Charles Ives-Music is Life Charles Ives once said, “The future of music may not lie entirely in music itself, but rather in the way it encourages and extends, rather than limits the aspirations and ideals of the people, in the way it makes itself a part with the finer things that humanity does and dreams of.” (Charles Ives Quote) This quote says just how important music was to Ives, how it affected him and everything he did in life. Ives was a businessman by day and a musical composer by night. Charles Ives had a great influence on music in the 20th century, but like so many artists his compositions were not really appreciated until late in his life and after his death. Charles Edward Ives was born on October 20, 1874 in Danbury, Connecticut, …show more content…
He ended up getting into Yale and studying under the chairman of the Music Department, Horatio Parker. Parker, the best composition teacher in the United States then, and Ives did not get off to a great start due to their different outlooks and seriousness of music but Ives studied under Parker for four years and learned a great deal about the shaping forces of music. Ives time at Yale held many memories, good and bad. As a freshman, he became an organist of Center Church, which was a well-respected position. Ives also experienced deep depression while at Yale over the sudden death of his father. George Ives died suddenly of a stroke and Charles never got over it. Charles grades at Yale were not very good, but in spite of his low academic grades and depression he had a very successful career at Yale. Even through his depression, Ives, with his likeable and outgoing characteristics, quickly became one of the most popular characters at Yale. He was involved in clubs, sports, theater and played piano at parties, bands, glee clubs and church services. During college he composed smaller pieces like “March No. 6” with “Here’s to Good Old Yale”, “The Bells of Yale”, and other pieces which represented his time, emotions and duties at Yale. Charles Ives through his depression of losing his father, said he felt he was writing as his father. While at Yale his larger works were evidence of the training he had received from Parker. “The First Symphony” was a homework assignment that was a massive work in “European style with echoes of Brahms, Tchaikovsky, and Dvoák.” (Ives the Man) He also produced the First String Quartet that he jokingly named “From the Salvation Army”, which combines gospel hymns and forms, textures and manipulation of European-Romantic music. Ives was maturing and finding his place in music. He had used the lessons his father had taught him in creating music that was