Catalogue 63 - J & J Lubrano, Music Antiquarians

[Ives's] music is marked by an integration of American and European musical traditions, innovations in rhythm,
harmony and form, and an unparalleled ability to evoke the sounds and feelings of American life. He is regarded as
the leading American composer of art music of the 20th century..."
"[He] had an extraordinary working life. After professional training as an organist and composer, he worked in
insurance for 30 years, composing in his free time. He used a wide variety of styles, from tonal Romanticism to
radical experimentation, even in pieces written during the same period. His major works often took years from first
sketch to final revisions, and most pieces lay unperformed for decades. His self-publications in the early 1920s
brought a small group of admirers who worked to promote his music. He soon ceased to compose new works,
focussing instead on revising and preparing for performance the works he had already drafted. By his death he had
received many performances and honours, and much of his music had been published. His reputation continued to
grow posthumously, and by his centenary in 1974 he was recognized worldwide as the first composer to create a
distinctively American art music. Since then his music has been frequently performed and recorded and his reputation
has broadened further, resting less on his innovations and nationality and more on the intrinsic merits of his music."
"The unique circumstances of Ives’s career have bred misunderstandings. His work in insurance, combined with the
diversity of his output and the small number of performances during his composing years, led to an image of Ives as
an amateur. Yet he had a 14-year career as a professional organist and thorough formal training in composition.
Since he developed as a composer out of the public eye, his mature works seemed radical and unconnected to the past
when they were first published and performed. However, as his earlier music has become known, his deep roots in
19th-century European Romanticism and his gradual development of a highly personal modern idiom have become
clear." J. Peter Burkholder et al in Grove online.
Zez Confrey [Edward Elzear] (1895-1972) was an American composer and pianist. He studied at Chicago Musical
College, formed a touring orchestra, was an arranger for piano-roll companies, and developed a popular style known
as "novelty piano," combining classical piano technique with syncopated rhythms and peppy tunes. Among his most
popular pieces were Kitten on the Keys (1921), performed at Paul Whiteman's Aeolian Hall concert on 12 February
1924.
“Words & Music Like This Are Doing More Harm to American Music
Than Poisoned Candy Does to a 1 Year Old Stomach!”
126. IVES, Charles 1874-1954. A printed edition of B. Sherman Fowler's Do Dreams Come True, with autograph
annotation by Ives in the composer's characteristically colourful, often cryptic, and somewhat irreverent style. New
York: Carl Fischer, [c1921]. [1] (title, printed in green ink), pp. 2-5 music, [i] publisher's advertisements, printed in
green ink). With autograph annotation in ink to title-page, signed with Ives's initials: "Worse than Cadman & Dreams
Taylor! What? $1000. (cash) will be paid to anyone, who can point to any valuable thing, or to one semi-virtue in this
g-d-rotten song!" With additional autograph annotation by Ives in ink to head of first page of music, signed with his
initials and dated 2 April 1922: "Words & music like this are doing more harm to American music, that[!n] poisoned
candy does to a 1 year old stomach!" Ives goes on to comment on the sentimentality of the music, calling it "stupid
from every moral & intellectual standpoint." Together with an autograph note on an excerpt from the periodical
Musical Field with a testimonial by "George Reimherr, Prominent American Tenor " relative to the song: "This adv -
this song, words & music is an insult to even a sub-normal musical intelligence! Musical Field a Trade paper Mch
1922." Slightly worn, browned, soiled and creased; small tears and chips not affecting text; leaves separated. (19239)
$4,000.
“WEAK – CISSY – EAR sounds…”
127. IVES, Charles 1874-1954. Upper wrappers to works by Viotti and Clementi with autograph annotations by
Ives in the composer's characteristically colourful, often cryptic, and somewhat irreverent style. Viotti: Upper wrapper
only to Schirmer's Library Vol. 444 Viotti Concerto No. 23 in G Major for Violin, annotated in pencil: "WEAK -
CISSY - EAR sounds - NOT MUSIC an EMASCULATED art. Commercial Publishers - like Schirmer - sell to
MENTAL CISSIS Aural Cowards." Soiled; heavy brown staining to outer margin affecting several words of text; outer