Ives, Gershwin, and Copland: Reflections on the Strange History of American Art Music

Abstract

American culture is celebrated for its diversity and eclecticism. It is thus not surprising that studies of major American artists tend to emphasize the individuality and uniqueness of their subjects; the more commanding the figure, the more celebrated the idiosyncrasy of that figure's life and work. (Think of Whitman and Dickinson, of Frank Lloyd Wright, of Ives.) While this emphasis in American studies is understandable and helps illuminate important aspects of American experience, it may also generate undesirable side effects. In particular, it may diminish the possibility of finding a sense of common enterprise and purpose among American artists and American scholars-and among American audiences for their work. In this article I shall consider aspects of the music of three commanding and thoroughly distinctive composers of American art music-Charles Ives, George Gershwin, and Aaron Copland -searching for their common ground rather than for the traits that make each composer separate and unique. This approach has a surprising but not undesirable side effect: it reveals some of the reasons why these essential artists have been (and often still are) undervalued by members of what we can call the critical and intellectual establishment. There