Postlude In F for Orchestra (Critical Edition)

The Postlude in F, composed in 1895, is Charles Ives' earliest known work for large orchestra. It is based on an earlier organ piece, which Ives performed at the Baptist Church in Danbury, Connecticut, on May 11, 1890 (at the age of fifteen; on the cover page of the full score Ives mistakenly gave 1892 for the year of the organ composition). The version for orchestra was probably produced as an orchestration assignment for a class of Horatio Parker, Ives' teacher at Yale College. Ives recalled that the 'New Haven Orchestra' - that is, the New Haven Symphony Orchestra, organized by Parker in 1895 - read through the work in 1896. The Postlude in F, which was also preparation for work on the First Symphony (its first movement also completed in 1895), contains some surprisingly mature and beautiful writing, especially in the magical closing pages. -Kenneth D. Singleton.