Thoughts on... Ives and Recording Technology.
Since Dr. Kwon's Globalization class frequently discusses the affects of growing musical technologies on composers, listeners, and performers of music, I have decided write my first blog about Ives's distaste for recording technologies. I think it was Feder who wrote that not only was Ives's distaste for musical recordings to strong that he did not listen to musical recordings and supposedly never watched a movie in his lifetime.
My first impression on Ives's opposition to music recordings was one of shock. After all, how would Ives ever grown to be appreciated if it were not for the very technologies he abhorred? It seems that all past composers owe some kind of debt to these recordings, since they have allowed for and often encouraged their immortalization in the Western musical canon.
But then I considered the psychological approach of Feder. Perhaps Ives, who had such a unique musical experience during his childhood, disdained recordings because they distanced listeners from the familiar traditions with which he grew to experience music. To Ives, music was essentially communal-- whether it involved his father's bands, various live performances, his experience as a church organist, Ives was always sharing music with others. Ives romanticized this live, communal production of music, and continued to value the partnership that was required for music making during his childhood. Even if he was listening to a solo performance, there was still some kind of relationship between listener and performer. To someone like Ives, who didn't mind vernacular and sentimental music, and who accepted wrong notes and intonation issues as inevitable, this idealization of music seems inevitable. And recordings took all that romance away.
Yet even though his contemporaries had similar musical experiences to him, it was Ives who asked the question "Are my ears on wrong?" This statement implies that despite these similarities, Ives questioned whether there was something inherently wrong with the way he heard music. With the growth of musical technology and the development of recordings, Ives further lost the opportunity to share his musical experience with others. Even more so than in his own lifetime, it is now extremely improbable that any child would grow up to experience and think about music the same way that Charlie did. So, to Ives, these musical technologies may represent the loss of hope that someone out there could think about music the same way that he did.
I know it's a stretch, but that's all I've got. After all, it's my first blog post :)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Hope I did this right... forgive my inexperience!
ReplyDeleteDid Ives "accept wrong notes and intonation issues as inevitable"? I don't quite understand where you got this idea. Sure his father told him to embrace all sounds, but Charles had sharp criticism for professional musicians who tried to perform his music and could not attain his high standards.
ReplyDeleteMaybe once the recording technology and editing improved thereby creating the "ideal" and "perfect" performance of a piece of music, Ives might have enjoyed listening to his music in this medium.
Many performers and composers were, at first, against the recording industry and some of the first recordings sounded terrible due to the limited technology (which is what Ives grew up with). Also, the first recordings were only available in 3 or 4 minute segments. This would severely limit the classical repertoire for recordings. Orchestral music was a nightmare to record. Chamber orchestras were used and the soloists had to run up to the recording horn, play into it, and then return to their seat. It wasn't until the 1940's or 50's when a full orchestra could be successfully captured on vinyl.
If Ives had been in a later generation I think he would have liked hearing his music. The quality of later recordings and recording techniques far surpassed the first recordings that Ives may have been exposed to. Those first recordings from the early 1900's are dreadful. It's no wonder Ives couldn't listen to them.
Lastly, the level of musicianship has risen dramatically since Ives's time. There are high quality performances by several musicians available performing his music. During his lifetime he struggled to find anyone worthy, let alone, would want to play his music. That is not the case now.
It's too bad that this is the case with many brilliant composers. They would write incredible music, only to see it performed poorly, largely ignored by it's audience, or not even played at all.
Jenny,
ReplyDeleteI think that you are spot on about the social nature of the music Ives' held dear. Sherwood Magee said in "Reconsidered:"
"Throughout Ives's young life, George had remained just as he was: a midcentury amateur musician who valued human participation, interaction, and social context over standardized education, virtuosity, and professionalism in all of its meanings." (37)
Perhaps the reason Ives was so upset at the lose of the communal nature of music, was that it represented the destruction of a manifestation of his father. As the community of music dwindled, Charles watched a representation of his father shrivel into obscurity.