[Smt-talk] "The Cage" (Ives)

[David K Feurzeig]

Dear list:

Elizabeth Bemak, a student in my 20th-C theory class, observed that in Ives' song "The Cage", all the notes in the vocal line longer than an eighth spell "C-A-G-E" (in order). 

That was news to me! Am I just late to the party? I haven't seen this pointed out in any published analysis or discussion. 

In his chapter on "The Cage" in  The Music of Charles Ives, Philip Lambert devotes two pages to Ives' emphasis on these four pitches. He makes fascinating and sometimes very subtle observations, but never notes this perhaps more obvious--and more ordered--implementation of the pun.

David

David Feurzeig
Associate Professor, Composition and Theory
Music Department
University of Vermont
Burlington, VT 05405
802-656-1498