Charles Edward Ives (October 20, 1874 – May 19, 1954) was an American composer of modernist classical music. He is widely regarded as one of the first American classical composers of international significance. Ives' music was largely ignored during his life, and many of his works went unperformed for many years. Over time, Ives would come to be regarded as one of the "American Originals", a composer working in a uniquely American musical idiom while experimenting with musical techniques including bitonality, tone clusters, and quarter tones.
Charles Ives was born in Danbury, Connecticut, the son of George Ives, a U.S. Army bandleader in the American Civil War, and his wife Mary Parmelee. A strong influence of Charles's may have been sitting in the Danbury town square, listening to his father's marching band and other bands on other sides of the square simultaneously. George Ives' unique music lessons were also a strong influence on Charles; George Ives took an open-minded approach to
Created by dipity on Jan 23, 2008
Last updated: 03/11/10 at 07:08 PM
Leonard Bernstein and Michael Tilson Thomas conducting the American Symphony Orchestra at the Danbury Fairgrounds (CT).
http://www.danbury.org/MusicCtr/NewsTimesArticles.htm
Charles Ives died
Carnegie Hall
Prize awarded for Symphony No. 3 by Charles Ives.
First performed by Lou Harrison and Chamber Orchestra in New York, April, 1946 (according to the Pulitzer Prize website). Ives gave the prize money away, saying "prizes are for boys, and I'm all grown up". [from Wikipedia]
http://www.pulitzer.org/awards/1947
John Kirkpatrick performed Ives' 2nd Piano Sonata (1911-15) subtitled "Concord, Mass., 1840-60" at Town Hall in New York City.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE1DC1E3BF932A25752C1A967958260
Charlie and Harmony took a Sunday morning walk near Stockbridge. "We heard... the distant singing from the church across the river. The mist had not entirely left the river bed, and the colors, the running water, the banks and elm trees were something that one would always remember." (from Memos and Jan Swafford--Charles Ives-A Life in Music, p.193)
The couple was married by Harmony's father, Reverend Joseph Twichell.
http://www.ahcc.org/
His father's death left a vacuum in Charlie's life that could never be filled.
Held at the Methodist Church of Brewster, NY, his performance on organ was partly improvised.
Charles Ives was born in Danbury, Connecticut, Fairfield County
George Edward Ives - Youngest bandmaster in the Union Army during the Civil War.

