Ives' Fourth Symphony, The Song References

Charles Ives (1874-1954), one of the most outstanding American composers of the first half of 20th century, is a successor of romantic music of 19th century and a pioneer of modern music of 20l century. His music is traced with the typical features of Americans, namely, openness and inventiveness. The present thesis attempts to give an objective account of his ideas, music style and composing technique through the analysis of some of the music on the basis of the Fourth Symphony. The impact of transcendentalism on Ives' composition is also addressed in the study.The Fourth Symphony consists of four movements and is one of his crowning compositions ever penned. The Fourth Symphony serves as a symbol of his mature composing ideas and techniques. In this symphony, every movement includes many songs, covering a large range of subjects. Among them, the religious songs are cited most. Although the composition has made use of some modem techniques as polytonality, polyrhythm and tone cluster, the present study shall center upon the citation of songs and explore the theme of the song citation.