Charles Ives's Concord: Essays after a Sonata

by Kyle Gann

In 1921, insurance executive Charles Ives sent out copies of a piano sonata to two hundred strangers. Laden with dissonant chords, complex rhythm, and a seemingly chaotic structure, the so-called Concord Sonata confounded the recipients, as did the accompanying book, Essays before a Sonata. Kyle Gann merges exhaustive research with his own experience as a composer to reveal the Concord Sonata and the essays in full. Diffracting the twinned works into their essential aspects, Gann lays out the historical context that produced Ives's masterpiece and illuminates the arguments Ives himself explored in the Essays . Gann also provides a movement-by-movement analysis of the work's harmonic structure and compositional technique; connects the sonata to Ives works that share parts of its material; and compares the 1921 version of the Concord with its 1947 revision to reveal important aspects of Ives's creative process. A tour de force of critical, theoretical, and historical thought, Charles Ives's Concord provides nothing less than the first comprehensive consideration of a work at the heart of twentieth century American music.

Genres: Music

464 pages, Hardcover

First published May 16, 2017

About the author

Kyle Gann is Associate Professor of Music at Bard College, a composer, and former new-music critic for the Village Voice. He lives in Germantown, NY.

Reviews

[George Jr. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will have a review in an upcoming issue of The Wire magazine, but can say this is a superb examination of not only the Concord Sonata but the values that made Ives the artist he was (note that the analysis does demand basic knowledge of tonal harmony).

[Richard Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent intro to the Concord Sonata, but fairly technical.