The Music of Charles Ives

Sirs:

Robert Evett’s “A Post-mortem for Mr. Ives” was not only harsh (“a composer whoring after novelty”) and offensive (Ives “smelled like Whitman’s armpits”), but also heedless of truth. I do not speak of critical judgments, which may legitimately differ, but of facts, which are a matter of record. It is simply not true, for example, that “Most of the music for which Ives is famous . . . has never been heard, and probably never will be.” On the contrary, with the exception of some movements of the Fourth Symphony, all the music for which Ives is famous has been heard, and he is famous precisely because it has been heard.