Second Pianoforte Sonata "Concord, Mass., 1840-1860" 2nd edition
[New York]: Arrow Music Press, Inc., [1947].
Folio. Original publisher's lightly gray printed wrappers. 1f. (recto title, verso printed notes), 68 pp. + 2ff. text (from "Prologue" and "Epilogue" + 1f. (notes on the 4 movements: "Emerson," "Hawthorne," "The Alcotts" and "Thoreau" + testimonials). Publisher's catalogue ("Publications of Arrow Music Press, Inc. and the Cos Cob Press, Inc." to verso of lower wrapper.
Provenance
From the collection of noted American composer and music publisher Ray Green (1908-1997), with his handstamp to blank upper outer corner of upper wrapper and front free endpaper.
Wrappers slightly worn and soiled.
Second edition, revised by the composer. Sinclair p. 88.
"The enthusiastic critical response to John Kirkpatrick's 20 January 1939 premiere of the complete sonata led Ives to an immediate desire for a corrected reprinting of the sonata. ... As Ives reconsidered his score his plan escalated into a new edition of the work, one that would add to the piano version, as much as possible, omitted material found in the original orchestral source pieces. ... From the first submission to Arrow Press of changes in early 1940 the project experienced problems and a succession of engravers struggled with Ives's many changes of mind. World War II brought a hiatus of 1944-46. On 2 April 1947 Godfrey Turner (of Arrow Music Press) wrote to Harmony Ives: "I do hope that Mr. Ives is not again re-writing the SONATA by means of extensive corrections. The plates absolutely will not stand any more and secondly, inasmuch as the original engraver is out of business, the re-engraving will not match too well ... and thirdly, this proof was supposed to be a complete and final corrected proof." In late September 1947 Ives sent in the last, apparently tenth, proof. Publication of the second edition came on 7 October 1947." Sinclair pp. 196-97.
"During the twentieth century, comprehension became much more elusive as music became more complex. ... The European sonata was characterized by an orderly presentation of simple materials, which were heightened by the contrast of modulation. These sound events were followed by development and recapitulation. Ives smashes apart this model, proposing a new psychological process of meditation and comprehension and he creates a great personal challenge for both performer and listener. It is this bold proposition that enabled Ives to borrow from the models of the past to make his new style of musical composition understandable to performers and interpreters. it is this bold proposition that makes the Concord Sonata such a unique moment in the history of music." David Michael Hertz in Charles Ives and His World edited by J. Peter Burkholder, p. 116.
"Green wrote in a variety of genres; his large body of dance works resulted from his marriage to the dancer May O’Donnell. His style is characterized by modern, often modal harmonic idioms, rhythmic animation, contrapuntal textures and traditional forms; he effectively incorporated elements of shape-note hymnody and fuging tunes into some of his works. He credited his treatment of rhythm and melodic inflection to his exposure to jazz and blues idioms as a boy in San Francisco ... In 1951 he founded the American Music Edition for the purpose of publishing his own works and those of other American composers." Katherine K. Preston, revised by Sidney R. Vise in Grove Music Online.
Item #39223
Price: $400.00 other currencies