By JOEL SACHS

As a child, I enjoyed many summers at a now defunct camp in Ridgefield, Conn. Years later I learned, to my great consternation, that the camp had been situated only a few miles from the home of Charles Ives. To my shame, I had never heard of him, despite my piano teacher's passionate commitment to new music.

Charles Ives, c. July 1950, outside his summer home in West Redding, Conn. (Photo courtesy of the Yale Music Library)

Lamentably, I was in good company: Very few other people had heard of him then. The tragedy of Ives's life is that, at his death in 1954, he was scarcely known beyond a small circle of devoted admirers. That circle included Henry Cowell, who published many of his compositions and—with his wife—wrote the first biography of Ives; Nicholas Slonimsky, who conducted some of Ives's music in the early 1930s; John Kirkpatrick, the pioneer performer of the "Concord" Sonata; and Lou Harrison, whose performance of Ives's Third Symphony in 1946 led to Ives's receiving the Pulitzer Prize the following year, nearly half a century after he wrote the symphony. Such neglect is hard to imagine, now that Ives's music is (almost) standard repertory and music history courses routinely teach about him.

Yet Ives is still known largely through a handful of works that are played repeatedly while his other music languishes. This situation may be explained in several ways. Part of the fault lies with performers who find a handful of pieces that "work" and do not explore beyond them. Arts administrators, "knowing" that the audience will head for the exit at the first dissonance, find the concept of leadership difficult and tread the same, safe path. It also cannot be denied, however, that some of Ives's music is very difficult. Believing that the ear can be trained to hear at an amazing level, he exercised the creator's right to challenge performers and listeners, almost daring them to rise to the occasion. For years, it was almost a miracle if the performers of some chamber works could stay in the same place at the same time. Today, however, we are blessed with performers who crave such challenges. Accordingly, the time seemed right for Juilliard to take a new and comprehensive look at Ives. The 20th Focus! Festival, therefore, will offer listeners the opportunity to hear a comprehensive selection of his music.

Naturally, the most important reason to honor any composer is a perception that his or her music warrants extended and repeated listening. In some cases, however, a composer's legacy includes so much more than the music itself that a tribute is doubly deserved. Obvious examples would be Bartók's studies of East European traditional music; or Schoenberg's accomplishments as a theorist, teacher, and painter; or John Cage's uncanny ability to stimulate fresh thinking in many arts.

Ives gave us many reasons to be thankful for his life: his superb writings, his belated influence upon musical perception, his dedication to the highest artistic standards. Another reason, however, remained hidden for years at his own request. While it is widely known that he became wealthy in the insurance business, few people know that he used much of his wealth to underwrite the creation of an infrastructure for American composers. Henry Cowell's concert series, recordings, and publications of American music, created for the general benefit of American composers, were funded in a large part by Ives. The first orchestral concerts of American music in Europe, organized in the early '30s by Cowell and conducted by Nicholas Slonimsky, Anton Webern, and the Spaniard Pedro Sanjuan, were paid for in full by Ives. His work as a major sponsor was not celebrated simply because he was a modest man who kept his contributions a secret from all but Cowell and a few close associates. Without Ives's assistance, however, the cause of American new music in the 10 years beginning in the mid-1920s would have slowed if not collapsed altogether. Surely all this, added to Ives's music itself, is a good reason to pay that cantankerous but lovable man special homage.

The 2004 Focus! Festival, which takes place January 23-30, will lead off the world's commemoration of Ives's death with six concerts comprising most of his major solo and chamber music and some of his most important orchestral music. In addition, five singers will perform groups of songs, and the Juilliard Choral Union will join the Juilliard Orchestra in the Fourth Symphony. A selection of his brief but extremely pungent works for mixed ensembles, a preconcert mini-recital of Ives's small group of solo organ compositions, and a preconcert panel discussion by some of the leading Ives scholars will round out a major week of music.

Focus 2004 "All About Ives: Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the Death of Charles Ives" Juilliard Theater Friday-Friday, Jan. 23-30 For time and ticket information, please see the calendar.

