Understanding Ives's use of borrowed materials demands that one first verify that seemingly quoted materials are in fact there, and from what source they derive. Judgments are difficult to make in many cases because it is impossible to be familiar with all of the music Ives knew. Then the material should be classified according to its structural importance. Some of Ives's quotations are brief and structurally insignificant, others are structurally important within a single movement, and still others serve as unifying factors among movements. Given that many of the tunes Ives used have more than one text, the approach seeking extra-musical "reasons" that Ives quoted one tune or another is less serviceable than the preceding.

Index Classifications: 1900s

Contributed by: Rob Lamborn