Third Concert of the 30th Season

Charles Ives was one of the most interesting characters in the history of music. Reared in a musical family he had intensive musical training from early childhood and began serving as church organist at the age of thirteen. Long before polytonality, tone clusters, micro-intervals, chance music and other devices of the twentieth century avant garde came into vogue, those sounds were being enjoyed by Ives and his father-teacher. Matriculation at Yale University provided valuable experience but composition study there under Horatio Parker demonstrated that Ives was attuned to new sounds beyond Parker's nineteenth century orientation.

Recognizing that he was interested in writing music that he felt to be honest and self-satisfying, and that he had no desire to gain a popular audience at the expense of his ideals, Ives decided that it would be impractical to depend upon music for a livelihood. He entered the business world as an insurance salesman, retaining music as a consuming avocation. When Ives entered business, at the turn of the century, life insurance was just beginning to become popular for all classes of people. As a pioneer in the field, he saw life insurance for the common man to be a holy cause to correct former social evils, and he promoted his cause with fervor. In doing so, Ives created philosophies, policy provisions and sales techniques that became classics in that industry.

Despite business activities, Ives was a prolific composer, writing to satisfy inner urges rather than for the public, and he seldom heard his works performed. Musicians shied away from Ives' music because of its extreme difficulty, and audiences were not prepared to accept its structural complexity and dissonance. Symphony No. 3 was composed in 1904-9, but was not performed until 1947. Disenchanted with machinations of the public music world, when Ives was notified that he had been awarded the 1947 Pulitzer Prize for this symphony that had gone unperformed for forty years, he replied that prizes were for boys and he was now a grown man.

Symphony No. 3 is essentially program music evoking the moods, emotions and feelings of a nineteenth-century religious camp meeting. There are references to hymn tunes, though seldom in simple familiar terms, that are used to conjure up images and impressions of the camp meeting. Among the recognizable melodies are "Oh, for a Thousand Tongues," "What a Friend We Have in Jesus," and "Just as I am."

Greek mythology tells of Aeneas' wanderings, during which he lands on the island governed by Queen Dido. Aeneas and Dido fall in love but witches of teh island cast a spell that causes Aeneas to depart. The aria "When I am Laid in Earth" is sung by Dido in the presence of her handmaiden, Belinda, as Dido is preparing to kill herself in despair at losing her lover.

The two arias from The Marriage of Figaro are sung by Cherubino, a young boy who is at that age of awakening when love is all-important but a mystery. In "Voi, che sapete" he sings:

Ye ladies who know what love is, behold the turmoil of my heart, possessed with a desire that is now a delight, now a torment. I freeze and burn by turns. I am in quest of something but I know not quite what it is. There is no peace for me night or day, yet even my torment is delight.

At one point in the story the young boy is caught alone with the gardener's daughter and the Count dismisses the boy from service. Faced with the prospect of never again seeing the ladies of the castle, all of whom he finds delightful, Cherubino sings in "Non so più cosa son" that he does not know why it is, but for some time the mere sight of a woman is enough to set his heart beating wildly; the words "love" and "pleasure" tremble constantly on his lips and he roams the castle park murmuring "I love you" to the trees, the clouds, the wind -- in fantasy to all the ladies of the castle. But, if perhaps no one will listen, he will sing of his love to himself.

The appearance of a beautiful woman dressed in trousers to sing a boy's role was quite sensational and popular among eighteenty-century Viennese audiences.

Don Carlos is a tragic story set in sixteenth-century France and Spain. Don Carlos, the Infante of Spain, is in love with Elizabeth of Valois, but she is obligated to marry Carlos' father. Through mistaken identity, Don Carlos has an amorous involvement with Princess Eboli, who when spurned denounces Don Carlos and Elizabeth, informing the king of Elizabeth's infidelity. Carlos is to be imprisoned and Eboli sings "O don fatale," lamenting the curse of her beauty that has brought sorrow to those around her, including Don Carlos whom she loves. In the midst of the aria, Eboli takes heart at the thought that one day remains in which to save Carlos. The aria ends in a soaring phrase and Eboli rushes from the stage as the curtain falls to end the scene.

In a passacaglia, a given theme constantly recurs with variations written around it. Nelhybel has employed full orchestra plus solo piano, performed this afternoon by Edward Davis, a Manchester College junior from Cincinnati, Ohio.