Charles Ives (1874-1954), now considered one of the greatest 20th-century composers, came from a musical family. His father, George Ives, a Civil War military bandmaster, had an avid enthusiasm for new sounds and passed that interest on to his son.
Ives entered Yale in October of 1894, and a month later, his father suddenly passed away. For a father figure, Ives turned to Dr. John C. Griggs, the choir director of the Center Church on the Green, where Ives was an organist during his undergraduate years. Griggs often allowed Ives to play his "new" music during worship services, saying: "My opinion is that God must get awfully tired of hearing the same thing over and over again, and in His all-embracing wisdom he could certainly embrace a dissonance -- might even positively enjoy one now and then."
An accomplished athlete as well as a scholar, Ives studied composition at Yale with Horatio Parker, who encouraged the young man to compose his first large works. Some of the young composer's non-academic pieces focused on life at Yale, particularly the social and sports scenes on campus.
After graduation, Ives earned his living in the insurance business, writing music as an avocation. Most of his work was written in the 20 years following his graduation, but not appreciated for many years. Ives was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in music in 1947 for his Third Symphony, composed 43 years earlier. His Fourth Symphony was not performed in its entirety until 11 years after the composer's death.
In his compositions Ives frequently quoted hymn tunes as well as popular, patriotic and ragtime music, but he adapted these forms into new contexts. Ives conceived many of the important 20th-century composing techniques such as polytonality (using two or more musical keys simultanteously) and polyrhythmia (combining contrasting rhythms). Over a course of 40 years, Ives composed approximately 500 works, including 50 orchestral pieces, 30 chamber works, 60 pieces for piano or organ, 60 choral works, 200 songs and a few pieces for band.
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