Carnegie Hall

CHARLES IVES
(1874–1954)

Excerpts from String Quartet No. 1, “From the Salvation Army”

I. Andante con moto
II. Allegro
III. Adagio cantabile
IV. Allegro marziale

Coco Mi, Violin
Laurel Gagnon, Violin
Abby Smith, Viola
Elena Ariza, Cello

About the Composer

Charles Ives may not have been the first American composer of classical music, but he was arguably the first true original—a maverick who broke away from the Austro-German tradition while keeping it in his back pocket, and embraced the music of the common folk to devise a thoroughly modern American idiom that reflects the diversity and multiplicity of the United States.

Ives received his earliest training from his musically adventurous father, George, who served as a bandleader during the Civil War and taught his son concepts of polytonality and polyrhythms. The precocious Charles became organist of the Danbury Baptist Church as a teenager. In the Danbury town square, he heard several bands marching toward each other, each playing a different tune—one of his father’s experiments. The clash of melodies, rhythms, tempos, and tone clusters eventually reached a jagged point of coexistence and again dissipated. It made a lifelong impact on the young Ives and eventually became a trademark of his style.

His music is a potpourri of turn-of-the-century Americana and vernacular music: hymns, hoedowns, patriotic songs, ballads, parlor songs, spirituals, band music, and folk tunes assembled into musical collages that follow structures from the European model. Begun in 1896, the String Quartet No. 1 is an early exponent of Ives’s musical synthesis, which he would go on to master as an after-hours and weekend composer while advancing a successful career as an insurance salesman (he started his own agency, Ives & Myrick, in 1907). Despite their inventive quality, many of Ives’s essential pieces, including this quartet, were not publicly performed in his lifetime, or not in full.

About the Work

Ives began the four-movement String Quartet No. 1 during his sophomore year at Yale University, where he studied under the conservative American composer Horatio Parker and graduated in 1898. The first movement was composed as a fugue exercise for organ and later repurposed for the Symphony No. 4, while the other three, in ternary form, were originally for organ and strings, performed at a church service where the young Ives played the organ. What unifies the four movements into a coherent composition is the persuasive use of pre-existing popular themes under formal structures. By using familiar tunes, Ives often renders polyrhythms and clashing dissonances thoroughly engaging and accessible. He makes his music sound both familiar and original.

The subjects of the first movement are borrowed from the hymns “From Greenland’s Icy Mountains” and “All Hail the Power of Jesus’s Name!” with different fugal episodes separated by cadences. The remaining movements are based on various 19th-century hymns that include “Beulah Land,” “Nettleton,” “Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus,” and especially “Shining Shore” by the Civil War composer George Frederick Root. Ives reassembles and sometimes superimposes the melodies, resulting in a homely sonic tapestry redolent of old-time conviviality and the simplicity of pre-industrial society. The first complete public performance of the quartet took place at The Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1957.

—Esteban Meneses

Artistry. Education. Advocacy. Entrepreneurship.

Ensemble Connect was created in 2007 by Carnegie Hall’s Executive and Artistic Director Clive Gillinson and The Juilliard School’s President Joseph W. Polisi. Ensemble Connect is a two-year fellowship program for extraordinary young professional classical musicians residing in the US that prepares them for careers that combine musical excellence with teaching, community engagement, advocacy, entrepreneurship, and leadership. It offers top-quality performance opportunities, intensive professional development, and partnerships throughout the fellowship with New York City public schools.

Ensemble Connect fellows—chosen for their musicianship, but also for their leadership qualities and commitment to music education—have come from some of the best music schools in the country, including the Colburn Conservatory of Music, Curtis Institute of Music, Eastman School of Music, The Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music, New England Conservatory, Peabody Institute, Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, Stony Brook University, University of Southern California, and Yale School of Music.

Ensemble Connect has earned accolades from critics and audiences alike for the quality of its performances, as well as its fresh and open-minded approach, performing a wide range of music—from centuries past to works written days before an event—in a variety of venues. The group performs its own series at Carnegie Hall and has regularly appeared at The Juilliard School’s Paul Hall and other venues across New York City. As part of a partnership with Skidmore College that began in 2007, Ensemble Connect gives master classes for university students and performs for the Saratoga Springs community both in concert halls and informal settings around town. Committed to providing the fellows with exceptional opportunities to work with contemporary music, composers, and artists, Carnegie Hall has commissioned 39 composers on behalf of Ensemble Connect since 2007. These composers and the fellows have worked closely during the creative process to present a total of 45 world-premiere performances of works, some of which have been featured in Ensemble Connect’s Up Close concert series.

Along with performance opportunities at premier venues in New York City and beyond, Ensemble Connect fellows partner with instrumental music teachers in New York City public schools to share artistry with— and become central resources for—music classrooms in the five boroughs. Ensemble Connect fellows also take part in community work, performing at many unconventional music venues across New York City, including correctional facilities, homeless shelters, senior community centers, and organizations that serve special-needs populations. Throughout the fellowship, Ensemble Connect fellows participate in rigorous, ongoing professional development to ensure that they gain the necessary skills to be successful in all areas of the program, and to give them the tools to shape purposeful, personally rewarding career paths that give back to their communities. Areas of emphasis include artistic excellence, on- and off-stage engagement strategies, advocacy, professional skills, and preparation for their in-school work.

Moving on to the next stage of their careers, Ensemble Connect’s 158 alums are now making an impact on the national and international musical landscape in a variety of artistic and educational arenas. Continuing the strong bonds formed through the program, in 2011 alums formed the chamber music collective Decoda, which has been named an affiliate ensemble of Carnegie Hall.

Exemplary performers, dedicated teachers, and passionate advocates of music throughout the community, the forward-looking musicians of Ensemble Connect are redefining what it means to be a musician in the 21st century.

Visit ensembleconnect.org to learn more.