Project Gutenberg 2003-01-01 Public domain in the USA. 359 Ives, Charles 1874 1954 Ives, Charles Edward Essays Before a Sonata Prologue -- Emerson -- Hawthorne -- "The Alcotts" -- Thoreau -- Epilogue. Produced by John Mamoun with help from the Online Distributed Proofreading Team of Charles Franks. HTML version by Al Haines. "Essays Before a Sonata" by Charles Ives is a collection of essays written in the early 20th century serving as program notes for Ives' second piano sonata, titled "Concord, Mass., 1845." The book explores the intersection of music and the philosophical ideas of American Transcendentalists such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Henry David Thoreau, analyzing how their thoughts influence the compositions of Ives and highlighting the deep connections between music, art, and the human experience. The opening of this work presents a detailed introduction to Charles Ives as an innovative composer whose revolutionary musical concepts were ahead of their time and reflects the spirit of Transcendentalism. Ives states that the essays are intended to elucidate the themes of his sonata and to invite readers to consider how music can articulate complex emotions and philosophies. He poses questions about the nature of music, its emotional impact, and how subjective experiences can be expressed through sound. This prelude effectively sets the stage for an in-depth exploration of both Ives' musical ideas and the philosophical narratives that underpin them, encouraging a reflective engagement from the reader as they delve into the subsequent essays. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Reading ease score: 53.6 (10th to 12th grade). Somewhat difficult to read. en Music Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 1803-1882 Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 1804-1864 Thoreau, Henry David, 1817-1862 Alcott family Ives, Charles, 1874-1954. Sonatas, piano, no. 2 PS Text Category: Essays, Letters & Speeches Category: American Literature Category: Music Category: Philosophy & Ethics 227098 2025-08-02T08:37:08.408470 text/html 221775 2021-01-08T22:41:16 text/html 160829 2025-08-02T08:37:14.560429 application/epub+zip 162422 2025-08-02T08:37:11.147524 application/epub+zip 152005 2025-08-02T08:37:10.038448 application/epub+zip 306743 2025-08-02T08:37:17.223449 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 294704 2025-08-02T08:37:13.875451 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 252265 2022-09-02T11:12:26.230495 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 215039 2025-08-02T08:37:07.971509 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 214960 2021-01-08T22:41:16 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 20268 2025-08-02T08:37:17.376422 application/rdf+xml 15276 2025-08-02T08:37:10.593497 image/jpeg 4190 2025-08-02T08:37:10.341469 image/jpeg 84964 2021-01-08T22:41:16 application/octet-stream application/zip 83459 2021-01-08T22:41:16 application/octet-stream application/zip 158006 2025-08-02T08:37:08.427502 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://book.klll.cc/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog en.wikipedia