Most of the borrowings in Ives's Second Symphony are not quotations but paraphrases. They are not inserted into an existing framework but form the very basis of the piece. All of the themes paraphrase American vernacular tunes, and the themes in turn provide the material for developments and transitions. In each movement one or more transitional passages are paraphrased from episodes from music by Bach, Brahms, or Wagner. This connection is the first real synthesis of American and European musical traditions in Ives's oeuvre, uniting the sound of American melody with the forms and procedures of the European symphony.

Index Classifications: 1900s

Contributed by: Andreas Giger