Charles Ives

Charles Edward Ives was an American actuary, businessman, and modernist composer. Ives was amongst the earliest American internationally renowned composers to achieve recognition on a global scale. His music was largely ignored during his early career, and many of his works went unperformed for many years. Later in life, the quality of his music was publicly recognized through the efforts of contemporaries like Henry Cowell and Lou Harrison, and he came to be regarded as an "American original". He was also among the first composers to engage in a systematic program of experimental music, with musical techniques including polytonality, polyrhythm, tone clusters, aleatory elements, and quarter tones. His experimentation foreshadowed many musical innovations that were later more widely adopted during the 20th century. Hence, he is often regarded as the leading American composer of art music of the 20th century.

20 October 1874

Born on the same birth day (20 October): Aleksander Maaker • Allan Donald • Bálint Balassi • Chuu • Claudio Ranieri • Derek Ridgers • Ferhat Yazgan • Frits Thaulow • Giovanni di Bernardo Rucellai • Ian Rush • Jennifer Freeman • Jess Glynne • Lynn Flewelling • Robert Bertie, 1st Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven • Rosey Brown • Tom Dowd

Born in the same month (October 1874): Abby Aldrich Rockefeller • Alfred, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha • Charles Kilpatrick (athlete) • Emma Gramatica • Frank G. Allen • Huang Xing • Jimmy Burke (baseball) • John Ellis (executioner) • József Klekl (politician) • Martin Lowry • Nicholas Roerich • Tan Kah Kee • Victor Sonnemans