Reading Charles Ives

读查尔斯·艾夫斯

• 批准号: AH/E003958/1
• 负责人: David Nicholls
• 金额: $ 4.56万
• 依托单位: University of Southampton
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2007
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2007 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=AH%2FE003958%2F1
• 关键词: Reading; Charles; Ives

Charles Ives (1874-1954) was America's first composer of significance. Since his centenary in 1974, knowledge concerning his life and work has expanded enormously, resulting in a huge increase in the Ivesian scholarly literature. Ives has become a much-discussed figure, and a focus of both general interest and, particularly, university teaching and research. However, the sheer volume of new material has paradoxically led overall to a lessening of understanding, not least because of the changing views of Ives's position vis-à-vis Romanticism and the twentieth century, and the controversy concerning the dating of his compositions. Consequently, there is a continued reliance on the earlier, 'default,' quasi-mythological sources concerning Ives, all of which date from the approximate period 1930-1960, rather than the adoption of the more nuanced and complex views that have emerged since 1985. As one scholar put it, commenting on the book proposal for The Charles Ives Reader, 'in reality, there are many and different assessments of Ives and his music.'During his compositional lifetime Ives was almost totally ignored by the musical and critical establishment. Following the self-publication during the 1920s of three major texts, his work began to attract attention, not least from composers such as Henry Cowell who were at that time working at the more radical end of the compositional spectrum. Thus, as J. Peter Burkholder suggested in 1988, Ives may have been attempting 'to live up to the image Cowell and others had of [him] as a great innovator.' In striking contrast to the image painted in earlier writings--whether by Ives or his supporter Henry Bellamann--he denies the past and instead stresses his independence from existing traditions. Ives was, of course, very much influenced by the music of his precursors and contemporaries: a number of studies have demonstrated his indebtedness to such composers as Dvorak, Tchaikovsky, Horatio Parker, and Debussy. But because it was inconvenient in the 1930s for the 'modernist' Ives to be identified with such 'conservative' influences, he disavowed them and instead (in Burkholder's words) 'credited his originality to his father George--not just his use of individual techniques such as polytonality and quarter-tones, but the very stance of open-mindedness that made him so original.' It is this quasi-mythological 'modernist' image that persists to the present day, despite the scholarship of Burkholder, Block, Sherwood, and others, that has emerged since ca. 1985, and which has questioned from multiple perspectives Ives's earlier reputation. This project aims to reverse the situation, by collating in a single volume approximately 60 primary and secondary texts by or about Ives, each fully contextualised through newly written critical editorial introductions, commentaries, and annotations. The overall objective is the publication of a substantial (100,000-word) book--of which approximately 30,000 words will be newly written material--which will enhance, and bring fully up to date, knowledge and understanding concerning a key figure in twentieth-century American culture. Again quoting the scholar cited above, 'students need to do substantial reading on the composer that is oftentimes scattered across an impractical number of sources: among many arguments in its favor, this book would eliminate that impediment...[the editorial] remarks will contribute a valuable critical voice and a useful narrative thread.' In short, therefore, the project will result in a genuinely contemporary 'reading' of Charles Ives and his work.

查尔斯·艾夫斯(1874-1954)是美国第一位重要的作曲家。自1974年他的百年诞辰以来，关于他的生活和工作的知识得到了极大的扩展，导致了艾维斯学术文学的巨大增长。艾夫斯已经成为一个备受讨论的人物，也成为人们普遍感兴趣的焦点，尤其是大学教学和研究。然而，纯粹的新材料的数量却矛盾地导致了整体上对艾夫斯的理解的减少，尤其是因为人们对艾夫斯相对于浪漫主义和二十世纪的立场的看法的变化，以及关于他的作品年代的争议。因此，人们继续依赖关于艾夫斯的早期的、默认的、准神话般的来源，所有这些来源都可以追溯到大约1930-1960年间，而不是采用自1985年以来出现的更微妙和更复杂的观点。正如一位学者在评论《查尔斯·艾夫斯读者》的新书提案时所说的那样，事实上，人们对艾夫斯和他的音乐有很多不同的评价。在他的作曲生涯中，艾夫斯几乎完全被音乐界和评论界所忽视。在20世纪20年代自己出版了三部主要作品后，他的作品开始引起人们的注意，尤其是来自亨利·考威尔等作曲家的关注，这些作曲家当时正致力于作曲谱中更激进的一端。因此，正如J·彼得·伯克霍尔德在1988年提出的那样，艾夫斯可能一直在试图“不辜负考威尔和其他人给他的伟大创新者的形象”。与早期作品中描绘的形象--无论是艾夫斯还是他的支持者亨利·贝拉曼--形成鲜明对比的是，他否认过去，而是强调自己独立于现有传统之外。当然，艾夫斯深受他的前辈和同时代人音乐的影响：许多研究表明，他感谢德沃夏克、柴可夫斯基、霍雷肖·帕克和德彪西等作曲家。但由于在20世纪30年代，人们很难将“现代主义”的艾夫们与如此“保守”的影响联系在一起，他否认了这些影响，转而(用伯克霍尔德的话说)“把他的独创性归功于他的父亲乔治--不仅是他对多调性和四分音调等个人技巧的使用，还有使他如此独树一帜的开放心态。”尽管伯克霍尔德、布洛克、舍伍德和其他人的学术研究始于1985年左右，但这种近乎神话般的现代主义形象一直延续至今，并从多个角度质疑艾夫斯早期的声誉。该项目旨在扭转这一局面，在一卷书中整理大约60本由Ives编写或关于Ives的主要和次要文本，每一本文本都通过新写的批判性社论介绍、评论和注释充分说明背景。总体目标是出版一本实质性的(100,000字)书--其中约30,000字将是新编写的材料--这将增强并全面更新关于20世纪美国文化中一位关键人物的知识和理解。再次引用上面引用的这位学者的话说，学生们需要对作曲家进行大量阅读，这往往分散在许多不切实际的来源中：在许多有利于作曲家的论点中，这本书将消除这种障碍……[社论]评论将提供宝贵的批评性声音和有用的叙事线索。因此，简而言之，该项目将导致对查尔斯·艾夫斯和他的作品进行真正的当代阅读。