On Hearing Music; 11; Hinshaw Plays Ives. Part 4

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. Conscious that this blends more and more with the harmony of her solitude. It tells him that his search for freedom in that day at least lies in his submission to her. For nature is as relentless as she has been ignorant. He remains in this mood and while outwardly still he seems to move with the slow, almost monotonous swaying beat of this autumnal day. He is more contented with a homely burden and more assured of the broad margin to his life. He sits in his sunny doorway, wrapped in reverie, amidst golden rod, sancery and sumac, in undisturbed solitude. At times the more definite personal strivings for the ideal freedom, the former more active speculations come over him, as if he would trace a certain intensity even in his submission. . . He grew in those seasons

like corn in the night and they were better than any works of the hands. They were not times subtracted from his life but so much over and above the usual allowance. He realized what the orientals meant by contemplation and forsaking of works. The day advanced as if to light some work of his. It was morning and low, now it is evening and nothing memorable is accomplished. The evening train has gone by and all the restless world with it. The fish is in the pond no longer feel it's rumbling and he is more alone than ever. . . . The sound of

the conquered bell. . It is prayer meeting night in the village, a melody as it were imported into the wilderness. At a distance over the woods the sound acquires a certain vibratory hum as if the pine needles in the horizon were the strings of a harp which it swept. A vibration of the universal lyre. Just as the intervening atmosphere makes a distant ridge of earth interesting to the eyes by the azure tint it imparts. Part of the echo may be the voice of the wood, the same trivial words and notes sung by the wood nymph. It is darker, the poet's flute is heard out over the pond. And Walden hears the swan song of that day and faintly echoes. Is it a

transcendental tune of conquered? It is an evening when the whole body is one sense. And before ending his day he looks out over the clear crystal and water of the pond and catches a glimpse of the shadow thought he saw in the morning mist and haze. . He knows that by his final submission he possesses the freedom of the night. He goes up the pleasant hillside of pines, hickories and moonlight to his cabin, with a strange liberty in nature, a part of herself.

. There are two melodies in this movement which occur also in other movements of the sonata. One is the descending notes figure, usually a descending five note figure. The Thoreau movement uses the descending figure in several different forms, nearly always associated with Thoreau's sense of union with nature. One of the forms of this theme is really a quotation from Stephen Foster's masses in the cold cold ground. It is the line that goes down in the cornfield. As to its use in the Thoreau movement, Ives writes, sometimes

an old elm tree may feel like humming a phrase from down in the cornfield, but usually very slowly, perhaps a quarter note goes down to 50 even lower or thereabouts, as the weather vain in the old red barn may direct. The other melody, which is common to all the four movements of the sonata, is the one beginning and leading into the Beethoven theme, and Beethoven theme being one which Ives consciously quotes from the fifth symphony, and he even made the remark once that he thought every composer should have a whack at using that theme sometime. Beethoven didn't write it himself actually, it's a very simple phrase, and many composers have used it. Beethoven didn't originate it, I mean. Anyway, this concrete theme leading to the Beethoven theme is used

in this movement in only one way. In the other movements, in the preceding movements, such as Emerson and Hawthorne, this melody was given complex treatment, such as this. In the third movement, the all -cuts this melody received its plainest and its grandest treatment. Now in the last movement, Thoreau, this melody, which might be called the theme song of the whole concrete sonata, becomes the little melody which Thoreau plays on the flute in the evening by Walden Pond.

At this point, after writing 63 pages of piano solo, Ives the composer decides he wants us to bring in a flute to play with the piano during the last two pages of the sonata. Ives writes in the directions that you can play this passage in a piano solo arrangement if you want to, but he says Thoreau much prefers to hear the flute over Walden. So we have with us Professor Donald Lentz, flutist of the University of Nebraska Music Department in order that we may perform this music as the composer intended. This is Thoreau, the last movement of Ives Concord Sonata. You will see some actual pictures of the Walden Pond area. You will see some pictures of the Walden Pond in the evening by Walden Pond.

You will see some pictures of the Walden Pond in the evening by Walden Pond. You will see some pictures of the Walden Pond.

You will see some pictures of the Walden Pond. You will see some pictures of the Walden Pond.

You will see some pictures of the Walden Pond in the evening by Walden Pond. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank

you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you very much.

And so at the end of the piece, for all goes up the pleasant hillside of the pines, hickories, and moonlight to his cabin, with a

strange liberty in nature, a pot of herself. This was the last movement entitled Thoreau in the Concord Sonata by Charles Ives. This has been the last in a series of programs devoted to the 20th century American composer, Charles Ives. Featured at the piano was Harvey Hingel, assistant professor in the music department of the University

of Nebraska. Assisting in the narration was Leon Lishner, associate professor in the music department of the University of Nebraska. This program was produced and directed for University of Nebraska Television by Ron