[+] Block, Geoffrey. "Ives and the 'Sounds That Beethoven Didn't Have.'" In Charles Ives and the Classical Tradition, ed. Geoffrey Block and J. Peter Burkholder, 34-50. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1996.
Ives's borrowings from Beethoven in his Concord Sonata extend beyond reverence and homage. Ives integrates the famous four-note opening to Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 into his own theme, which he calls the "human faith melody." By reworking Beethoven's motto into a new context, Ives pays tribute to Beethoven and also challenges Beethoven's music by improving the material with new sounds Beethoven might have used had he been Ives's contemporary. The Concord Sonata thus displays Ives's success in overcoming what Harold Bloom calls the "anxiety of influence" by confronting Beethoven's influence head-on.
Works: Ives: Arrangement of Beethoven's Piano Sonata in F Minor, Op. 2, No. 1 (34-37), Second Piano Sonata (Concord) (37-50).
Sources: Beethoven: Piano Sonata in F Minor, Op. 2, No. 1 (34-37), Symphony No. 5 in C Minor (40-44,47-50), Piano Sonata in B-flat Major, Op. 106 (Hammerklavier) (44-47); Simeon B. Marsh: Martyn (42-45); Charles Zeuner: Missionary Chant (42-44).
Index Classifications: 1900s
Contributed by: Brent C. Reidy
