Charles Ives

Charles Edward Ives was an American modernist composer who lived from October 20, 1874, to May 19, 1954. He was one of the first American artists to become famous around the world. In the beginning of his career, his music wasn't given much attention, and many of his pieces weren't played for years. He became known as a "American original" after his peers, such as Henry Cowell and Lou Harrison, worked to make people aware of how good his music was. He was also one of the first composers to...See more

Charles Edward Ives was an American modernist composer who lived from October 20, 1874, to May 19, 1954. He was one of the first American artists to become famous around the world. In the beginning of his career, his music wasn't given much attention, and many of his pieces weren't played for years. He became known as a "American original" after his peers, such as Henry Cowell and Lou Harrison, worked to make people aware of how good his music was. He was also one of the first composers to create experimental music on a regular basis. Some of the methods he used were polytonality, polyrhythm, tone clusters, aleatory elements, and quarter tones. Through his experiments, he paved the way for many musical innovations that became more popular in the 20th century. Because of this, many people think of him as the most important American art music writer of the 20th century. Ives got ideas for his tonal images from hymn tunes and traditional songs. He also used the melodies of Stephen Foster, the town band at the holiday parade, the fiddlers at Saturday night dances, patriotic songs, and sentimental parlor ballads. See less