A year or so ago, American music fans were decrying the fact that Charles Ives, in many ways the godfather of American classical music, was relatively little known among the American public. His house was up for sale by property developers and faced the very real threat of being bulldozed and turned into apartments or a convenience store or something. And not many people seemed to care all that much.
Are things turning around? CSO Sounds & Stories, the new music magazine from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, reports on the opening of the new Charles Ives studio exhibit at New York's American Academy of Arts and Letters. And the Chicago Symphony Orchestra has dedicated a new edition of its "Beyond The Score" series to understanding Ives's Second Symphony.
As Classicalite first reported, the Ives studio is a recreation of the composer's study in his house in Redding, Conn. The contents--including his upright piano and doors, keepsakes and furnishings--are genuine and were donated by Ives's grandson, Charles Ives Tyler. It is not open to the public all the time, so best to check dates via www.artsandletters.org.
Is this a new dawn for awareness of Ives? The latest bit of good news comes from the people who bought the Ives house. They have listened to the protests and pleas, they say, and will preserve his legacy there. Here's hoping...
