Pictures, song for voice & piano, S. 327 (K. 6B42a)

• Date: 1906
• Composer: Charles Ives
• Period: Modern (1910-1949)

Review

Set to verses of the same title (individually called "The Cornfield", "The Sea" and "The Moor") by Monica Turnbull, this setting is well-executed (of course) but rather ordinary (alas) - it is thought that the song, which is imitative of Wagnerian arias, was written to impress Ives future wive Harmony (neé Twichell) and her family. Like a Harlequin romance novel, the cornfield and someone's "golden hair" wave with a triple-meter springtime lilt and a gentle scale-wise line, the sea appropriately crashes with running diminished chords, and the moor also has its share of diminished oddly serious dotted rhythms and mysterious whole-tones; and, in truly symmetrical ("satisfying") ABA form, the happier lilt is brought back at the end. (Oh well, the things we do for love.) ~ "Blue" Gene Tyranny, Rovi

Albums with Complete Performances of the Work

Title	Date
Ives: Songs, Vol. 5	2008
Songs, Vol.1
The Complete Songs of Charles Ives, Vol. 3	1993

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