Transcendental Cakewalk is a dance in the spirit of early twentieth-century American popular music. It is a

projected accompaniment to an opera on the meeting of Mark Twain and Charles Ives (an event which

actually happened). In the opera, Twain (who is examining Ives as to his fitness to be the groom of Harmony

Twichell, Twain’s god-daughter) sits down at the piano, begins playing, and Ives joins in fourhand. The

increasingly rambunctious and joyous music which results is an evocation of the generous and adventurous

spirits of both artists.