Essays Before a Sonata, the Majority, and Other Writings

by Charles Ives

Book Overview

The Essays Before a Sonata was conceived by Ives as a preface of sorts to the composition. Ives's musings also explore the nature of music, discuss the source of a composer's impulses and inspiration, and offer some biting comments on celebrated masters. The writings in this collection--now featuring a comprehensive index-allow readers entry into the brilliant mind that produced some of America's most innovative musical works.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393318303
• ISBN13: 9780393318302
• Release Date: January 1999
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 286 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.4" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

A highly original writer

A highly original writer, Ives can be a tough read. He follows his asides & digressions in prose much the same way as he does in music. But he dragged Transcendentalism (moaning & groaning) into the 20th Century, wrote a philosophy of insurance sales that is still consulted today, & was not afraid to call for a national referendum prior to the United States committing to war. His ideas about creativity remain, at the core, uncomfortably radical for most of his admirers. Bob Rixon, WFMU-FM