Part 1 JULY 2-8: CARL RUGGLES & ROCKWELL KENT

ROCKWELL KENT WILDERNESS CENTENNIAL JOURNAL

100 YEARS LATER

by Doug Capra © 2018-19

Part I - Carl Ruggles & Rockwell Kent

July 2-8, 2019

ABOVE – At left, American composer Carl Ruggles. At right, Rockwell Kent. BELOW – A Dec. 30, 1913 letter from Ruggles to Kent. Wikipedia photos. Letter from the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institute.

By the fall of 1919 Rockwell Kent’s Alaska book is in the publisher’s hands. On Aug. 8^th from “Egypt” he writes to his good friend, composer Carl Ruggles (1876-1971)

apologizing for his unanswered letters. He had met Ruggles, conductor of the local symphony, in Winona, Minnesota, in May1913 while overseeing the construction of two mansions. He traveled west in 1912 with his wife, Kathleen, and the two children, Rockie and little Kathleen. Near the construction site they found an abandoned schoolhouse where they settled. As a member of the International Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners in America -- Kent quickly fixed up place and made it livable. But he found himself in the middle as both a union member and the superintendent of construction. For Kent, however, there was no middle ground when it came to principle. I was technically and morally bound to support the men, my Brothers. And so I did, he writes in his autobiography. Germans and Poles represented the two largest immigrant populations, and as a Germanofile fluent in the language, he found himself in a precarious position. Kent was much closer to and at ease with the workers than he was with management. By the winter of 1913, Kathleen was pregnant with daughter Clara. Both didn't intend to settle in Winona, so she and the children packed up and boarded a train to the East Coast. Hoping to save more money, Kent moved to the Polish quarter of Winona.

ABOVE -- Rockwell Kent (far left) at the Winona construction site. 

BELOW -- Rockwell Kent is standing at center without a hat with the International Working Men’s Anti Boss Convention in Winona, Minnesota in June 1913. Photo from the Rockwell Kent Papers, Archives of American art, Smithsonian Institution.

During the first week of June 1913, Kent organized an exhibition of his work at the Winona Public Library with the help of his employers, Printiss and Bell. 

BELOW -- A June 1, 1913 article in the Winona Independent.

Most local residents were unimpressed, though Kent was proud of his work. The frames alone -- their making, painting, gilding, had cost me weeks of work, he wrote in his autobiography. I really thought that the show looked grand: I did -- a few of his local friends agreed. So did one other local -- a strange, intense little man, a bald, egg-headed little man, with eyes that were alight with fervor, and a protruding lower lip that could betoken such conceit and arrogance as might defy the world, or tremble with emotion close to tears. He was alone in the rotunda of the library when I entered. He walked straight over to me and reached out his hand. "You," he said "are a great a painter." For those words of recognition, there in the cultural no man's land of Winona, I have been ever grateful. This little man, this man so strange as to have thought me a great, was a struggling music teacher and conductor of the Winona Symphony. He was at that time upon an operatic score for Huptmann's great poetic drama, the Sunken Bell. He was Carl Ruggles so widely known in the music world today {1955). He and Rockwell became close friends and corresponded. Their mutual admiration for each other’s work helped them both in their struggle for success during a time when they lacked recognition yet possessed an inner belief of their worth and genius.

BELOW -- Toilers of the Sea (1907) -- one of the paintings Kent exhibited at Winona in June 1913.

Rockwell Kent’s relationship with Carl Ruggles may appear to be one of those “rabbit holes” – interesting as it is – that has little to do with the artist’s Alaska experience. I began this research when I discovered a cache of letters between the two while Kent was at “Egypt.” I learned that Ruggles – his wife, Charlotte and son Micha -- spent time there with Rockwell and his family. Ruggles and his family later begin to spend summers at Arlington, Vermont – and by the fall of 1924 they purchase a home there. The Kent-Ruggles correspondence not only gave me some insight into the social life at “Egypt,” but my further research into Ruggles revealed much to me about Rockwell Kent. What did Kent admire about Ruggles? Why we choose the close friends we do can tell us much about our personal values and ideals. And why these friends admire us, may provide further revelations. The more I learned about Carl Ruggles, the deeper I descended into the “rabbit hole” because the relationship between the two gives us a closer look into the Rockwell Kent during this period of his life.

