Analyses that attempt to uncover formal unity in Ives misinterpret Ives's own formal aesthetic and devalue the heterogeneity in his music. In "The Things Our Fathers Loved" (1917), quotations from "Dixie," "My Old Kentucky Home," "On the Banks of the Wabash," and other tunes project the sense of a casual design--as in a collage, crazy-quilt, or scrapbook. The tune-fragments complicate the role of the listener, who is asked to follow discontinuities and enjoy the broken surface. Ives referred to Emerson in discussing unity and concluded that formal unity is less important than unity of vision. Alternative modes of listening which do not privilege unity enhance the appreciation of Ives's creative freedom.

Index Classifications: 1900s

Contributed by: Elizabeth Bergman