Charles Ives

An American innovator wrote for orchestras, chamber groups, solo voice, and piano while employing and foreshadowing polytonality, atonality, and polymeter together with polytone clusters. His singular approach fused familiar hymns and popular melodies with intricate, dissonant supporting textures. Among the most important scores are Three Places in New England (1914) and the Sonata for Piano no. 2, “Concord, Mass” (1920).