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Ives, Diabetes, and His “Exhausted Vein” of Composition

Ives, Diabetes, and His “Exhausted Vein” of Composition STEPHEN BUDIANSKY The rapid decline of Charles Ives's compositional output after 1918 has long been the subject of much mystery--and even more speculation. Following a decade and a half of phenomenal creative productivity, during which time he produced nearly all of his most important works including The Unanswered Question, the Concord Sonata and First Piano Sonata, the Second, Third, and Fourth symphonies, Three Places in New England, the New England Holidays Symphony, two string quartets, and dozens of other compositions--while simultaneously building one of the most successful life insurance agencies in the United States--Ives, at age fortyfour, seemed to have "exhausted the vein" of his creative resources as his wife, Harmony, described it some years later.1 From that point on he began only a small number of new compositions; the last was in 1926, and it was shortly after that, as Harmony related to John Kirkpatrick, that Ives "came downstairs one day and with tears in his eyes said that he couldn't seem to compose any more--nothing would go well, nothing sounded right."2 As Tom C. Owens notes, "The nature and extent of Ives's health problems during and after his period of active composition have posed a vexing http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png American Music University of Illinois Press

Ives, Diabetes, and His “Exhausted Vein” of Composition

American Music , Volume 31 (1) – Sep 1, 2013

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Publisher
University of Illinois Press
Copyright
Copyright © University of Illinois Press
ISSN
1945-2349
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Abstract

STEPHEN BUDIANSKY The rapid decline of Charles Ives's compositional output after 1918 has long been the subject of much mystery--and even more speculation. Following a decade and a half of phenomenal creative productivity, during which time he produced nearly all of his most important works including The Unanswered Question, the Concord Sonata and First Piano Sonata, the Second, Third, and Fourth symphonies, Three Places in New England, the New England Holidays Symphony, two string quartets, and dozens of other compositions--while simultaneously building one of the most successful life insurance agencies in the United States--Ives, at age fortyfour, seemed to have "exhausted the vein" of his creative resources as his wife, Harmony, described it some years later.1 From that point on he began only a small number of new compositions; the last was in 1926, and it was shortly after that, as Harmony related to John Kirkpatrick, that Ives "came downstairs one day and with tears in his eyes said that he couldn't seem to compose any more--nothing would go well, nothing sounded right."2 As Tom C. Owens notes, "The nature and extent of Ives's health problems during and after his period of active composition have posed a vexing

Journal

American MusicUniversity of Illinois Press

Published: Sep 1, 2013

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