The Ives/Flute Project: Week 2

Because Mists was the work that first grabbed my attention, I decided to begin listening to all the Sets for Chamber Orchestra which include flute in their instrumentation.  Furthermore, in a chamber orchestra, the flute would be heard more easily. In listening, without the score, I am trying to identify where the flute has extended solos or if the flute structurally affects the form based on its melodic line.  Is the flute integral to the piece for it to make sense?  

Other questions I am asking are: Can I hear the flute? Could other instruments be substituted for the flute, such as the oboe?  (I heard recordings where oboe replaced the flute) What about the color/voice of the flute lends itself to the work? Would replacing the flute with another instrument change the intent of the music?

After listening to Sets 2,3,4,6,7,8,9,10, and Set for Theatre Orchestra, I found that with the exception of Sets 6 & 7, most Sets for Chamber Orchestra featured the trumpet.  Gah! This would explain the dissertation I found about the role of the trumpet in selected works of Charles Ives.  

My next step was to figure out what scores Fenwick Library at Mason have and which ones I will need to get for my project through the Interlibrary Loan.  I made a list of the pieces at Fenwick that include the flute/piccolo and I ordered Set 2, parts of Sets 6 (i, ii, iv) & 7 (iii), and Marches Nos. 2 & 3 through ILL.

My plan this week is to hone in on the pieces I want to focus on with the motivation behind choosing works being: To show the importance of these works in the flute repertoire, give evidence of others who think they are important, show what flutists have to gain musically in learning these works, why they are fun to play, and what advantages there are in getting others to play them with you.  

Once I have a “master list” based on the listening questions described above, I will use Mr. Sinclair’s Descriptive Catalogue to find the pages in Ives’ Memos that refer to these specific pieces, with the hopes I will hear directly from Ives why he chose the flute's voice in these compositions.

I also need to decide whether or not to include piccolo in my search, as the topic could become too broad in scope.  

On a side note, when listening to various recordings this past week, I found evidence of clarinet arrangements where the voice part in several of Ives’ Songs was replaced. I also found recordings of arrangements for clarinet with Ives’ Sonatas for Violin.  Although I would like to make my argument based on the flute standing alone in the context of Ives’ compositions, this also could be another avenue to explore - creating arrangements for flute.