ABSTRACT
The application by musicologists of the term ‘collage’ to some musical compositions from the beginning of the twentieth century–most notably to the works by Charles Ives, Erik Satie, and Igor Stravinsky–needs to be evaluated with regard to the evolution of early visual avant-garde collage, as presented in the works of the visual artists. This chapter explains how the musicologists define musical collage based on the works of select composers. Ives’s musical collages are not only used to suggest the inner experience of the mind recalling street celebrations or dances, like in Fourth of July and the barn dances in Washington’s Birthday, but he also employed the technique to suggest more complex spiritual experiences contained in his Fourth Symphony. Ives’s statement regarding the musical meaning generated in his musical pieces encapsulates the conflicting theories regarding the nature of musical meaning.
