Variations: My Native Land (after Charles Ives) —1995

Variations: My Native Land (after Charles Ives) was commissioned by guitarist William Ghezzi for his recital at the Philadelphia Art Alliance. It is a large-scale multi-movement work inspired by Benjamin Britten’s Nocturnal (after John Dowland).

Program Notes

Bill Ghezzi asked me to write a piece that felt “American,” so I sought an “American” theme for variations. In order to do so, I listened to a lot of songs by American composers and found this song by Charles Ives, which attracted me with its deceptively simple text and musical setting. I wanted the text to resonate with the music of the variations, thus the music is, for me, about the process of remembering, going back. The “native land” of the text is not external, but internal, buried by experience and time. The “native land” of the music is represented by Ives’ song (the theme), which the variations try to remember, something like a dream half-remembered upon awakening

My native land now meets my eye,
The old oaks raise their boughs on high, Violets greeting, violets greeting seem, Ah! ’tis a dream, Ah! ’tis a dream.

I feel the kiss in youth, so dear
The words “I love” fall on my ear,
I feel the beam, the eyes’ soft beam, Ah! ’tis a dream, ah! ’tis a dream.

And when in distant lands I roam,
My heart will wander to my home.
While these fancies, while these fancies teem, Still let me dream, still let me dream.

paraphrased from Heine
from the song “My Native Land” by Charles Ives (1901)

To my grandfather
BASILIO BASILI
1904-1995
In Memorium

Movements

1. Theme: My native land now meets my eye
2. Reverie: The kiss in youth, so dear
3. Rumination: The eyes’ soft beam
4. Refrain: Ah! ’tis a dream, ah! ’tis a dream
5. Meditation: And when in distant lands