Ives/Flute Project Week 4

Taking into account what I learned last week, that Ives loved composing for the theatre orchestra, I thought any work which had that particular instrumentation should be looked at carefully. What is that size exactly?  As I’m finding out in all things Ives, there is no clear cut answer. Looking at the table of contents of A Descriptive Catalogue of the Music of Charles Ives, there is no mention of the theater orchestra ensemble.  Under Works for Orchestra, there are Symphonies, then Sets, with Orchestral Sets and Sets for Chamber Orchestra as subheadings, then Overtures, Marches, and Other Works.  Having the scores to several of these Sets for Chamber Orchestra was helpful because I wondered if  “theater orchestra” was notated anywhere.  Set No. 6 From the Side Hill has Mists notated for “theater orchestra”, and The Rainbow and Evening designated for “chamber orchestra”.  All three have flute, strings, and piano.  Two have celeste or bells. Under Set No. 1 (Cornet Set) the sixth piece in the set, Allegretto sombreoso, like the From the Side Hill set has flute, strings and piano.  It is given no special subheading or notation.  The least number of players needed for each piece are ten, twelve, seven, and six respectively.  The length of these pieces range from one minute thirty seconds to two minutes. Curiously enough, there is one piece actually entitled, Set for Theatre Orchestra, and the flute part is optional in two of the movements. Upon listening to a couple of reliable recordings, I could not hear the flute at all, so I’m choosing to leave this work out in my study.  

     In the Overtures section, Overture and March “1776” is the only work that fits the theater orchestra instrumentation mold, with added percussion, most likely a drum-set with only one player playing snare drum, bass drum, and cymbal. All the other Overtures are either lost or incomplete, with the exception of Robert Browning Overture, written for full orchestra and lasting twenty-two minutes long.

     With Marches, all the works listed are either designated for “theater orchestra”, or premiered by the Yale Theatre Orchestra, and contain flute or piccolo, two violins, piano, and drum-set in their instrumentation, along with a variety of other woodwind and/or brass.

Other Works include the following:  Central Park in the Dark, “Country Band” March, The Gong on the Hook and Ladder or Fireman’s Parade on Main Street, The Pond, Postlude in F, Four Ragtime Dances, Tone Roads Nos. 1 & 3, The Unanswered Question, and Yale-Princeton Football Game.  I suspect all of these pieces were written for theater orchestra, even though only some of them are designated as such.  Each piece has an extremely limited number of woodwinds, brass, and strings. Many contain piano and drum-set.  Oddly, several of these works have been performed by full symphony orchestras, but I’m guessing that is because of their overall musical appeal.  Durations range from one and a half minutes to eight and a half minutes, with most coming in around five minutes.

     Section two of the Descriptive Catalogue is Works for Band, and since we’re discussing the theater orchestra, we will go onto section three, or 

Works for Chamber Ensemble, with subheadings String Quartets, Violin Sonatas, and Other Works.  When examining instrumentation, it is just as interesting to see what is excluded, as what is included.  In general, Chamber ensembles under the major heading, Works for Orchestra, do not include the flute! In fact, most are only strings and piano or feature the clarinet instead.  Only Scherzo: Over the Pavements, has the piccolo with typical theater orchestra instrumentation and the Fugue in Four Keys on “The Shining Shore,” realized by John Kirkpatrick, performed & recorded first by the Yale Theater Orchestra in 1974, with James Sinclair as its conductor.  

     There are nine more major sections to the Descriptive Catalogue (IV - XII).

However, the flute used in a theater orchestra setting only occurs in a handful of Works for Choral Ensemble that are secular in nature.  The flute is also an optional accompaniment with some songs as well.  Because these are vocal works and towards the end of the Descriptive Catalogue, I will discuss these later on in my blog.  

      Four Arrangements of Works by Other Composers also include the flute.  None include the piano or drum-set though, so I’m inclined to leave them out for now.  

      Next week, I will, “start at the very beginning, a very good place to start,” with the Symphonies!  Although these are mainly played by full symphony orchestras today, there are an exorbitant amount of flute solos which play a vital role in the music.  And you never know, their origins may very well lie in the theater orchestra.