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University of California Press

About the Book

This authoritative volume of 453 letters written by and to composer Charles Ives (1874-1954) provides unparalleled insight into one of the most extraordinary and paradoxical careers in American music history. The most comprehensive collection of Ives's correspondence in print, this book opens a direct window on Ives's complex personality and his creative process. Though Ives spent much of his career out of the mainstream of professional music-making, he corresponded with a surprisingly large group of musicians and critics, including John J. Becker, Henry Bellamann, Leonard Bernstein, John Cage, Aaron Copland, Henry Cowell, Ingolf Dahl, Walter Damrosch, Lehman Engel, Clifton J. Furness, Lou Harrison, Bernard Herrmann, John Kirkpatrick, Serge Koussevitzky, John Lomax, Francesco Malipiero, Radiana Pazmor, Paul Rosenfeld, Carl Ruggles, E. Robert Schmitz, Nicolas Slonimsky, and Peter Yates.

About the Author

Tom C. Owens is Associate Professor of Music at George Mason University.

Table of Contents

list of illustrations
acknowledgments
introduction

1. childhood, hopkins, and yale (1881–1903)
2. courtship and marriage (1907–1908)
3. call and response (1911–1936)
4. health (1907–1954)
5. collaborators and champions (1923–1933)
6. travel (1930–1938)
7. editors and performers (1933–1944)
8. final years (1945–1954)

appendix: list of letters and formats
selected bibliography
index

Reviews

“This is the most informative and revealing direct line to Charles Ives and his context since John Kirkpatrick’s edition of the Memos came out in 1972.”
Gramophone
“A major contribution to Ives scholarship and belongs on the shelf of anyone interested in Ives, twentieth-century American music, or the letters of a major figure in American culture.”
Mla Notes
“A nicely rounded portrait.”
Choice
“Finely presented and scrupulously edited correspondence.”
New York Sun
“Tom C. Owens . . . has done a fine job of bringing these letters to the public, and his intention to paint a more complex portrait of this major American composer is successful.”
Palm Beach Post
"This is an extremely important work that makes available many hard-to-access primary resources. Owens writes clearly in a straightforward and uncluttered style; his editorial remarks are fresh and insightful. The book expands our understanding of Ives's works within the context of early twentieth century modern musical culture as it humanizes the man and reveals the complexities of his personality."—Denise Von Glahn, author of Sounds of Place: Music and the American Cultural Landscape (2004 ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award winner)