Charles Ives published his Piano Sonata No. 2, “Concord, Mass., 1840–60” in 1920. This celebrated composition, one of Ives’s most formidable achievements, features a dynamic fusion of American Transcendentalism, European classical music, and musical borrowing that helped bring Ives into the public eye through its New York premiere by John Kirkpatrick in 1939. To commemorate its publication, we are pleased to welcome abstracts for paper presentations or lecture-recitals on any aspect of the Concord Sonata, for example, but not limited to:
The sonata’s connections to Transcendentalism
The Concord Sonata in context (e.g., musicological, historical, etc.)
Analytical perspectives and approaches to the sonata
Performance considerations
Reception history
Proposals should be no more than 250 words, and are due by May 1, 2020. Notification of successful abstracts will be sent by June 1, 2020. Please send questions to Dr. David Thurmaier, Associate Professor of Music Theory at: thurmaierd@umkc.edu
The conference will feature a keynote address from Kyle Gann and performances of the complete Concord Sonata by Donald Berman and Thomas Rosenkranz.