Symphony No. 3 – The Camp Meeting

American composer Joan Tower visits the Salt Lake area each summer, with the Muir Quartet, as part of our Emerging Quartets and Composers program. In one recent visit, when talking to composition students in a masterclass, she talked about the importance of the audience feeling as if the music has “invited us in.” The opening of Ives’ Symphony No. 3 makes us feel very  welcomed to his world. Yet in his characteristically simple-yet-complex-musical language, Ives lets us know we shouldn’t relax too much in this welcome because active listening is definitely called for. Welcoming, without being obvious, it’s not readily clear just where this journey is headed.  Who could resist going along for the ride?

This piece grew out of three organ works Ives had composed. Completed in 1904 and revised in 1909, the Symphony No. 3 was awarded a Pulitzer Price in 1947. Ives used a number of hymns as source material. Those hymns can be heard on the Charles Ives website at http://www.charlesives.org/borrowedhymns.htm. The titles to listen to are Azmon, Erie (What A Friend We Have In Jesus), Fountain, The Happy Land, Naomi, and Woodworth (Just As I Am).

Azmon and Erie are the primary source materials for the first movement, subtitled Old Folks Gatherin’. If you have the Azmon tune in your head, you’ll enjoy his contrapuntal treatment of it all the more.

The quieter, pastoral mood of the first movement is contrasted with the much livelier second movement, Children’s Day. Source hymns for this movement are mostly Fountain, The Happy Land and Naomi. But you’ll also hear brief bits of Erie. The energy of the second movement winds down a lot at the end. We’re left imagining that the children have played themselves out and all the parents are thinking “well, they’ll sleep well tonight.”

Communion, the third movement, is understandably solemn and reflective in sound.  Woodworth and Azmon are the primary source hymns for this movement. While Ives has played around with tonality in the first two movements, you’re always aware that there are tonal centers, even if they are in conflict with each other. The final movement strays the farthest from a tonal center. The church bells and final resolution to a major chord are perhaps meant to give us the spiritual reassurance of communion.

Caveat emptor: Don’t worry about trying to keep all the tunes straight; you can’t. And your enjoyment of the music would be diminished if you try to keep score. If you do visit the website and take the time to browse through them before hand, at the concert, just let yourself enjoy the way Ives tears them apart, stacks them on top of one another, and plays around with the tonality.