CBS Records
Ives Project
John Kirkpatrick
with Vivian Perlis and Leroy Parkins
466 Orange Street
New Haven, CT
February 6, 1970
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Cassette Side a: pp. 1-16
Contacting Ives about the Concord Sonata--studying music in Paris--studying Classics at Princeton--years of correspondence with Ives--patrons of Mr. and Mrs. Perkins--work with Aaron Copland--playing “Emerson” for George Antheil--responses to “Emerson”--Emerson lecture on the New England reformers--dates of composition of the Concord Sonata--working on the piano part of the Fourth Symphony--working copy with metrical interpretations of “Emerson.”
Cassette Side b: pp. 16-29
Meeting Ives--transcendentalism--Scriabin Society--Henry Cowell and the Iveses--more on first meeting with the Iveses--impressions of Ives--Ives playing “The Anti-Abolitionist Riots,” further development of the Concord material--Ives’ personality--Ives composing--relationship to Cage’s music--Central Park in the Dark--Concord--songs--exposure to contemporary European composers--1918 heart attack, patriotism, pacifism, effect of World War I--argument with Franklin Roosevelt as precipitating his heart attack--sending money against the deficit--helping other composers--Ives’ health--Ives’ wife--Ives’ love of nature--Eve.
Cassette Side c: pp. 29-43
Kirkpatrick’s work on Ives’ songs--Ives’ temper--program of Ives music with Myna Heger [sp?]--Ives growing up, George Ives--business vs. music--father’s lack of financial success--Ives’ idealism--Ives funeral--Harmony’s funeral--organizing Ives manuscripts--Helen Boatwright--Evening--Ives’ attitude towards money--Ives as “involuntary spokesman for the 20th century in music”--more on organizing Ives’ manuscripts--lost clarinet trio--bequest of material to Yale--Concord Sonata--performing the Concord Sonata: playing from memory, tempo--Bernard Herrmann--Ives’ cessation of composition.
Cassette Side d: pp. 43-56
Ives’ work habits--church going--politics--Ives’ influence on Kirkpatrick--Emerson--Ives’ prose writing--Ives and his view of other composers--Chester Ives--Ives family--Ives and baseball--New River--Ives memos--recordings of the Concord Sonata.
Cassette Side e: pp. 56-66
Ives Fourth Symphony--Ives’ boyhood--his kindliness and courtesy--religion--lecture by Emerson--Ives’ paradoxical nature--Concord--Ives’ symphonies--Unanswered Question--Central Park in the Dark--more on Fourth Symphony.
Cassette Side f: pp. 66-73
“Watchman, Tell Us of the Night” and other hymns--Hawthorne’s “Celestial Railroad”--all Ives program with Myna Hager [sp?]--“The Indians.”
AMERICAN MUSIC SERIES Interview no. 49, m-o
John Kirkpatrick
with Vivian Perlis
February 24, l983
New Haven, CT
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Side m pp. 1-16
Meeting Copland in Paris--Symphony for Organ and Orchestra--article on Copland’s music in Fontainebleau Alumni Bulletin--arrangement of the Concerto for four hands--political situation--Composer’s Collective--Charles Seeger--relationship with Aaron Copland--Kirkpatrick’s early years--family background--early piano instruction--Henrietta Cameyer [sp?]--school in NY--first professional performing--Princeton--piano study at Fontainebleau and in Paris--interest in American music and death of Griffes--Griffes Sonata--Roy Harris--Kirkpatrick’s arrangement of Copland’s Concerto--Roger Sessions--Sessions First Sonata--Copland-Sessions Concerts--John Duke--Walter Piston--Piston Flute Sonata--Barrère--League of Composers concerts--Gertrude Bonim--Ode--El Salón México--Stabat Mater--Copland’s Piano Variations--arrangement of Salón México for two pianos.
Side n pp. 16-30
Leonard Bernstein’s arrangement of El Salón México for a single piano--two piano arrangements of Ode, First Symphony--Leo Smit--Aaron Copland as pianist--playing the Concord Sonata--”Alcott”--Young Composers Group--reconstruction after theft of one of the themes of the Piano Sonata--sketches--Ode--Divertimento for String Quartet--first performances of Copland’s Piano Sonata--Copland’s popular works--teaching piano--meeting Hope--performing Concord--performing Ives Songs with Hope--position as Department Chair at Monticello College--degrees--Copland’s dependence on Kirkpatrick--Ruggles material for Beinecke Library--earlier Ives family materials destined for Danbury--Ives house--projected Wall-to-Wall Ives--Chester Ide--Annie Besant--Hope’s and John’s interest in Theosophy.
Side o pp. 30-33
Doing the catalogue of Ive’s manuscripts--C.S. Lewis--Theosophy.