Ives, Charles. (1874–1954)
114 Songs - with annotation by the composer
Redding, CT: C.E. Ives. 1922. First edition, first issue. Folio, original green cloth-backed green boards, printed label on spine, 259 pages, pp.37-39 blank as in all copies of the first issue. Upper right corner bumped, crease to right front board, binding loose with cover partially separating inside from the block.These condition issues notwithstanding, a good copy of a very scarce volume. The first two of three copyright listings at the front and end of the volume have been cancelled in pen by the composer, who writes in black ink beside the first cancellation "printers error."Kirkpatrick p. 151. Rossiter p. 183. De Lerma S78. Sinclair p. 658.
One of only 500 copies printed for Ives by Schirmer in August 1922. This is one of the most significant collections of songs published in America. Ives set texts by himself and also by earlier poets. The songs often contain wry statements by the composer which illuminate the text. As stated in the composer's postscript in the present publication, 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.
"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.) (8650)
Printed Music Song