Ives: Variations on "America" (1891) - E. Power Biggs
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- Опубликовано: 6 окт 2024
- Sixteen year old Charles Edward Ives composed this set of variations on "America (My Country 'Tis of Thee)" for organ in 1891. In 1948, E. Power Biggs contacted Ives inquiring if he had composed any organ music that Biggs might perform on his weekly radio program. After Biggs helped Ives recover this long-forgotten piece, he performed it on his July 4th broadcast that year, and the work was finally published in 1949.
![Charles Ives - Variations on 'America' for Organ (1891) [Score-Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/N7TuU5zxge8/mqdefault.jpg)
Wow! To be sixteen and have this bubbling inside of you. The Victorian audience must have thought he was from the Moon. And what a harbinger of things to come. Our great American musical genius, and still a teenager. God bless Biggsie for pulling this out of
Charley's trunk.
Ives is reported to have said that playing it gave him almost as much fun as playing baseball...Ives was quite the baseball player when he was young...
This brings back memories. In May of 1972 Biggs came to Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to accept an honorary Doctor of Music during the college commencement. While he performed brilliantly that day, the real music happened on the Friday morning before the baccalaureate and graduation events when Biggs permitted the graduating music seniors to listen to him set up our organ and practice for two hours during which time he was interviewed by our own organ professor, Dr. Eleanor Taylor. He was surprised to learn that most of us wanted him to play Variations on America at graduation rather than the Widor Toccata, already printed in the program. He gave us an incredible lecture on Ives and the variations, playing small sections from memory as he talked. Then he invited all of us to stand just behind him while he played the Ives. To suggest those few moments were inspiring would be the understatement of a lifetime.
DaveGatKGSPro
I'm sure the pedal solo at the end must have been....well there are no words to adequately describe it...but you get my drift!!!
How very fortunate you were! What a wonderful lifelong memory to cherish! Thanks for sharing it with us.
I had a similar experience at age 12 hearing Virgil Fox perform it at Wolf Trap in Virginia. Getting to meet Mr. Fox afterwards was the icing on that magnificent cake.
Yeah, this is still the best recording of this piece. I'm so grateful to E. Power Biggs for prodding Ives into digging-up this piece for him. E. Power really was a great character. I used to say hello to him when I was an usher in Symphony Hall in Boston in the '60's when he came to the Friday afternoon Boston Symphony concerts.
I saw him once in the early 70s when I went with my organist cousin to see Biggs in Boston.
Holy shit. I can't believe this was written in 1891.
Fuck I love Ives.
On the 4th, I love to play this and crank up my speakers to the loudest possible volume!!! The pedal variation in the finale is absolutely wonderful!!! I was lucky to see Mt Biggs in Concert twoward the end of his live...once when I came home from leave in 1972 (Germany) he was playing at St George's Church in Manhattan and again in '75 at the opening of Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center...
Saw him at the Shrine in DC in the 1970's ... what an experience!! This was an encore... blew the roof off! Unforgettable! ❤️
Outstanding recording! Clean, clear, crisp and no distortion-perfect Thank You! I've never heard this before, so another thanks as it is great. I loved EPB and mourned his passing even back then at 16 yrs old. Still wish he was with us today, even though in some ways he still is.
+Michael Fitzgerald Another organ geek! There are so few of us.
THIS is how to play these Variations...! splendid as always! MY favorite organist as a child... and STILL as an adult... the one... the only E POWER BIGGS...
The American Academy of Arts and Letters now has Ives's Connecticut studio installed in their galleries in NYC. It's all there: his cot, desk, hat, scores, trumpet, eraser shavings... You definitely feel the old master's spirit when you step inside. It's open to the public when they have art exhibitions...usually in April/May.
I love the sense of humor. Ives must've been lots of fun at parties.
Thank you my friend, for posting this...it's long been one of absolute favorites of Biggs' recordings...on the 4th I like to crank the volume up to the MAX. I got this on an album entitled "E Power Biggs Greatest Hits...part of a two LP set I bought in NJ in '68/'69 (discount store - Two Guys) IIRC it came with his Bach Organ Favorites Vol III...the apparent dissonant interludes are a tribute to his father...a band master in the Civil War and somewhat of a musical joker..He would split his band into two sections so they would approach from opposite sides of the reviewing stand, each playing the same tune in two different and opposing keys...apart they would sound fine until they passed in front of the stand...listeners couldn't understand how the music they'd been hearing played so well and in tune just a few moments before sounded so horribly bad as the band passed by, then returned to pleasant sounding music the further the band sections separated...I've been a fan of Mr Biggs for years and have three hand written letters from him as well as one from his wife, thanking me for the condolences I sent following his passing in 1977...before I got to Germany in Nov of '71 I wrote him asking for tips/information on visiting the organ builders of Europe...I was blown away when I received his responses!!! They are part of the archives of my past that I treasure most highly!! I transcribed a number of his albums to both WMV and MP3 files using a DAK turntable and software...my next project is getting his Handel organ concertos onto my HD...again, thank you my friend!!!
