The Symphony No. 3, S. 3 (K. 1A3), The Camp Meeting by Charles Ives (1874–1954) was written between the years of 1908 and 1910. In 1947, Ives was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Music for his Symphony No. 3. Later, his works were performed by conductors like Leonard Bernstein. Ives is reported to have given half the money to Lou Harrison, who conducted the premiere.
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The symphony is in three movements:
This symphony is notable for usage of a chamber orchestra, rather than a full-blown orchestra Ives used for his other symphonies. The symphony is also very short, only lasting approximately twenty minutes.
The symphony is scored for a chamber orchestra of a flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, two horns, trombone, bells, and strings (violins, violas, cellos, and double basses).
The symphony has many influences including War songs, dances, and general European classical music. It evokes country meetings during his childhood, when people gathered in fields to sing, preach, and listen. Ives was sentimentally nostalgic, glancing back as a modern composer at a nineteenth-century childhood of hymns, bells, and children's games throughout the three movements. The symphony is filled with complex harmonies and meters.
Composer and conductor Lou Harrison, a great fan of Ives' music, premiered this symphony in 1946. Bernard Herrmann, another composer who became a friend of Ives, conducted a CBS broadcast performance of the symphony soon after. Gustav Mahler had seen the manuscript and talked of premiering the symphony with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, but his death in 1911 prevented the performance, and there was no further interest in the symphony until Harrison finally conducted it in New York. There is no conclusive evidence that Ives and Mahler ever met.[1]
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