An analysis of Ives's Second Symphony reveals quotations both from the European Classical tradition and form American tunes. One of the latter, "Down in the cornfield," an excerpt from Stephen Foster's Massa's in de cold ground, appears more often than any other, and Sterne interprets it on four levels. First, it portrays an American landscape; second, it recalls memories of Ives's youth; third, this and all the other American tunes represent Ives setting himself apart from the European tradition and his teacher Horatio Parker in particular, symbolized by the European themes; finally, the text of Massa's in de cold ground tells us of Massa's death, which Sterne interprets as Ives declaring the death of the European symphonic tradition.

Index Classifications: 1900s

Contributed by: Andreas Giger