ABOVE – Letter from Carl Ruggles to Rockwell Kent, Dec. 30, 1913, from the Rockwell Kent Collection, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Kent and Ruggles both died in 1971. Kent died on March 13. The day following his death, the New York Times gave him a front page obituary which said: A man of strongly individual opinions, he was once asked why he felt obliged to be different. “Be yourself as a painter, be yourself as a man, he responded. In this spirit he rarely bothered to bow to conformity. “I have only one life and I’m going to live it as nearly as possible as I want to live it. His early letters, especially those from Alaska and Wilderness, contain even more radical opinions about freedom and liberty in Wilderness.

BELOW – Rockwell Kent's obituary the March 14, 1971 New York Daily News. He also got front-page obituary in the New York Times. About half the obituaries I’ve found have headlines that emphasize his left-wing politics rather than his art. Even the headlines that focus on his art, highlight obituaries that eventually stray off to discuss his politics. All Carl Ruggles obituaries focus on his music, painting and artistic integrity 

Two days after Ruggles’s death on Oct. 25, 1971, the Vermont’s Bennington Banner wrote: Even for those who don’t understand his music – and that includes the vast majority of us – Ruggles can be appreciated as a truly rugged individual who spurned he rewards of a more conventional artistic life and who pursued  lifestyle of monumental integrity…The world needs more genuine individuals, more artists of real talent who seek truth by rejecting some of the proprieties and conformities of their time.

BELOW – Carl Ruggles obituary in the Oct. 25, 1971 Bennington (Vermont) Banner.

Though their personal and political lives differ, they share an artistic integrity – at least up until the time Kent becomes famous upon his return from Alaska. Through the 1920’s they both begin to gain recognition in their fields – Kent first, with a rapid rise and more positive reviews. Not long after Kent settles at “Egypt,” Ruggles moves to New York. On Nov. 5, 1922, the New York Tribune announces the upcoming International Composer’s Guild program of new works at the Klaw Theater -- three performances scheduled during December, January and March. They wrote: A unique piece for six trumpets, the second movement of a symphonic suite, “Men and Angels,” which is the work of Carl Ruggles, a recently discovered American musician of great promise, is included in this program.

ABOVE -- Angel by Rockwell Kent (1922). BELOW -- Sheet music for Men and  Angles by Carl Ruggles with Kent drawing.

The day after the first program on Dec. 17, 1922, W. H. Humiston in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle slammed Ruggles’ Men and Angels: This particular movement bore the title “Angels.” The movement was not long; it was a series of discordant wails from start to finish, and was much more suggestive of the despairing cries of the damned than it was of the songs of angels. At least so it seemed to those whose imagination has been developed in a normal way. But to the abnormal the normal seems abnormal. Perhaps some day this will be music and Beethoven will be considered insane. Perhaps.

ABOVE – Carl Ruggles, from the Oct. 26, 1929 Rutland (Vermont) Daily Herald.

Ruggles remained popular within the avant-garde and modernist musical community, not in more conservative circles. During another International Composer’s Guild program in 1926 with conductor Eugene Goossens, the Pittsburgh Courier opined on Feb. 6 that Goossens conducted a jazz piece as to indicate that he knew what it’s all about; but then he conducted a new piece by Carl Ruggles, called “Portals,” as though it was about something, which it wasn’t. 

ABOVE -- Part of the score for Portals. BELOW -- Kent's design for Portals. Ruggles depended upon support for patrons for most of his life. As Kent gained fame, he introduced his friend to many wealthy doners, like Harriet Bingham to whom Ruggles dedicates Portals.

