Essays Before a Sonata

An excerpt from a review by The Double Dealer, Volumes 1-2, 1921: From the Knickerbocker Press comes a volume by Mr. Ives called "Essays Before a Sonata," which is inscribed- "These prefatory essays were written by the composer for those who can't stand his music-and the music for those who can't stand his essays, to those who can't stand either, the whole is respectfully dedicated." The sonata is divided into four movements entitled in order, Emerson,...
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An excerpt from a review by The Double Dealer, Volumes 1-2, 1921:

From the Knickerbocker Press comes a volume by Mr. Ives called "Essays Before a Sonata," which is inscribed- "These prefatory essays were written by the composer for those who can't stand his music-and the music for those who can't stand his essays, to those who can't stand either, the whole is respectfully dedicated."

The sonata is divided into four movements entitled in order, Emerson, Hawthorne, "The Alcotts," Thoreau. The essays announce that the whole is an attempt to present one person's impression of the spirit of transcendentalism that is associated in the mind of many with Concord, Mass., of over a half century ago. This is undertaken in impressionistic pictures of Emerson and Thoreau, a sketch of the Alcotts and a Scherzo supposed to reflect a lighter quality which is often found in the fantastic side of Hawthorne. The first and last movements do not aim to give any program of the life, or of any particular work, of either Emerson or Thoreau, but rather composite pictures or impressions. They are, however, so general in outline that from some viewpoints, they may be as far from accepted impressions (from true conceptions, for that matter) as the valuation which they purport to be of the influence of the life, thought, and character...