As part of his musical language and philosophy, Charles Ives often expressed patriotic feeling and a strong connection to the figures and events of American history. His feelings were such that a number of important national events evoked a direct musical response: the torpedoing of the Lusitania (the Second Orchestral Set, Kv37) the 1920 presidential election ("Majority [The Masses]," Ky37/Kz121), and others.

When America entered the European conflict in 1917, Ives wrote the stirring "He is There!," a revision of his 1896 campaign song "William Will" (Kz38). In casting this revision, Ives provided new words and updated the musical language; long removed from his college days, his aesthetic had become downright radical in the intervening twenty years. The "He" of the title is the American soldier; the optimistic, boosterish message of the of the song is that the forces of right will prevail. Ives included the song as No. 50 in his pivotal collection 114 Songs.

By 1942, Ives had long retired from composing any new music, though he often revised and otherwise tinkered with older pieces. With the advent of another World War, Ives revised both the lyrics and music of the song yet again, producing the version title "They Are There!" Fortunately for posterity, Ives made a private recording of the song, accompanying himself the piano and barking out the lyrics in strained, stentorian tones. This fascinating document still exists and is perhaps best known in an "arrangement" discreetly accompanied by the Kronos Quartet.

© All Music Guide