{"id":3312,"date":"2024-10-22T23:03:37","date_gmt":"2024-10-23T03:03:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/?p=3312"},"modified":"2024-10-22T23:03:39","modified_gmt":"2024-10-23T03:03:39","slug":"dear-daddy-what-kind-of-man-was-charles-ives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/2024\/10\/dear-daddy-what-kind-of-man-was-charles-ives.html","title":{"rendered":"“Dear Daddy” — What Kind of Man Was Charles Ives?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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What kind of man was Charles Ives? Based on the testimony of those who knew and met him, I would say: a great man. And the greatest such testimonial was left by his daughter, Edie, in a letter she wrote to her father in 1942 on the occasion of his sixty-eighth birthday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I discovered Edie\u2019s letter thanks to Tom Owens\u2019s\u00a0Selected Correspondence of Charles Ives<\/em>\u00a0(2007). Edie’s tribute is so moving, so illuminating, that I instantly thought to create a concert\/playlet around it. The result was \u201cCharles Ives: A Life in Music,\u201d at 50-minute presentation I have many times produced featuring William Sharp \u2013 a peerless exponent of Ives\u2019s songs. We use those songs to tell the story of Ives\u2019s life. When we get to Ives\u2019s retirement from business and music \u2013 long years of precarious health — we arrive at Edie\u2019s letter. It stuns audiences to tears.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Ives\u2019s 150th<\/sup>\u00a0birthday, October 20, WWFM \u2013 the most enterprising classical-music radio station I know \u2013 produced a two-hour Ives tribute<\/a> that generously samples \u201cCharles Ives: A Life in Music\u201d as performed last September 30 to launch Indiana University\u2019s nine-day, NEH-supported Ives Sesquicentenary festival. Edie\u2019s letter was read by Caroline Goodwin \u2013 and you will find it about 70 minutes into the show. Here\u2019s the text in part:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dear Daddy,<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You are so very modest and sweet Daddy, that I don\u2019t think you realize the full import of the words people use about you, \u201cA great man.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Daddy, I have had a chance to see so many men lately \u2013 fine fellows, and no doubt the cream of our generation. But I have never in all my life come across one who could measure up to the fine standard of life and living that you believe in, and that I have always seen you put into action no matter how many counts were against you. You have fire and imagination that is truly a divine spark, but to me the great<\/u> thing is that never once have you tried to turn your gift to your own ends. Instead you have continually given to humanity right from your heart, asking nothing in return; — and all too often getting nothing. The thing that makes me happiest about your recognition today is to see the bread you have so generously cast upon most ungrateful waters, finally beginning to return to you. All that great love is flowing back to you at last. Don\u2019t refuse it because it comes so late, Daddy. . . . <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And don\u2019t ever<\/u> feel you\u2019ve been a burden to mother or me. You have been our mainstay, our guide and the sun of our world! We\u2019ve leaned against you and turned to you for everything \u2013 and we have never been made to turn away empty-handed.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There follows an unforgettable performance of Ives\u2019s song \u201cSerenity,\u201d with Bill Sharp accompanied by Steven Mayer, himself long an eminent Ives advocate. In fact, just before we get to Edie\u2019s letter, we hear a stirring Steve Mayer performance of \u201cThe Alcotts,\u201d from Ives\u2019s Concord<\/em> Piano Sonata.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tail end of the WWFM show features excerpts from a prior Ives Sesquicentenary festival, at the Brevard Music Festival last July. First we hear the final pages of \u201cThoreau,\u201d ending the Concord<\/em> Sonata, performed by Michael Chertock \u2013 another astonishing reading.  Then we explore how Ives used Stephen Foster\u2019s \u201cOld Black Joe\u201d (here sung by Paul Robeson) to eloquently express \u201csympathy for the slaves\u201d in the finale of his Second Symphony \u2013 the rousing climax of which is performed by Brevard\u2019s collegiate Sinfonia (one of three Brevard orchestras) led by Delta David Gier.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The commentary, throughout, is by me, Bill McGlaughlin, J. Peter Burkholder, and two of the featured performers: Bill Sharp and Michael Chertock.\u00a0It all happened thanks to WWFM\u2019s David Osenberg, who possesses the energy and enterprise to do things differently.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s a Listening Guide (click here<\/a> to access the two-hour WWFM show):<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sung by Charles Ives (1943):<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“They Are There”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sung by William Sharp accompanied by Steven Mayer:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Circus Band\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMemories\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFeldeinsamkeit\u201d (as set both by Johannes Brahms and Ives)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRemembrance\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Greatest Man\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Housatonic at So Stockbridge\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Performed by Steven Mayer:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Alcotts\u201d from the Concord<\/em> Sonata<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read by Caroline Goodwin:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDear Daddy\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sung by William Sharp accompanied by Steven Mayer:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSerenity\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Performed by Michael Chertock:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThoreau\u201d (final pages) from the Concord<\/em> Sonata<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sung by Paul Robeson:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOld Black Joe\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Performed by Delta David Gier conducting the Brevard Sinfonia<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ives\u2019s Symphony No. 2 (closing minutes)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What kind of man was Charles Ives? Based on the testimony of those who knew and met him, I would say: a great man. And the greatest such testimonial was left by his daughter, Edie, in a letter she wrote to her father in 1942 on the occasion of his sixty-eighth birthday. I discovered Edie\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-3312","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"entry","8":"has-post-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2QLHN-Rq","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3312"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3312\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3316,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3312\/revisions\/3316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}