Themes & Quotes
This is a brief, simplified guide to what I consider the most important and prominent themes or quoted materials. Ives quoted common American tunes so frequently that others can be implied, especially as said quotes almost always appear fragmented or distorted. For more extensive analyses, please consult Other Resources.
main themes
These run through the Sonata, connecting the four movements together and incorporating the Transcendentalist themes they represent.
Human Faith examples.mp4"Human Faith" theme
Labeled by Ives on page 54 of the Essays Before A Sonata (1920): "All around you, under the Concord sky, there still floats the influence of that human faith melody, transcendent and sentimental enough for the enthusiast or the cynic respectively, reflecting an innate hope - a common interest in common things and common men - a tune the Concord bards are ever playing, while they pound away at the immensities with a Beethovenlike sublimity." The complete version of this theme includes the “Beethoven’s 5th” motif in the second half.
Beethoven's 5th motif.mp4"Beethoven's 5th" motif
Quote of the opening four notes to Beethoven's 5th Symphony, and included in the Human Faith theme (this is one of two quotes that Ives directly acknowledged). In the Essays before "Emerson," Ives explains his perception of this motif: "There is an 'oracle' at the beginning of the Fifth Symphony - in those four notes lies one of Beethoven's greatest messages. We would place its translation above the relentlessness of fate knocking at the door, above the greater human-message of destiny, and strive to bring it towards the spiritual message of Emerson's revelations - even to the "common heart" of Concord - the Soul of humanity knocking at the door of the Divine mysteries, radiant in the faith that it will be opened - and that the human will become the Divine!"
"Emerson" themes
These are only found in the first movement. They will be added alongside the blog analysis posts.
video links to alluded materials
Melodies used throughout movements 2-4
"Martyn" Hymn
Often cited for having a similar contour to the Human Faith theme, and used in the hymn sections of "Hawthorne"
"Country Band March" by Charles Ives
A depiction of an amateur town band written by Ives, used in "Hawthorne" as in interruption to the scene
"Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean" (American patriotic song)
Melody used at the end of "Hawthorne"
"Ye Christian Heralds, Go Proclaim (Missionary Chant)" Hymn
Alluded to in the "The Alcotts," most directly in the opening
"Wedding March" (Bridal Chorus from Lohengrin by Richard Wagner)
Hinted very softly in the B section of "The Alcotts"
"Down In The Cornfield" - phrase starting at 0:47 from the chorus of "Massa's in de Cold, Cold Ground" (minstrel song by Stephen Foster)
This is the other of two musical quotes that Ives directly acknowledged. In the notes to "Thoreau," he describes that sometimes "an old Elm Tree may feel like humming a phrase from 'Down in the Corn Field,' but usually very slowly." (Contains outdated racial language)