Ives’ Symphony No. 2

Charles Ives’ Symphony No. 2 was composed between 1897 and 1902. The symphony was not premiered until 1951, when Leonard Bernstein conducted it with the New York Philharmonic.

This work features several American tunes, including Camptown Races, Bringing In the Sheaves, Long, Long Ago, Turkey in the Straw, America the Beautiful, and Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean. Ives also incorporated motifs from Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5, a theme from Wagner’s opera Tristan und Isolde, and elements of Brahms’ Symphony No. 1.

Composer Highlight:

Charles Edward Ives (1874–1954), a composer of the modernist tradition, was widely regarded as one of the first American composers of international renown. He uniquely blended American popular and church music with European art music. Ives was one of the first composers to systematically program experimental music. Although his work was largely overlooked during his lifetime, Ives eventually came to be recognized as an “American Original.”

Ives was the son of a musically inclined father who chose to be a bandmaster despite being born into an influential and wealthy family. Although Charles aspired to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a composer, he was pragmatic and understood that he could not make a living in music if he wanted to experiment with it. After graduating from Yale, he became a successful insurance executive while continuing to pursue music privately, producing a significant body of work.