Panel 4: Ives’s Second and Third Symphonies

Description

In the festival’s fourth multidisciplinary panel, music theorist David Thurmaier relates the history of two premieres of Ives’s Second Symphony and compares excerpts from each: Leonard Bernstein’s 1951 world premiere with the New York Philharmonic, and Bernard Herrmann’s 1956 European premiere with the London Symphony Orchestra. American historian Allen C. Guelzo characterizes Ives’s Third Symphony as remembering and celebrating the hymns, hymn-singing, and spirit of the revival meetings Ives experienced as a youth. Ivan Shulman reports on an interview with Ives’s neighbor Luemily Ryder, at whose house Ives listened to the 1951 broadcast of his Second Symphony, and on the solution to a long-standing mystery about his reaction to hearing it. Visiting scholars from art history, American history, musicology, and music theory join the closing discussion.

Recording

Date

October 5, 2024

Location

Ford-Crawford Hall

Personnel

Phil Ford (Musicology, Indiana University), chair
Madelyn Deininger, mezzo soprano
Allan Armstrong, piano
David Thurmaier (Music Theory, University of Missouri-Kansas City)
Allen C. Guelzo and Ivan Shulman, Discussants
Tim Barringer (Art History, Yale University)
Alan Lessoff (History, Illinois State University)
Denise Von Glahn (Musicology, Florida State University)
Chelsey Hamm (Music Theory, Christopher Newport University)

Program

Panel 4

Ives’s Second and Third Symphonies

Phil Ford (Musicology, Indiana University), chair

Charles Ives (1874-1954)

The Things Our Fathers Loved (Charles Ives, 1917)

Madelyn Deininger, mezzo soprano
Allan Armstrong, piano

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

Leonard Bernstein, Bernard Herrmann, and Two Ives Second Symphony Premieres

Allen C. Guelzo

Harmonies of the Let-Out Souls: The Serene Vision of Charles Ives’s Third Symphony

Ivan Shulman

An Unanswered Question: A Personal Tale About Luemily Ryder and Charles Ives

Discussants

Tim Barringer (Art History, Yale University)
Alan Lessoff (History, Illinois State University)
Denise Von Glahn (Musicology, Florida State University)
Chelsey Hamm (Music Theory, Christopher Newport University)

The presence of David Thurmaier and Chelsey Hamm 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 4: Ives’s Second and Third Symphonies,” Charles Ives at 150, accessed June 7, 2025, https://charlesivesat150.iu.edu/items/show/17.