7 The 100 Most Influential Musicians of All Time 7

Ives conceived his Second String Quartet (1911–13; com-

position on second movement begun 1907) as a conversation,

political argument, and reconciliation among four men; it

is full of quotations from hymns, marches, and Beethoven,

Brahms, and Tchaikovsky. His Variations on America (1891;

additions before 1894) is the earliest polytonal piece

known. In one of his piano and violin sonatas, he adds a

passage for trumpet. His 114 Songs (1919 –24) for voice and

piano vary from ballads to satire, hymns, protest songs,

and romantic songs. In technique they range from highly

complex (e.g., with tone clusters, polytonality, and atonal-

ity) to straightforward and simple.

Other compositions include Central Park in the Dark

(1906), for chamber orchestra; General William Booth Enters

into Heaven (1914; to Vachel Lindsay’s poem), for soloist

or choir and band but also performed in arrangements

for chamber orchestra and for voice and piano; and the

four-part symphony A Symphony: New England Holidays

(“Washington’s Birthday,” 1909, rescored 1913; “Decoration

Day,” 1912; “Fourth of July,” 1912–13; and “Thanksgiving

and Forefathers’ Day,” 1904). The Ives manuscripts were

given to the Library of the Yale School of Music by his

wife, Harmony Ives, in 1955, and a temporary mimeo-

graphed catalog was compiled from 1954 to 1960 by pianist

John Kirkpatrick.

Béla Bartók

(b. March 25, 1881, Nagyszentmiklós, Hung., Austria-Hungary—d.

Sept. 26, 1945, New York, N.Y., U.S.)

H

ungarian composer, pianist, ethnomusicologist, and

teacher Béla Bartók is known for the Hungarian

flavour of his major musical compositions, which include

orchestral works, string quartets, piano solos, several stage