Textual and musical ambiguity in Charles Ives's four war songs, In Flanders Fields, Tom Sails Away, He Is There!, and They Are There!, may reflect Ives's own ambiguous attitude towards war. In the first three songs, written in 1917, Ives quotes several patriotic, martial, and popular tunes, but these quotations do not always retain their original meaning. Ives uses patchwork technique or other means of quotation to include melodic fragments from unambiguously patriotic songs; however, he often combines these fragments with a morose character, complex harmonies, and inconclusive cadences. Collectively, these three songs reflect Ives's ambivalence towards World War I. Twenty-five years later, They Are There!, a World War II revision of the earlier He Is There!, moves from ambivalence to a direct expression of Ives's anti-war sentiments. In conjunction with contemporary biographical evidence and Ives's own biting recording of the song, They Are There! demonstrates a shift in Ives's personal stance towards war and brings into question the possibility of parody in his three earlier war songs.

Works: Charles Ives: In Flanders Fields (72-80), Tom Sails Away (80-84), He Is There! (84-87), They Are There! (91-97).

Sources: Taps (75, 77-78, 81-82); David T. Shaw: The Red, White, and Blue (Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean) (75-76, 78-79, 82, 86); George F. Root: The Battle Cry of Freedom (76-77, 86); Claude-Joseph Rouget de Lisle: La Marseillaise (76, 78, 86); America (God Save the King) (77-79); Reveille (78, 86); Henry S. Cutler: All Saints New (78); Samuel Woodworth and George Kiallmark: Araby's Daughter (The Old Oaken Bucket) (81); George M. Cohan: Over There (82, 86); Ives: Country Band March (86), He Is There! (91-97); Walter Kittredge: Tenting on the Old Camp Ground (86-87).

Index Classifications: 1900s

Contributed by: Mark Chilla, Laura B. Dallman, Paul Killinger