Composer Charles Ives.
In Monday’s (9/9) American Scholar, Joseph Horowitz writes, “Among canonized composers of classical music, Charles Ives—born 150 years ago this autumn—possesses the most elusive, least stable reputation. There are composers whose standing has sharply declined (the operas of Giacomo Meyerbeer were once repertory staples) or risen (Sergei Rachmaninoff …). There are composers whose full stature was only recognized generations after they died (Hector Berlioz …). But Ives remains a moving target. That at the same time he is for many the supreme American creative genius among concert composers, a figure protean and iconic, must say something about America and Ives both: as ever, we’re not sure who we are. Even our orchestras and instrumentalists perform him far less than they should. If it follows that the present Ives sesquicentenary is insufficiently observed, that is all the more reason to take stock…. Hence the opportunity at hand as we celebrate the 150th birthday of this most volatile cultural bellwether. With Ives ensconced in a ubiquitous fin-de-siècle moment, we can at last thrust him onto the international stage he deserves … What institutions of education and performance will remember Charles Ives in the years to come?”
