Charles E. Ives: Symphony No. 3: Orchestra

Charles Ives' Third Symphony, ‘The Camp Meeting’ is the most concisely-scored of his five symphonies. Containing only Strings, a few Winds, Horns and Trombone this is a clear and uncluttered reminiscence of nineteenth centuryAmerica as viewed through some of its traditional hymn tunes, and in doing so evokes the old 'camp meetings' which were such a feature of pioneer life.

The first movement, ‘Old Folks' Gatherin'’ is a patchwork of hymntunes drifting through an unpredictable, constantly changing harmonic orientation. After a climax is reached, a quiet passage opens with oboe and flute over hushed, distant strings. Ives reintroduces part of the middle section,and settles down to a quiet coda, ending the movement almost imperceptibly.

The second movement, ‘Children's Day’ opens with strings in two parts over Haydnesque eighth notes in the horns. ‘There is a Fountain Filled withBlood’, ‘Happy Land’, ‘Naomi’, and ‘There's Music in the Air’ all are heard. As this is a movement depicting children at play, Ives is playful himself, weaving hymn tunes into one another in a somewhat tongue-in-cheek manner. Thethird movement, ‘Communion’ is darker in tone than the others and provides a psychologically satisfactory close to the work as a whole. This is the 1990 edition of the Score, The Charles Ives Society Critical Edition, edited byKenneth Singleton and reprinted in 2001. It contains substantial notes on Ives and this work.