Panel 3: Ives and American Wars

Description

In the festival’s third multidisciplinary panel, Civil War historian Allen C. Guelzo shows how Ives represented through his music and accompanying texts (including lyrics and programs) his view of the Civil War as a “won cause” fought to liberate the enslaved. Music historian Denise Von Glahn and geographer Mark Sciuchetti explore how Ives’s Concord Sonata reflects Concord, Massachusetts, and its surroundings, including the presence of African Americans. Music theorist Chelsey Hamm analyzes Ives’s songs about World War I to show how Ives uses dissonance as a symbol of democracy. Three visiting Ives scholars from different disciplines join the concluding discussion.

Recording

Date

October 5, 2024

Location

Ford-Crawford Hall

Personnel

J. Peter Burkholder, chair
Chandler Benn, baritone
Elizabeth Hile, flute
Allen C. Guelzo (History, Princeton University)
Denise Von Glahn (Musicology, Florida State University)
Mark Sciuchetti (Geography, Jacksonville State University)
Chelsey Hamm (Music Theory, Christopher Newport University)

Discussants
Jan Swafford (Ives biographer)
James B. Sinclair (Ives editor)
David Thurmaier (Music Theory, University of Missouri-Kansas City)

Program

Panel 3 

Ives and American Wars 

   J. Peter Burkholder, chair 

Charles Ives (1874-1954) 

He Is There! (Charles Ives, 1917) 

   Chandler Benn, baritone  
   John Carson, piano 
   Elizabeth Hile, flute 

Allen C. Guelzo (History, Princeton University) 

   Charles Ives’s Civil War 

Denise Von Glahn (Musicology, Florida State University) and Mark Sciuchetti (Geography, Jacksonville State University) 

   Sounding Concord: Ives’s Sonata and the Intersection of War, Memory, and Place 

Chelsey Hamm (Music Theory, Christopher Newport University) 

   Dissonance and Democracy in Charles Ives’s World War I Songs 

Discussants 

Jan Swafford (Ives biographer) 

James B. Sinclair (Ives editor) 

David Thurmaier (Music Theory, University of Missouri-Kansas City) 

Chelsey Hamm’s presence is made possible by the Music Theory Five Friends Master Class Series honoring Robert Samels. 

This program is supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Citation

“Panel 3: Ives and American Wars,” Charles Ives at 150, accessed June 7, 2025, https://charlesivesat150.iu.edu/items/show/16.