CHARLES IVES
Aug 31, 2018 · 5 min read

Composers, in the last two hundred years, have often found it hard to live off the proceeds of their art: so they have had to supplement their income by teaching music, or playing in an orchestra, or doing work in some non-musical occupation.
It was not always thus. Before 1800, approximately, a talented composer could earn a reasonable livelihood as tenured employee of Church or State. Those two great patrons were responsible for much of…

