The Unanswered Question
This guide follows Ives’s The Unanswered Question (1908) in one part.
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Follow all 8 sections as they play
0:14–5:40
The strings begin alone with slow, soft chords, to a G major triad, and they never change pace. The trumpet then asks its five-note question, seven times (Question 1 to Question 7). The flutes the first six, each reply faster and more dissonant than the last, speeding from to until they give up. After the seventh question nothing answers, and the strings fade away.
- Question 1
Section boundaries in music are not always sharp; a transition may be felt over a pause or a held chord.
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