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**Frownland** · 09-02-2017, 09:57 PM

Quote:

The Unanswered Question is scored for three groups: a string ensemble, a solo trumpet, and a woodwind quartet. The groups play in independent tempos and are placed in such a way that they might not be able to see each other; the strings play offstage.

Ives provided a short text by which to interpret the work, giving it a narrative as in program music. Throughout the piece the strings sustain slow tonal triads that, according to Ives, represent "The Silence of the Druids—who Know, See and Hear Nothing". Against this background, the trumpet poses a nontonal phrase seven times—"The Perennial Question of Existence"—to which the woodwinds "answer" the first six times in an increasingly erratic way. Ives wrote that the woodwinds' answers represented "Fighting Answerers" who, after a time, "realize a futility and begin to mock 'The Question'" before finally disappearing, leaving "The Question" to be asked once more before "The Silences" are left to their "Undisturbed Solitude".

The strings twice repeat a pianissimo thirteen-bar progression, so slowly it has a static feel. It uses voice leading, passing tones, and ornamental notes in a manner reminiscent of a hymn or chorale. After the repetition, the strings' part varies in subtle ways that are difficult for the listener to detect. In contrast to this ever-changing but seemingly regular "Silence", the trumpet repeats the same "Question." It is the woodwinds' atonal answers that change in obvious ways, growing increasingly agitated and dissonant. After the woodwinds finally give up, the trumpet poses the question quietly one last time.

So the real question here is: What is the question?