A Descriptive Catalogue of the Music of Charles Ives

Book excerpt: This catalogue of the music of Charles Ives contains 728 entries covering all of the prolific composer's works. James Sinclair's book presents information produced by recent Ives scholarship and generous commentary on each of Ives's compositions. It completes the work begun by musicologist John Kirkpatrick in 1955, when Ives's music manuscripts were deposited in the Yale Music Library. Ives's works are arranged alphabetically by title within genres. Whenever possible, each entry includes the main title and any other titles the composer may have used; the forces required; the duration; headings of movements; publication history; citation of the first known performance and first recording; the derivation of the work, listing music on which it may be modeled or from which it may borrow material; the principal literature treating the piece; and commentary on these and other matters. The catalogue also provides musical incipits for all Ives's extant works, seven appendixes (covering his work lists, 'Quality Photo' lists, his songbooks, a chronology of his life, recordings made by Ives, and his private publications and commercial publishers), three concordances, and four extensive indexes (addresses, names, titles, and musical borrowings).