hostility, violence and estrangement within their atonal music,
the atonal music of Ives is, from a thematic standpoint, really
quite "tonal."

Ives wrote the following essays as a (very big) set of program
notes to accompany his second piano sonata. Here, he puts forth
his elaborate theory of music and what it represents, and
discusses Transcendental philosophy and its relation to music.
The essays explain Ives' own philosophy of and understanding of
music and art. They also serve as an analysis of music itself as
an artform, and provide a critical explanation of the "Concord"
and the role that the philosophies of Emerson, Hawthorne, Thoreau
and the Alcotts play in forming its thematic structure.


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"ESSAYS BEFORE A SONATA," BY CHARLES IVES
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INTRODUCTORY FOOTNOTE BY CHARLES IVES


"These prefatory essays were written by the composer for those
who can't stand his music--and the music for those who can't
stand his essays; to those who can't stand either, the whole is
respectfully dedicated."


INTRODUCTION