This brief and touching piece, of approximately 2 minutes duration, exists both in a version for piano and voice and an exquisite version for chamber orchestra in which a solo cornet takes over the voice part. The words concern remembering "My father's tune" coming over the foggy mists of a pond- the tonal cornet tune, "Kathleen Mavoureen", is heard through gently arpeggiated polytonal chords that add a nostalgic daydreaming timbre. This contrast of (quoted) tonalities occuring amidst complex harmonies in order to suggest an impressionistic landscape of memory is a compositional idea that Ives employed in several works, among them "The Housatonic at Stockbridge" (the last of the "Three Places in New England") and "The Alcotts" (a movement of the "Concord Sonata").

© All Music Guide

Portions of Content Provided by All Music Guide.
© 2008 All Media Guide, LLC. All Music Guide is a registered trademark of All Media Guide, LLC.