Elliott Cook Carter Jr. was born in Manhattan on December 11, 1908, the son of a wealthy lace importer, Elliott Carter Sr., and the former Florence Chambers. Much of his childhood was spent in Europe; he spoke French before learning English. As a teenager, he developed an interest in music, although his parents did not give much encouragement to his interests other than providing for early piano lessons, but he was encouraged by Charles Ives, who sold insurance to Carter's family. While a student at the Horace Mann School in 1922, he wrote an admiring letter to Ives, who responded and urged him to pursue his interest in music. Besides that, he began to be interested in modern music as part of his broader exploration of modernism in various other art forms.