An Introduction to America’s Music

200 PART 2 | FROM THE CIVIL WAR THROUGH WORLD WAR I

date: 1917

performers: Mary Ann Hart, mezzo-

soprano; Dennis Helmrich, piano

genre: art song

meter: duple, often obscured by irregular

rhythms

form: through-composed

timing text comments

0:00 I think there must be a place in the soul

all made of tunes of long ago;

“My Old Kentucky Home” in the voice, with the fi rst

few notes inverted. The piano echoes the melody in a

different key.

0:19 I hear the organ on the Main Street

corner,

Quotation of “On the Banks of the Wabash.”

0:27 Aunt Sarah humming gospels; Quotation of NETTLETON.

0:37 Summer evenings, A suggestion of the richly chromatic style of Richard

Wagner.

0:44 The village cornet band, playing in the

square.

The town’s Red, White and Blue, all

Red, White and Blue

“The Battle Cry of Freedom” (see LG 6.5), fi rst in

the piano and then in the voice as well. The piano is

noticeably ahead of the voice. Gradually increasing

speed and volume.

0:56 Now! Hear the songs! I know not what

are the words

But they sing in my soul...

The voice quotes “Sweet By and By” (see LG 7.2) while

“The Battle Cry of Freedom” continues in the piano’s

upper register, over a thick, rolling, romantic keyboard

texture. After the climax, a gradual slowing and

softening.

1:14... of the things our Fathers loved. A return to the quiet mood of the opening. The

fi nal dissonance is very soft and gentle but lacks a

conventional resolution.

Listen & Refl ect

1. It is possible to read Ives’s text as referring to three different times: a spiritual timeless-
   ness, the past, and the present. Where are these divisions in the song, and how does the
   composer use music to distinguish them?


2. Some commentators have interpreted the “now” of the song as 1917, the year Ives
   composed it. What current event in world history might have inspired this song, and
   how might that affect how the song is understood?

WHAT TO LISTEN FOR

• shifting moods


• deliberate “disagreements” of key and
  rhythm between voice and piano


• use of quotations

CD 1.27 Listening Guide 8.3 “The Things Our Fathers Loved” CHARLES IVES

172028_08_183-204_r3_ko.indd 200 23/01/13 10:24 AM