, edited 1987 (179); The Rodeheaver Hall-Mack Company, Quartets for Men, 1926 (140); The Gospel Trumpe Tune information Tune name: ERIE Composer: Charles C. Converse (1868) Arranger: John B. Herbert Meter: 8.7.8.7 D Key: F Major Source: Timeless Truths (http://library.timelesstruths.org/music/What_a_Friend_We_Have_in_Jesus); Faith Publishing House, Evening Light Songs, 1949, edited 1987 (179); The Rodeheaver Hall-Mack Company, Quartets for Men, 1926 (140); The Gospel Trumpe http://www.seiyaku.com/hymns/en/312.html

Wo		Tune name: WOODWORTH; Composer: William B. Bradbury (1849) William B. Bradbury (PHH 114) originally composed WOODWORTH for Elizabeth Scott's text "The God of Love Will Sure Indulge," published in the Mendelssohn Collection (1849). Later Bradbury adapted Elliott's text (originally written as 88 86) by repeating the Words "I come" in order to fit his long-meter tune; he published this adaptation in his Eclectic Tune Book (1860). The union of this text and tune became a standard in the hymnals used by Dwight L. Moody and Ira D. Sankey (PHH 73) and achieved great popularity through use in Billy Graham Crusades as a hymn of invitation. --Psalter Hymnal Handbook First Line: Just as I am, without one plea Title: Just as I Am, without One Plea Author: Charlotte Elliott (1836) Meter: LM Scripture: John 6:37; Ephesians 2:14; Revelation 22:17; Revelation 22; Ephesians 2 Topic: Assurance; Blood of Christ; Commitment & Dedication; Confession of Sin; Doubt; Forgiveness; Lamb of God Language: English Scripture References: all st. = John 6:37 At the age of 32, Charlotte Elliott (b. Clapham, London, England, 1789; d. Brighton, East Sussex, England, 1871) suffered a serious illness that left her a semi-invalid for the rest of her life. Within a year she went through a spiritual crisis and confessed to the Swiss evangelist Henri A. Cesar Malan (PHH 288) that she did not know how to come to Christ. He answered, "Come to him just as you are." Thinking back on that experience twelve years later, in 1834, she wrote “Just as I Am" as a statement of her faith. Hymn writing provided a way for Elliot to cope with her pain and depression – she wrote approximately 150 hymns, which were published in her Invalid's Hymn Book (several editions, 1834-1854), Hymns for a Week (1839), and Thoughts in Verse on Sacred Subjects (1869). Many of her hymns reflect her chronic pain and illness but also reveal that faith gave her perseverance and hope. “Just as I Am" was first published in the 1836 edition of Invalid's Hymn Book with the subheading "Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out" (John 6:37). She added a seventh stanza that same year, when the hymn was also published in her Hours of Sorrow Cheered and Comforted (1836). The Psalter Hymnal prints the four most common stanzas. Widely translated, this hymn has brought consolation to millions. (Psalter Hymnal Handbook)

Fo		Text information First Line: There is a fountain filled with blood Title: There Is a Fountain Author: William Cowper (1772) Meter: 8.6.8.6.6.6.8.6 Scripture: Zechariah 13:1 Topic: Blood Source: Timeless Truths (http://library.timelesstruths.org/music/There_Is_a_Fountain); Faith Publishing House, Evening Light Songs, 1949, edited 1987 (183); The Gospel Trumpet Company, Select Hymns, 1911 (616) Tune information Tune name: CLEANSING FOUNTAIN Composer (attr.): Lowell Mason Meter: 8.6.8.6.6.6.8.6 Key: B Flat Major Source: Timeless Truths (http://library.timelesstruths.org/music/There_Is_a_Fountain); Faith Publishing House, Evening Light Songs, 1949, edited 1987 (183); The Gospel Trumpet Company, Select Hymns, 1911 (616)

HL		Tune name: HAPPY LAND Arranger: Leonard P. Breedlove (1850) Meter: 10.10.13.10 Key: E Major Source: HIndustani melody; Timeless Truths (http://library.timelesstruths.org/music/There_Is_a_Happy_Land) First Line: There is a happy land, far, far away Title: There Is a Happy Land Author: Andrew Young (1838) Meter: 10.10.13.10 Scripture: Psalm 149:5 Topic: Heaven Source: Timeless Truths (http://library.timelesstruths.org/music/There_Is_a_Happy_Land)

Na		Tune name: NAOMI Arranger: Lowell Mason (1836) NAOMI was a melody that Lowell Mason (PHH 96) brought to the United States from Europe and arranged as a hymn tune; the arrangement was first published in the periodical Occasional Psalm and Hymn Tunes (1836). Some scholars have attributed the original melody to Johann G. Nageli (PHH 315), but there is little evidence to substantiate this claim. The name NAOMI has no specific significance, though Mason did often assign biblical names to his hymn tunes. Sing this typically serviceable Mason tune in parts, possibly unaccompanied, and keep the tempo moving. --Psalter Hymnal Handbook

For further internet reading.

The Charles Ives Society: http://www.charlesives.org/

A Descriptive Catalogue of The Music of Charles Ives by James B. Sinclair, Yale University Press, 1999.

It is published on internet: A Descriptive Catalogue of The Music of Charles Ives

About John Kirckpatrick and important his role as the curator of the Charles Ives Archive at Yale:

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE1DC1E3BF932A25752C1A967958260

http://www.chuckholton.com/nine_symphonies_of_charles_ives_.htm

When publishing this short introduction (March 2009) a monography about the Third Symphony was published:

The Third Symphony of Charles Ives, Mark Zobel. Edited by Michael Budds. Pendragon Pr; 1st edition (March 2, 2009). ISBN 9781576471425 157647142X

In this study Dr. Zobel reviews the complicated narrative of the Symphony's composition, explains why Ives considered it a turning point between the "old ways" and the "new ways," explores the structural implications of its camp-meeting program and the sophisticated manipulation of hymn tunes in its fabric, and places it in the context of Ives's idiosyncratic worldview. In the process he interprets the timing of its first public performance as a means to appreciate evolving attitudes toward modernism in the American musical establishment. The text is enhanced by a sampling of critical commentary dating from the past sixty years and a later one with these details of Ives's original conception restored.