Charless dad died. It had a terrible effect upon him, and he even seemed to think he was writing his fathers music from that time until his death fifty years from then (The Man, His Life, Swafford 3). Lively, funny, talented, untiring, "Dasher" Ives became one of the best-liked people on campus. He spent those four years having fun in various clubs, playing intramural sports, frequenting variety show theaters and sitting in for the pianists, playing ragtime and his own pieces at parties, and composing--light pieces for bands and glee clubs and church services, assigned works for his classes, and experiments. Lesser known works from his college years include the sparkling March No. 6, with "Here's to Good Old Yale" and his sentimental tune for the Glee Club, quite a hit at the time, The Bells of Yale (The Man, His Life, Swafford 5). In 1906 Ives had a breakdown; a heart attack and associated depression. He also met the woman of his dreams, Harmony Twitchell, who was the daughter of the Hartford minister. Two years later, they were happily wed and had started their life together (Machlis 347). Eleven years later, they adopted a child and one year afterwards Charles had another collapse (The Man, His Life, Swafford 6). He and his work were both crippled for the rest of his life because of it. In fact, that was the year he quit composing (Machlis 339). He did not give up altogether though; he kept his optimistic, funny, outgoing personality and started spending great deals of time promoting his and other progressive music (A Life With Music, Swafford 10). During the 1920s Charles started printing and giving away copies of his 114 Songs and Concord Sonata (Stanley 1). Ives had four personal central interests: religion, nationalism, domestic life, and nature, which are all four depicted in his Concord Sonata. The four movements of the Sonata represent four literary figures who inspired Ives; Ralph Waldo Emerson and his essay, Circl...
