Ives’ “Calcium Light Night”: Sounds of a Nineteenth Century Fraternity Party

For years, “Calcium Night” was a boisterous tradition at Yale University, where Charles Ives was a student between 1894 and 1898.

Students wishing to join a fraternity paraded around the campus, singing their fraternity’s song under the glow of a calcium light, the “limelight” used on theater stages before electricity. (The calcium light was so blinding that it was used during the American Civil War to illuminate artillery targets, and on navel vessels).

On November 2, 1937, the New York Times published a story under the headline, “End Yale ‘Calcium Night: Fraternities Abolish Old Custom as Tending to Disorder.” The story began, “‘Calcium Night,’ the quaint climax to the rushing period of junior fraternities at Yale University, was abolished tonight by action of the inter-fraternity council because of the ‘increasing riotous conduct’ to which it was conducive.”

All of this riotous frivolity lives on in Charles Ives’ Calcium Light Night, composed in 1907. Scored for piccolo, clarinet, cornet, trombone, bass drum, and two pianos (four players), it is one of Ives’ brief, experimental fragments, known as “cartoons,” or “take-offs.” Cast in “slow march time,” the piece begins with distant, barely audible voices which grow ever more present. Competing songs, including “And again we sing thy praises, Psi U., Psi U.!,” and  “A band of brothers in D.K.E., we march along tonight,” form an enthusiastic cacophony. Unfolding as a palindrome, the voices enter in retrograde sequence as they fade into the night.

Recordings

  • Ives: Set No. 1 (1901-11) : 5. Calcium Light Night, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra · Gilbert Kalish Amazon

Featured Image: Yale’s Calcium Light Night in 1910

About Timothy Judd

A native of Upstate New York, Timothy Judd has been a member of the Richmond Symphony violin section since 2001. He is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music where he earned the degrees Bachelor of Music and Master of Music, studying with world renowned Ukrainian-American violinist Oleh Krysa.

The son of public school music educators, Timothy Judd began violin lessons at the age of four through Eastman’s Community Education Division. He was a student of Anastasia Jempelis, one of the earliest champions of the Suzuki method in the United States.

A passionate teacher, Mr. Judd has maintained a private violin studio in the Richmond area since 2002 and has been active coaching chamber music and numerous youth orchestra sectionals.

In his free time, Timothy Judd enjoys working out with Richmond’s popular SEAL Team Physical Training program.

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