Charles Ives' Sonata No. 1 has its genesis in improvisation: upon leaving Yale in 1898, Ives moved into a flat in New York City with some of his fellow graduates. There was a piano, and Ives spent many hours pounding out what his roommates referred to as "resident disturbances." Ives stated that most of the Sonata was written in 1900-1904. The second movement incorporates the "First Ragtime Dance" for theater orchestra of 1899, also known as "In the Inn." The fourth movement contains the last music written for the sonata in 1911, although Ives further overhauled the fifth movement in 1914-1917. At some point, Ives had a clear ink copy made of the sonata, loaning it to a friend. This score was never returned and has been lost.

The "finished" formal scheme would be 1) Adagio con moto, 2a) Allegro moderato-Andante, 2b) Meno mosso con moto ("In the Inn"), 3) Largo-Allegro, 4a) no tempo given, 4b) Allegro-Presto, 5) Andante maestoso. At about 42 minutes, this is Ives' longest work for the piano, and is written at such a level of difficulty that few pianists undertake it. One pianist who became strongly identified with the Ives Sonata No. 1 was William Masselos, who premiered it on February 17, 1949, recorded it in two variant versions in 1950 and 1967, and helped edit the Sonata's first two editions. Masselos' collaborator in these publications was composer Lou Harrison, forced to work without the lost fair copy; certain sections of this work are incomplete save for some practically illegible sketches. Ives left only a hint of what he had in mind for this Sonata; "[it's] mostly about the outdoor life in Connecticut villages in the [18]80s and [18]90s." Not to second-guess Ives' intentions, but there is clearly a lot of New York City in this work as well, particularly in its liberal use of ragtime rhythm and even a boogie-woogie styled left hand part in the last movement. There are some amazing, even mind-boggling, technical innovations achieved throughout the whole work, for example the opening chromatic and contrary ostinato, which is counterpoised with single notes falling from the treble range; just like something out of Schoenberg's 12-tone piano music. Also worth noting is the passage which opens "In the Inn" where a frantic, rushing figure stated in sixteenth note quintuplets are played against a 3/4 accompaniment stated in 4/4 bars.

William Masselos once wrote "(The Sonata No. 1) always seems like an inspired improvisation, with each performance having a character quite its own. I can never predict how I will play it on any given night." Indeed, the Sonata contains so many ideas and shifts through them so rapidly that different details come to light with each listening. So Ives' Sonata No. 1 is still essentially unfinished, but true to the improvisational spirit in which it was conceived.

© 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.