Awesome and interesting info, Richard Gallagher. Ives was a phenomenon, and so are many of the characters that he attracted.
Fortunately for us all, these incredible recordings, arrangements and compositions are available.
#OdedMusic #OdedFriedGaon #Audioded
Thank you for incliding Ive's score. Amazing performance.
...since I first head it on an LP ca 1968 or so - the LP was a bonus record included with (IIRC Bach's Greatest Hits Vol III) I play it L O U D every 4th of July...there were periods when I didn't have access to a turntable to to my LPs, but after I got a DAK turntable & DAK software to turn the analog LPs into digital files I keep this on my desktop and have made a ringtone from it...
That fourth variation is badass as hell
Am working this up as the Postlude for our church’s Queen Elizabeth II Memorial Service, the evening of October 5. Prelude will be Walford Davies’ Solemn Melody.
Fantastic organist. The best of the best
In my humble opinion, Uncle Charlie, Charles Edward Ives, is not only America's greatest composer; he was born on the 4th of July and founded the Prudential Life Insurance Company. And I as of five minutes ago, I had never heard of this piece before. Thank you, dear E. Power Biggs and all of you who have brought this great and timely work to the world of RUclips and thus to the whole world. Thank you, all of you. Sent with love. CVD
He was actually born in October.
hes your uncle?
In the spring of 1973, I heard E. Power Biggs play this on the Harrison & Harrison organ at the Christ Episcopal Church on Johnson Square in Savannah, Georgia.
I think that might be the best video I've seen on RUclips. Thanks.
Incomprehensible how anyone cannot be overwhelmed by the sheer brilliance of the composer and the virtuosity of the performer.
I believe Biggs is playing a David Tannenberg organ. There are still about 12 of his organs in existence. I was able to hear and see and hear the one at Hebron Lutheran Church, Orange, Virginia this spring, It dates from 1802. Taylor and Boody said they had very little to do to restore it. It is so great to learn that EPB was the one responsible for this piece coming into the literature.
William Stead
No, he's playing the Charles Fisk organ then at Harvard University Memorial Church.
The next time someone asks, "How's things in America?" play them this ditty! 😂🤣
As a conservative young organist who loved Biggs for his Bach, I'll never forget how shocked and betrayed I felt when I first heard him perform this 60 years ago. Now I play it...what happened?
you learned the connection between the rules of baroque, and how the rules of modernism/serialism, etc., are based on it? Thats how I grew to like Schoenberg-esque music, by seeing how "traditional", it actually was. I hope I made sense!
@Melos Anropon As a matter of fact, this was not Biggs's first recording of this work. That recording can be heard in his album, "The Organ in America," dating from the early 1960's. He did, however, re-record the piece on the organ of the Methuen Memorial Music Hall not too long before his death, and the recording was included in his second American organ album, "The Stars and Stripes Forever," which was the last album to be released before Biggs's untimely death in March of 1977. If the Methuen organ was not a Skinner by birth, it was rebuilt by Aeolian-Skinner in 1949, and was in fact the first actual concert hall organ in American history. I believe, however, that the recording in this video may have been from the boxed set of LP's which was issued as a memorial to Biggs in late 1977.
muzluv33 No, he did not record it--AT METHUEN!! The Ives was recorded at Harvard Memorial Chapel on the superb Fisk instrument located there. To the best of my knowledge, the Ives was in fact recorded specifically for that album!
A wonderful post! I personally wish you had shown about 15 seconds of Ives's manuscript and stuck with the modern print version otherwise, but still a GREAT addition to the RUclips organ literature. I've owned this recording for 42 years, and while not as "exciting" as others I could name, it is the most "authentic", I feel.
I just wish Biggs had not recorded it on the Fisk - a Skinner would have been a much better choice, IMHO.
Up until the mid-1950's, Biggs might well have agreed with you. By the mid-50's, however, Biggs had become thoroughly indoctrinated in the "organ reform" movement, and moved away from the Skinner mindset. Also, by that time, Biggs and G. Donald Harrison had become thoroughly estranged from one another. As a result, Biggs steadfastly avoided recording ANY Skinner instruments (except for the Methuen organ, which had originally been built by Walcker) until well after Harrison--and Aeolian-Skinner--had both passed into history!
Fantastic performance! Ives would have loved EPB's interpretation of this masterpiece. I first heard it in William Schuman's orchestration in 1974 with the Los Angeles PO under Zubin Mehta and only recently "discovered" the organ original. Thanks so much for posting! Evidently this must be a recording EPB made which was subsequently taken off the market -- searches on ArkivMusic and Amazon for anything by Ives played by EPB yield nothing.