As Ruggles published his works, they were distributed to libraries across the country and performed by local orchestras. On Oct. 2, 1927 the Standard Union (Brooklyn, NY) noted that the New Music Society of California had published the first number of a new quarterly called New Music. The October issue included the full orchestral score of Men and Mountains, a symphonic suite in three movement by Carl Ruggles. The suite was first performed in Dec. 1924 at a New York concert by the International Composers Guild, and the Standard Union had reviewed it as follows: “Men and Mountains” by Carl Ruggles ( New England) is scored for wind, brass, cymbals, piano and seven stringed instruments, and is suggested by William Blake’s ‘Great things are done when men and mountains meet.’ There is a beautiful and aptly discordant touch of mysticism to the music, a sincere and moving study of elemental forces. But although the audience applauded enthusiastically several eminent men were observed smirking and scowling. It seemed generally conceded that Ruggles is achieving a marked individuality – for better or worse.

On Jan. 15, 1928, Mary E. Way in the Tampa Bay Times publishes a charming profile about Ruggles, calling him America’s foremost composer. He and his family are known in Florida. For the last three years they have spent summers at his Vermont home and winters in St. Petersburg. His symphony, Men and Mountains, has recently been published (450 copies) by the Musical Society of California and is circulating around the country. After providing background on the composer’s life, the newspaper writes: Carl Ruggles is a man sincere at heart, honest in his convictions, set in purpose. His labor of composition one of love, with no hope of possible monetary return. His very ardor puts to shame those who claim that Americans are only inspired by the dollar. He has never yet received a cent for any of his compositions and never entertains such a hope…This would not be a complete story unless a picture of Mrs. Ruggles (Charlotte) were also painted. Mrs. Ruggles, who gave up her own career as a singer to surround her husband with the necessary quiet, freedom from interruption, the inspiration and companionship that he needed in order to really give the world his best compositions.The article describes Ruggles black pipe in mouth at the piano with whose aid he creates his compositions, stumbling along in search of just the right sounds to carry the meaning he wishes…If I play ten measures without encountering a new problem I know something is wrong, he says…

ABOVE – Carl Ruggles composing at the piano. Photo Source. You can find Ruggles music on youtube and at this link. You can find some of Ruggles' music on youtube and at this link. 

During Kent’s Winona years up through Newfound and Alaska, he and Ruggles shared love of Blake and mysticism. (They also shared an affinity for Walt Whitman and many other writers. See this link.

The Jan. 15, 1928 Tampa Bay Times article continues, referring to the Ruggles’ symphonic ensemble, Men and Mountains -- Mr. Ruggles is well fitted to set Blake to music. He is natural mystic, a rhapsodist, a composer who sees visions and dreams fantastic dreams. The wild gigantic tortured symbols of Blake’s imagination, his riotous and untrammeled excursions in the world behind the heavens, are all of a piece with Mr Ruggles’ thinking. There is a touch of the apocalyptic, the fabulous, about his fantasies. He is the first unicorn to enter American music. He is a master of the strange, torrential and perturbing discourse. We are not always sure that we understand what he is saying, but we suspect that this is our fault, not his. He has forgotten the gods of yesterday (if he ever bowed to them). He is no polite snitcher of Debusyan, Scribainian Stravinskyan formulae. Like Landor, he drinks out of his own glass…The New Englander with a touch of Blake – of Blake Rhapsodic fantasy, Blake’s piercing and swift simplicity – may not write music that we would call ‘beautiful.’ Yet, tomorrow or the day after, we may call it that.

ABOVE -- Sheet music for Men and Mountains by Carl Ruggles. 
BELOW--  Men and Mounains (1909) by Rockwell Kent

Today we do see his music in a different light – as this contemporary analysis demonstrates: Although Ruggles’ legacy is that of a headstrong ultramodern, the final movement, “Marching Mountains,” reveals his debt to tradition. There, the aggressive temperament of the first movement returns with drumbeats that, with the help of the movement’s title, suggest trampling over a landscape. After a more intimate passage in which brief wind solos compete with strings, the movement’s initial intensity returns. But this time, it is infused with a familiar rhythmic idea—the short-short-short-long pattern from Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony (also a motive exploited by Ives in his Concord sonata), leading fatefully to the work’s unforgiving climax.

   

Carl Ruggles played an important role in Kent’s intellectual and artistic life as one of his connections to modernism. Theirs was an interesting relationship, especially in the early years before either of them achieved any degree of fame.

In the next entry – Part 2: Carl Ruggles & Rockwell Kent -- I’ll provide some of their correspondence and other information.