The Standing Room posts about a Berkshire trip and visits a legendary place as well as the Housatonic River. The Housatonic at Stockbridge is one of Ives' Orchestral Set No. 1: Three Places in New England. Scott Mortensen writes:
Ives began the work in 1908 immediately after returning from his honeymoon, where he had seen the Housatonic River with his new bride. In 1911, three years after the initial sketch, Ives sketched the whole movement. In 1912, Ives scored the movement (for full orchestra), considerably simplifying the texture.
Various The Housatonic at Stockbridge streams (no pun intended) here. Wikpedia describes the Housatonic River (including a note about PCB pollution) here. And did you know Stockbridge was the setting for Arlo Guthrie's Alice's Restaurant and is home to the Norman Rockwell museum? American culture, one and all...
This is so weird. I am listening to this movement right now, as I started to read your blog. And I'm ripping a CD with the voice-piano version.
Posted by: Scott Spiegelberg | July 19, 2005 at 09:02 AM