Ives, Charles. (1874–1954)
114 Songs - INSCRIBED PRESENTATION COPY TO HUGO GOERLITZ
Redding, CT: C.E. Ives. 1922. Folio. 3ff. (title, index), 259, [iii] pp. + 1f. First Edition, second issue. Original blue buckram boards with title in gilt on front cover. Inscribed on the front free endpage to the musical impresario, Hugo Goerlitz: "To Hugo Gortitz [sic] from Chas. E. Ives. / Jan 24 - '24." In very good condition, corners lightly bumped, minimal fraying to extremeties, first endpaper torn at edge and repaired with tape from verso. Kirkpatrick p. 151. Rossiter p. 183. De Lerma S78. Sinclair p. 658.As stated in the composer's postscript, copies of the 114 Songs were not commercially available. Instead, Ives sent copies of this privately printed collection, free of charge, to friends and musicians who he knew or admired. As the demand exceeded the very limited supply (500 copies) of the first printing, he reissued the work in a second press run of 1,000 copies. We have encountered very few signed copies of either edition. The present copy is inscribed to Paderewski's manager, sometimes referred to as the "Barnum of American impresarios."
"The 114 Songs forms the most original, imaginative, and powerful body of vocal music that we have from any American, and the songs have provided the readiest path to Ives's musical thinking for most people. Many of them have a touching lyrical quality; some are angry, others satirical. The best of them are musically very daring, with vocal lines that are hard for the conventionally trained artist, accompaniments that are often frightfully difficult, and rhythmic and tonal relations between voice and piano which require real work to master. Even when the melodic line alone presents no special problem, in combination with the accompaniment it offers a real challenge to musicianship. Surmounting the difficulties of this music creates an intensity in the performer that approaches the composer's original exaltation and has brought audiences to their feet with enthusiasm and excitement. But the simplest and least characteristic of the songs are still the most often performed. Like Schoenberg, whose fame rests on musical usages that had not yet appeared in the early pieces ordinarily performed on concert programs, Ives has been represented, as a rule, by pieces that have little or nothing to do with the music that made his reputation." (Cowell, "Charles Ives and his Music" pp. 80-81.) (10394)
Signed Document/Item Song