Such a festival has required unusual advance preparations. His most challenging compositions include the two Piano Sonatas, each of which are more than half an hour long. Clearly, one could not invite pianists to begin tackling such huge projects in late September. Accordingly, last spring, all returning piano students were invited to submit their names if they wanted to devote the next months to learning an Ives sonata. As it happened, Aaron Wunsch, a graduate from the master's degree program and an incoming doctoral student, had already learned half of the "Concord" Sonata and was eager to continue the project. Ofra Yitzhaki, a non-resident D.M.A. student who also seems to relish confronting tasks that are barely possible, was equally eager to learn the First Sonata.

As preparations continued, it transpired that an excellent piano trio was already preparing Ives's difficult Trio, and various string quartets were ready to jump at the opportunity to learn Ives's quartets. Finding singers also was not a problem, though some of them may not realize what they have let themselves in for! Many Ives songs are almost never heard, and some of them provide unparalleled performance challenges. On the other hand, Ives's "Victorian" songs from his early years also are neglected because they are deemed insufficiently avant-garde. Judith Clurman, director of the Juilliard Choral Union, jumped at the opportunity to teach her army the difficult choral part of the Fourth Symphony, which Anne Manson will conduct. And since the chorus will be on hand, Ms. Clurman will provide a prelude to the orchestral program: Ives's magnificent setting of Psalm 90 for chorus, organ, and bells. At the time this article was being written, the audition for a soloist in the Emerson Concerto for piano and orchestra—a version of the first movement of the "Concord" Sonata—had not taken place, but five pianists are hard at work. The opening concert, by the New Juilliard Ensemble, will include the Third Symphony, the small-orchestra version of Three Places in New England, the sprightly but difficult Ragtime Dances, and a selection of songs in Ives's orchestrations.

Performing Ives's music poses two problems beyond actually learning them. One is the poor state of much of the published material, which is gradually improving as the Ives Society produces its carefully prepared volumes. The dismal state of affairs became apparent to me some 20 years ago, when John Kirkpatrick published his new edition of the Piano Trio. I had already played it a few times, but when Peermusic Classical graciously gave me a prepublication copy to use in a concert, I was shocked. Ives once famously told a copyist to bear in mind that the wrong notes are the right notes, but Kirkpatrick had discovered that many wrong notes really were wrong, and that some peculiar counterpoint was in fact an error. When I compared Kirkpatrick's revisions with Ives's manuscripts—just to assure myself that he was not simplifying Ives's dream—his edits seemed so obvious that I could not imagine how the earlier publication could have had so many mistakes. Thanks to John Kirkpatrick, we have the right wrong notes!

The published songs are also filled with errors. Although H. Wiley Hitchcock's new edition of the songs, to be published by Garland in the near future, is not yet available to the public, Professor Hitchcock has most kindly offered to advise us about those songs that are chosen.

Some of Ives's music remains unpublished, but will eventually appear, thanks to the Ives Society. For example, although Ives composed extensively for chorus and organ, and was an excellent organist, he wrote very little solo music, and about half of it is still not printed. A performance of Ives's solo organ music has been made possible, however, thanks to James Sinclair, the renowned conductor and Ives editor, who is providing the still-unpublished pieces.

The Focus! Festival opens with the New Juilliard Ensemble on Friday, January 23, and continues with four chamber concerts, a panel discussion, and a mini-recital of solo organ music. The festival concludes on January 30 with the Juilliard Orchestra. All performances other than the organ concert are in the Juilliard Theater and begin at 8 p.m.; the organ concert (in Paul Hall) and the panel discussion begin at 7 p.m. Those who attend the organ recital will have ample time to get to the Juilliard Theater for the main performance. All events are free, though tickets are required. The Juilliard library's display of Ives materials is open to the general public by appointment. (Call 212-799-5000, ext. 265.)

Joel Sachs is the director of the New Juilliard Ensemble and the annual Focus! Festival.