Ex. 6-13: Songs My Mother Taught Me

Written by Charles Ives in 1895, set to a poem by the Czech poet Adolf Heyduk (1835–1923). The same poem had been set by Antonín Dvořák about fifteen years earlier, as No. 4 of his Gypsy Melodies (Op. 55, 1880) — one of the most widely known art songs in the repertoire. (Ex. 11-5: Songs My Mother Taught Me by Antonín Dvořák)

Ives' setting shares some similarities with Dvořák's, but reflects the young American composer's own voice. The poem recalls a mother singing songs, now bringing tears when the composer sings them to his own children.