Beyond Mimesis: Transcendentalism and Processes of Analogy in Charles Ives' "The Fourth of July"

Abstract

Charles Ives' The Fourth of July is charged with the basic elements that once earned his music such critical epithets as craziest lot of sounds,'1 funny-sounding collection of sounds, and horrible sounds.2 Polymeter, polytonality, the dense simultaneous layering of seemingly independent and contrasting elements, and quotations from traditional songs and march tunes all play critical roles in the presentation and evolution of musical ideas in this composition. In particular, The Fourth of July includes two musical explosions (representing fireworks displays) comprising extremely dense strata of non-synchronous materials; and fragments of at least fifteen different tunes appear in various keys throughout the work. On the surface, then, this composition may seem to comprise a wealth of disjunct and discordant ideas. However, careful analysis of Ives' compositional techniques, and equally deliberate pondering of his philosophical and aesthetic ideas, suggest that (a) the work's many diverse elements have been integrated within a carefully organized structural framework, and that (b) Ives' quotations and multiple layerings -his most characteristic and frequently used techniques-have deeplyrooted philosophical implications for the composer. Technically, a web of musical interrelationships underlies the surface multiformity; philosophically, the work is much more than the re-creation of a holiday celebration in Danbury, Connecticut. Because the philosophical underpinnings of Ives' music constitute such a vital aspect of all of his work, a discussion of any of his compositions must begin with an assessment of these ideological roots. Ives was a fervent proponent of Transcendentalism and a passionate admirer of the two most articulate and well-known Transcendentalists, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. In his Essays Before a Sonata, Ives discusses the writings and philosophies of these two thinkers (as well as those of Hawthorne and the Alcotts in more summary fashion), and, both directly and by implication, he details his own Transcendental beliefs and the intimate connection that these have to his music. Throughout the Essays, Ives alludes repeatedly to the two fundamental tenets of Transcendental philosophy: a belief in the innate goodness of

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