Musical Borrowing
An Annotated Bibliography

Individual record

[+] Nelson, Mark D. "Beyond Mimesis: Transcendentalism and Processes of Analogy in Charles Ives' The Fourth of July." Perspectives of New Music 22 (Fall/Winter 1983-Spring/Summer 1984): 353-84.

Ives's Fourth of July is characterized by polymeter, polytonality, dense textures, and quotations from popular and folk tunes. It is a fully integrated work whose multiple layerings and quotations had deep philosophical implications for the composer. Ives, the Transcendentalist, was able to perceive a unity among superficial and discordant events. In this work, he creates analogies to four types of events: acoustical (music of parades, church services, and so on); natural phenomena (violin glissando passage representing smoke); psychological phenomena; and non-programmatic musical unity.

Index Classifications: 1900s

Contributed by: Sergio Bezerra



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