What's with it with these Austins??

Johnny Reinhard hit his head on the proverbial nail when he cited former
Cornell professor William Austin's comments on Charles Ives. Encapsulated,
from Austin's unfortunately far-reaching MUSIC IN THE 20TH CENTURY, Austin
stated "In short, his [Ives] command of musical materials is deficient..."

A few other lovely quotes from this tome are in order:

"By 1910 he [Ives] was so thoroughly committed to such rash adventures that
everyone who knew him except his wife, Harmony Twitchell, considered him a
crank..."

"In 1923 he composed three quarter-tone pieces for two pianos. Soon
thereafter illness stopped his composing..."

"Thus he often arranged for two or more melodies to conflict in utterly
unorthodox ways, creating polyharmonies and polyrhythms that simply had no
unity short of the unity of the cosmos..." [Ives' Universe Symphony
aficionados here please take note -- Ed. :-) ]

"His own melodies are not memorable. His own rhythms are often sluggish,
or jerky. His chords are mostly opaque blocks of six or more notes tightly
spaced and doubled in octaves..." [And now, they will be "out of tune,"
too -- ed. note :-) ]

"He is unconcerned about performers' ease or gratification. IN SHORT, HIS
COMMAND OF MUSICAL MATERIALS IS DEFICIENT..."

Man, it's amazing what was published in 1966. Would the same be published
today?? I rather doubt it -- times have changed, and so has Ives'
influence...

What's with it with these Austins??

Joseph Pehrson

Joseph Pehrson wrote:

> "He is unconcerned about performers' ease or gratification. IN SHORT, HIS
> COMMAND OF MUSICAL MATERIALS IS DEFICIENT..."

> Man, it's amazing what was published in 1966. Would the same be published
> today?? I rather doubt it -- times have changed, and so has Ives'
> influence...

It's odd, they prefer to do this sort of thing while people are still alive,
Ives just hadn't been around long enough to throw mud at. but the press no
longer does such things they have taken a new tactic, just pretend it doesn't
even exist!

>

> Joseph Pehrson
>
> --------------------------- ONElist Sponsor ----------------------------

-- Kraig Grady
North American Embassy of Anaphoria Island
http://www.anaphoria.com