{"id":10018,"date":"2019-02-26T20:48:35","date_gmt":"2019-02-27T01:48:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=10018"},"modified":"2019-12-29T23:40:25","modified_gmt":"2019-12-30T04:40:25","slug":"two-wild-spirits-heinrich-and-ives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=10018","title":{"rendered":"Two Wild Spirits: Heinrich and Ives"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"19-02-26<\/a>

Charles Ives<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Anthony<\/a>

Antho\u00adny Heinrich<\/p><\/div>\n

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Those of us who admire a wild and irrev\u00ader\u00adent spir\u00adit in music have long looked to Charles Ives (1874\u20131954) as our patron saint. With his mul\u00adti\u00admet\u00adric chaos, his noisy brass bands, cheer\u00adful mix\u00ading of pop\u00adu\u00adlar and clas\u00adsi\u00adcal themes, his tem\u00adpo\u00adral dys\u00adsyn\u00adchronies and his star\u00adtling flights into the infi\u00adnite, he ful\u00adfilled every require\u00adment for an eccen\u00adtric genius ahead of his time. And he was pro\u00adfound\u00adly, quin\u00adtes\u00adsen\u00adtial\u00adly Amer\u00adi\u00adcan. But he was lit\u00adtle known in his life\u00adtime. The bulk of his com\u00adpo\u00adsi\u00adtions were writ\u00adten then tucked away, unper\u00adformed, in a New Eng\u00adland barn while he pur\u00adsued a more suc\u00adcess\u00adful career as an insur\u00adance sales\u00adman. He also pub\u00adlished pam\u00adphlets advo\u00adcat\u00ading what we would now call \u201cdirect democ\u00adra\u00adcy\u201d and got into a heat\u00aded argu\u00adment with a young Franklin Roo\u00adsevelt over his idea of pro\u00admot\u00ading gov\u00adern\u00adment bonds cheap enough for the ordi\u00adnary cit\u00adi\u00adzen. But it was not until the 1960\u2019s that his works were fre\u00adquent\u00adly played, and his name became famil\u00adiar to clas\u00adsi\u00adcal musi\u00adcians and lis\u00adten\u00aders. Much of this change came about through the ardent advo\u00adca\u00adcy of con\u00adduc\u00adtor Leonard Bern\u00adstein. It is pos\u00adsi\u00adble to lis\u00adten to a per\u00adfor\u00admance of Ives\u2019 Sym\u00adpho\u00adny #4 today and expe\u00adri\u00adence it as \u201cmod\u00adern, avant-garde music\u201d even though it was com\u00adposed in the 1910s! (It was\u00adn\u2019t per\u00adformed until 1965). <\/span><\/p>\n

But fas\u00adci\u00adnat\u00ading as Ives is, he is not alone in the sto\u00adry of Amer\u00adi\u00adcan music. Anoth\u00ader com\u00adpos\u00ader, liv\u00ading a full cen\u00adtu\u00adry before him, shared many of Ives\u2019 char\u00adac\u00adter\u00adis\u00adtics. Like Ives, he was self-taught, eccen\u00adtric, exper\u00adi\u00admen\u00adtal and ahead of his time. Like Ives, he wore his patri\u00ado\u00adtism on his sleeve, loved loud nois\u00ades and order dis\u00adguised as chaos, and was drawn to tran\u00adscen\u00adden\u00adtal themes. He died 13 years before Ives was born, and Ives prob\u00ada\u00adbly nev\u00ader heard of him. Unlike Ives, how\u00adev\u00ader, he has found no high-pro\u00adfile cham\u00adpi\u00adon. His works are played only occa\u00adsion\u00adal\u00adly and few peo\u00adple have heard them. <\/span><\/p>\n

The man in ques\u00adtion was Antho\u00adny Philip Hein\u00adrich. He was born in 1781, in the north\u00adern\u00admost vil\u00adlage of Bohemia, in what was then a pre\u00addom\u00adi\u00adnant\u00adly Ger\u00adman-speak\u00ading part of that land. Like Ives, he pur\u00adsued a suc\u00adcess\u00adful career as a busi\u00adness\u00adman, rel\u00ade\u00adgat\u00ading music to a hob\u00adby. But the Napoleon\u00adic wars ruined him, and he found him\u00adself pen\u00adni\u00adless in Boston in 1810. He plunged into a new life enthu\u00adsi\u00adas\u00adti\u00adcal\u00adly, deter\u00admined to be a wan\u00adder\u00ading musi\u00adcian on the open\u00ading fron\u00adtier. He trav\u00adeled most\u00adly on foot, liv\u00ading rough, through Penn\u00adsyl\u00adva\u00adnia, Ohio and Ken\u00adtucky. This expe\u00adri\u00adence instilled in him a pro\u00adfound love of nature and an ide\u00adal\u00adis\u00adtic patri\u00ado\u00adtism for his adopt\u00aded coun\u00adtry. Final\u00adly he set\u00adtled in a log cab\u00adin in Ken\u00adtucky and began to com\u00adpose. Amer\u00adi\u00adca as yet had no real sym\u00adpho\u00adny orches\u00adtras and few trained musi\u00adcians. His larg\u00ader com\u00adpo\u00adsi\u00adtions could only be played in Europe. Even\u00adtu\u00adal\u00adly, he par\u00adtic\u00adi\u00adpat\u00aded in found\u00ading the New York Phil\u00adhar\u00admon\u00adic, and achieved some pub\u00adlic suc\u00adcess, but this quick\u00adly fad\u00aded, and he died, reduced again to pover\u00adty, in 1861.<\/span><\/p>\n