We danced to this during my high school prom. Ah, so many memories....
The bitonal (f minor in the right hand, F major in the left) interlude between Sections IV and V (5:29 through 5:40) has always been the most poignant part of this piece for me.
He must have been quite a smart,and smart-alecky, kid! Richard Gallagher did a great job of remastering this 1960s recording (an EXCELENT performance!) from an LP (never released on CD). THANKS!!!!
3:21 while i know this is musically correct, and impressive to play, dear lord it sounds like a opossum crawled in the pipes and died 🤣. It is also the main reason i used this piece as a final for my music theory course in senior high.
That and the dumb name i thought of 'Variations on Variations on America'. Still worth it lmao
Purists will hate it but YT has a copy of Virgil Fox’s rendition of this. It’s great fun!
Oh god, the zooming! Maybe I shouldn't look while I have a headache.
I prefer his earlier recording of this on the Tannenberg tracker organ in York Pennsylvania.
Who else is here for music memory? 😂
I listen to this song dreaming of getting admitted to american universities.
As I remember the liner notes on the LP, variation II was Ives' take on two brass bands at opposite ends of the city park, playing "America", out of tune and out of meter.
HMMM looks to me like EBP didn't take the ritardarndos as marked.
3m20s in is America batting 1,000
Does anyone know what organ setting/stop is used at 1:17? I'm not an organist, but would like to hear more of that sound in other pieces.
Wow. Well that was a piece! haha
yes, a piece of crap
Noah Johnson hey noah
Noah Johnson fuck you
@@NoahJohnson1810 Yet this “piece of crap” is more famous than you’ll ever be
@@NotHarpoGroucho 5 year old comment
LOL 3:22-3:45.
Ives can't help himself. He needs to get some degenerate bi-tonality in.
Technically, it's tritonality.
One hand uses F major.
Another hand uses E♭major.
And the feet both use D♭major.
@@seaotter4439 No if you look at the notes and key signature for the pedal voice you can clearly see that the root note is Db and the key signature is Db major. For the bass hand it's in Db as well from looking at the key signature and the chord progression
@@mlefeb My mistake
@@seaotter4439 Haha no problem sorry I kind of blew up :)
3:24 Charles, try taking a cold shower next time.
👽
What is the interlude supposed to be? Polytonality? 😱
+Logan Perkins Yes, both interludes are bitonal. Ives was one of the first (if not the first) Western composer to use bitonality and microtonality. Most of it was inspired by his father - who would often try to literally transcribe things he heard (aka if a piano is out of tune, he's transcribing it out of tune) or would make his family sing Stephen Foster songs in Eb and accompany them in C. Ives was pretty revolutionary, though not as popular at the time. He deserves more fame.
What fascinates me the most is how Stravinsky and Ives were both doing this (polytonality) at the same halfway around the world from each other! Add in the fact that most of Ives' music was unheard before the 40/50s and it's just eerie to think about how everyone seemed to be going in a similar direction.
+Logan Perkins where do you see the interlude starting?
Daniel Adams The first interlude starts at 3:20, the second one starts at 5:27. Both are bitonal.
+Logan Perkins Yes. Ives sets the first interlude (at 3:20) with the right hand in F major, while the left is in Bb minor AND in canon with the right hand. Very, very crunchy combination of keys. The pedal acts like a lost child, it can't figure out which key it wants to be in so it just wanders between Db and C (root of the left hand and the 5th of the right) with one exception where it heads to a low F (one of only a few common tones between the two keys - the others are Bb and C).
The second interlude (at 5:29) is set with the right hand in Ab major with the left in F major. What you get sounds vaguely like F minor, but with enough notes "out of place" to make you wonder a little. See m. 144 in the score on beat 1; right hand is Eb, Ab, C, while the left is F and A *natural*. The A natural sounds like a wrong note, which, given Ives' writing style, is probably his intent. Ives LOVED to write things in a manner consistent with how an "average" musician might play things.
For another good example of this, listen to his Country Band March, where the end of it sounds like two marching bands playing different tunes and crossing over each other.
I am assuming Ives did not think too highly of America haha
Couldn't be more wrong dude! Ives loved his country.
I'm assuming you say this because of the polytonal nature of (some of) this piece?
Seth Allen Yes! Unfortunately, I have not studied Ives too heavily yet :(
But the piece doesn' t call America, but the song is the British Anthem?
Apparently, you are unaware of the fact that there is a song titled "America" that uses the melody of "God Save The King". The American version ends with "Let Freedom Ring."
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America_(My_Country,_%27Tis_of_Thee)
@@JIMBEARRI Thank you.
this is exactly how the Trump Administration makes #shamerica sound!
you are an ugly person
You just HAD to make this political, didn't you?