Danbury, Fairfield Co, Connecticut, Northeast USA, USA, World

Contents

• Charles Edward Ives
• Zadock Benedict
• David Wooster
• Danbury Women
• George W. Ives
• Comfort Starr
• The Circus Comes to Town
• Danbury Public Library
• Settling Danbury
• Danbury Firsts
• Danbury Hospital, c.1930-45, CT

Charles Edward Ives

Charles Edward Ives, the ‘Father of Modern Music,’ was born in Danbury on October 20, 1874 to a prominent New England family who were leading citizens of he community. His grandfather, George White Ives, founder of The Savings Bank of Danbury, was instrumental in bring the railroad to town and helped to establish Wooster Cemetery.

Charles inherited his love of music from his father. George Edward Ives served as the youngest Union bandleader during the Civil War and became Charles’ most influential teacher. As a boy, he listened to his father’s band play in the Danbury town square. Several of Ives’ works deal with memories of life in his hometown. “The Fourth of July,” for example, is composed of boyhood remembrances of the holiday on Main Street.

Ives entered Yale University in 1894 and composed the bulk of his music between 1896 and 1916. Known for his independent nature and flair for experimentation, Ives’ compositions interwove fragments from traditional patriotic marches and hymns with unconventional techniques acquired from his father.

Ives graduated from Yale in 1898 and formed a successful insurance company with business partner Julian Myrick in 1907. In 1910 he married Harmony Twitchell. It was only after he stopped composing that the public changed its opinion of his music. In 1947, at the age of 73, Charles Ives was awarded a Pulitzer Prize. Charles Edward Ives died in 1954 in New York City. He is buried in the family plot in Wooster Cemetery.

Related albums • See other albums

Related people

Sources

Posted By: Ray Gurganus