Composer: Charles Edward Ives (20 October 1874 - 19 May 1954)
Work Title: Violin Sonata No.3
Performers: Curt Thompson (violin), Rodney Waters (piano)
0:00 - I. Allegro
2:16 - II. Largo
7:45 - III. Allegro
Though the last of Ives' violin sonatas to be completed, "Children's Day at a Camp Meeting" was the first to be published (1915). For the revised edition of 1942, Ives removed the fourth movement, which he had appropriated (typically, without explanation or apology) for the Sonata No.2. Not only does the sonata's descriptive subtitle provide some suggestion as to Ives' source of inspiration, but the composer himself also provided a detailed narrative to accompany the music. The first movement, a lackadaisical march, recalls the famous stories of how Ives' father, George, sharpened his children's musical ears by having them sing a tune simultaneously in different keys. The movement itself portrays Ives and his boyhood companions marching about and deliberately singing off-key; tunes like "Tell Me the Old, Old Story" and "Work, for the Night is Coming" well up among remembrances of the young Ives practicing one of his father's organ fugues. The outer Adagio sections of the second movement, both based on "Jesus Loves Me," frame a raucous middle section which recalls the point during the religious service at which restless boys were excused to "throw stones down on the rocks in the brook!" Appropriately, and with the composer's characteristic humor, this section is marked Allegro (conslugarocko). The final movement recalls the march-like feel of the first with its evocations of "Shall We Gather at the River?". This hymn appears prominently elsewhere in the composer's music, including in the Symphony No.4 and the powerful vocal setting At the River.
Ives assembled the Violin Sonata No. 4 circa 1916, using works that he had composed from 1900 to 1916. The first movement is derived from the lost "Sonata for Trumpet and Organ." The third movement is based on Ives' "Piece for Cornet and Strings," also lost.
The first movement borrows the tune "Old, Old Story" as well as his father's "Fugue No. 4 in B." The second movement uses "Jesus Loves Me." The final movement quotes "Nettleton."
The first documented performance of the "Fourth Violin Sonata" took place in New York City on January 14, 1940. Eudice Shapiro and (violin) and Irene Jacobi (piano) performed the work at the Auditorium of the Museum of Modern Art.
Source:
www.allmusic.com/composition/...
www.musicweb-international.com...
Source videos:
1st movement: • Charles Ives - Violin ...
2nd movement: • Charles Ives - Violin ...
3rd movement: • Charles Ives - Violin ...