His music not only drew on Amer\u00adi\u00adcan folk music and on the melodies and rhythms of Native Amer\u00adi\u00adcans [Comanche Rev\u00adel<\/em>; Man\u00adi\u00adtou Mys\u00adter\u00adies<\/em>; The Chero\u00adkee\u2019s Lament<\/em>; Sioux Gal\u00adliarde<\/em>], but it was sat\u00adu\u00adrat\u00aded with the sig\u00adna\u00adture ele\u00adment of Amer\u00adi\u00adcan music: impro\u00advi\u00adsa\u00adtion. Musi\u00adcol\u00ado\u00adgists would no doubt clas\u00adsi\u00adfy him as his cen\u00adtu\u00adry\u2019s most con\u00adsis\u00adtent prac\u00adti\u00adtion\u00ader of musi\u00adcal inde\u00adter\u00admi\u00adna\u00adcy. Bird song filled his music, which often sport\u00aded spec\u00adtac\u00adu\u00adlar\u00adly grand ornitho\u00adlog\u00adi\u00adcal titles: The Columbi\u00adad, or Migra\u00adtion of Amer\u00adi\u00adcan Wild Pas\u00adsen\u00adger Pigeons<\/em> and The Ornitho\u00adlog\u00adi\u00adcal Com\u00adbat of Kings<\/em>. Per\u00adhaps the piece that sums him up is the vocal\/orchestral suite, The Dawn\u00ading of Music in Ken\u00adtucky, or, the Plea\u00adsures of Har\u00admo\u00adny in the Soli\u00adtudes of Nature<\/em>. Noth\u00ading he com\u00adposed fol\u00adlowed the musi\u00adcal con\u00adven\u00adtions of Europe. Alto\u00adgeth\u00ader, I\u2019ve heard 18 of his works, and all of them gave me plea\u00adsure, while some of them seemed to me both rad\u00adi\u00adcal and pro\u00adfound. In oth\u00ader words, the qual\u00adi\u00adties that drew me to Ives were present in Hein\u00adrich a cen\u00adtu\u00adry before. <\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s impor\u00adtant, in this dark time for Amer\u00adi\u00adca, to remem\u00adber that the nation that has sunk to the lev\u00adel of elect\u00ading a scur\u00adrilous con-man, crim\u00adi\u00adnal and trai\u00adtor to its high\u00adest office has in the past, over and over again, nur\u00adtured cre\u00adative men and women imbued with the spir\u00adit of lib\u00ader\u00adty, and will no doubt do so again. At this moment, I\u2019m lis\u00adten\u00ading nei\u00adther to Ives nor Hein\u00adrich, but to a coun\u00adtry-rock album from 1968, The Wichi\u00adta Train Whis\u00adtle Sings<\/em>. It\u2019s by Mike Nesmith, remem\u00adbered most\u00adly as being one of tele\u00advi\u00adsion\u2019s Mon\u00adkees, but actu\u00adal\u00adly a man of var\u00adied tal\u00adents. You can hear many ele\u00adments of Hein\u00adrich and Ives bub\u00adbling through this almost, but not quite for\u00adgot\u00adten album. And they are bub\u00adbling in many works by singers, com\u00adposers, garage bands, rap\u00adpers, and elec\u00adtron\u00adic artists today. To use anoth\u00ader Mike Nesmith album title: And the Hits Just Keep On Comin\u2019<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Those of us who admire a wild and irrev\u00ader\u00adent spir\u00adit in music have long looked to Charles Ives (1874\u20131954) as our patron saint. With his mul\u00adti\u00admet\u00adric chaos, his noisy brass bands, cheer\u00adful mix\u00ading of pop\u00adu\u00adlar and clas\u00adsi\u00adcal themes, his tem\u00adpo\u00adral dyssynchronies \u2026<\/p>\n

Read more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[947,1501],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10018","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-c-listening","category-ch-listening-2019-c-listening"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10018","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10018"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10018\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10026,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10018\/revisions\/10026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10018"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}