Charles Ives and the Shadow of American Transcendentalism
Gann, Kyle. Charles Ives's Concord: Essays after a Sonata. University of Illinois Press, 2017
Ives, Charles. The Concord Sonata
The Norton Anthology of American Literature, edited by Robert S. Levine, 9th ed., W. W. Norton, 2016
Charles Ives Society: Index of Borrowed Tunes
Evaluation
Conversion scale for percentages to 4.0 system
Summaries / Responses / Participation [50%]
Reading and discussion are the crux of this course. Each reading will be assigned to a student respondent. The respondent needs to write up a 2-page summary of the reading and assemble a list of questions (approx. 3-5).
The questions may cover anything you don't understand in the reading, but ideally they should be somewhat open-ended/interpretive and act as a catalyst to discussion.
Summaries/questions must be posted to the discussion board before class.
This activity is meant to help you distill the most important/interesting ideas from the readings (in particular, those that will stimulate discussion in class) and to hone your writing skills.
Presentations [15%]
Students will give a presentation on their final papers.
Final Paper [35%] (upload here) | Due June 8th, 2026 at 11:59 pm
An 8 to 10-page analytical paper on a work by Charles Ives or a comparative analysis of one work by Ives and one work (literary, musical, other?) by another author. Students must discuss plans for the final paper/project with the instructor by the end of the 5th week of the quarter.
Week 1: Introduction
Lazarus, Jefferson, Zangwill, Morrison, Gann
Ives, New England Holidays: The 4th of July, Memos, pp. 129-30
Puritanism and poetry
Ives Memos, §53, pp. 129-30, The Bay Psalm Book, Day of Doom, Taylor/Metaphysical Poetry
Ives, Essays Before a Sonata: Epilogue / Memos, §53, pp. 131-33
William Billings: David's Lamentation (score) (1778) / recording / Jargon (score) (1778) / recording / To the GODDESS of DISCORD
Sacred Harp/shape-note singing (Old Hundredth)
Week 3: Emerson
Emerson: excerpts from Nature, Self-Reliance
Gann, Essays After a Sonata, ch. 4
Ives, Essays Before a Sonata: Emerson
Week 4: Analysis, The Concord Sonata, mvmt I (Emerson)
Gann, Essays After a Sonata, ch. 3, ch. 5
Ives, The Concord Sonata, pp. 1-20
Week 5: Hawthorne
Gann, Essays After a Sonata, ch. 7
Hawthorne, The Celestial Railroad / Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress
Ives, Essays Before a Sonata: Hawthorne / The Celestial Railroad, "Phantasy" for piano /
Symphony no. 4, mvmt. II, Comedy
Week 6: Analysis, The Concord Sonata, mvmt II (Hawthorne)
Gann: Essays After a Sonata, ch. 8
Ives, The Concord Sonata, pp. 21-52
Gann, Essays After a Sonata, ch. 10
Ives, Essays Before a Sonata: Thoreau
Thoreau, Walden (excerpts) / Resistance to Civil Government (excerpts from Introduction)
Week 8: Analysis, The Concord Sonata, mvmt IV (Thoreau)
Gann, Essays After a Sonata, ch. 11
Ives, The Concord Sonata, pp. 61-70
If time allows:
Week 9: Transcendentalism and its Discontents
Frederick Douglass, Margaret Fuller, Theodore Parker, Walt Whitman, Thoreau and John Brown
Week 10: Student Presentations