Ives prepared it for a Fourth of July celebration in 1892 at the Methodist church where he was organist in Brewster, New York. He performed it for the first time on February 17, 1892, and made revisions to the work until 1894. Although the piece is considered challenging even by modern concert organists[according to whom?], he spoke of playing the pedal work in the final variation as being "almost as much fun as playing baseball".[1][2]
It went unpublished until 1949, when the organist E. Power Biggs rediscovered it, and prepared an edition for publication. He incorporated it into his repertoire, and it became a regularly performed piece by American organists. In 1962 it was orchestrated by William Schuman, and premiered in this version by the New York Philharmonic under Andre Kostelanetz in 1964. The Schuman orchestration formed the basis of a wind band version by William E. Rhoads, published in 1968.[3]
Structure
Introduction and Theme
Variation I
Variation II
Interlude I
Variation III
Variation IV
Interlude II
Variation V
Coda
The interludes are Ives's first notated use of bitonality: the first combines F major for the right hand and D-flat major for the left hand and pedals, whilst the second combines A-flat major and F major.
Ives' biographer Jan Swafford notes that whilst it might be tempting to hear Variations on "America" as a satire, the probability is that Ives meant the work as a sincere exercise in variations for organ. He adds that whilst Ives was capable of musical jokes, they are usually considerably broader than here.[4] Ives was not deaf to its comic potential however: he later noted that his father "didn't let me do it much, as it made the boys laugh" in church.[5]
^Symphony, Houston (October 1, 2015). "Charles Ives' Music". www.mydigitalpublication.com. Retrieved June 23, 2022. As a precocious teenaged organist, Ives composed a set of variations on "My Country, 'Tis of Thee," and he said his concluding burst of fancy footowrk on the organ pedals was "almost as much fun as playing baseball."
