When looking at a collage, we have the benefit of being able to see all the seams—where one layer ends and another begins; thus we can distinguish the various components and try to decipher their meaning. The problem with Charles Ives is that his collages are aural rather than visual, and we can't always see the scissor work. What sounds like a harsh cacophony to the listener is often an eclectic collection of symbols or icons—references to outside ideas that are packed with semantic baggage. Such is the case with the third sonata for violin and piano. The first movement contains four sections; the opening Adagio begins with expansive quartal harmonies in the piano that set the stage for violin's stark melody. The subsequent Andante is more tuneful, waxing rhapsodic before returning to the refrain tune with which the Adagio had ended. An Allegretto precedes the return of the Adagio, this time featuring a moving quote from the Robert Lowry hymn "I Need Thee Every Hour." The second movement, marked Allegro, draws upon the rowdy sounds of ragtime, combined and contrasted with more somber references to hymns such as "Oh Happy Day." The third movement once again recalls Lowry's "I Need Thee Every Hour"—fragments of its melody appear here and there as thematic material. As the tune is finally assembled for a stirring chorus, the listener familiar to American hymnody recalls Annie S. Hawkes' corresponding text: "I need Thee, oh, I need Thee;/Every hour I need Thee!/Oh, bless me now, my Savior;/I come to Thee!"

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