Jeremy Gonzalo

Prof. Wolfson
Analysis 1 The Unanswered Question
Charles Ives The Unanswered Question is a very curious piece from many different
angles and spectrums. From a single listen of the song, a listener could come up with many,
many different discourses about what the mood and pitch content could be. Lets separate each
section by part, first. The off-stage strings, which, according to Ives, should represent the
Silence of the Druids Who Know, See, and Hear Nothing play an occurring theme; an eerie
almost whole-tone (however, several pitches within each of the string parts do not follow the
same whole-tone scale, which in a way invalidates any argument that says that the string melody
is completely whole-tone), and that repeats without any alterations. Likewise, the main trumpet,
who, also according to Ives, asks The Question, repeats an also eerie melody with pitch
content that utilizes what could seem to be an atonal melody (the diminished-minor-diminished
pattern does not necessarily point to a diatonic/modal model), and the flutes, which represents
The Answers almost certainly play an atonal melody, with very conflicting parts all
throughout.
The main thing with The Question part of the song thats played by the trumpet is that
the pattern is a Dim7-m3-Dim8-m3 pattern, alternating every other repetition to end with a
Dim8-dim4 pattern. What makes that a question, exactly? Closely listening to the piece and
reading the score further reveals the answer to why The Question is considered a question by
Charles Ives theres no real resolution within the Trumpet line. The ending intervals dim4 and
m3 create a sense of longing to the listeners of the piece, and the constant repetition of this motif
further extends the wanting for a resolution, but by the end of the song, theres no sense of

fulfillment; hence the title of the piece The Unanswered Question. If anything, the alteration of
the m3/dim4 intervals between each repetition of the motif brings up a heightened sense of
curiosity, answered by the flutes in almost a mocking manner. Its almost as if the playing of the
dim4 interval is asking please answer this for me and the flutes respond in their own way.
Speaking of which, the flutes have very interesting melodic organization throughout the
piece. The outer two flute voices are the ones that sort of speak the most, while the inner
voices, in a way, provide support to the mocking tone that the outer flutes have. Much of the
movement is done chromatically (so in minor 2nds) or, equivalently, major 7ths, and together
(albeit, the inner voices move together though the outer voices start earlier and end at the same
time). As the piece grows along, the section mocks the question more and more until the end,
where the laughter in the Molto agitando section seems to grow into a unified venture of
craziness and insanity, while veering away from the two-outer voice unity, two-inner voice unity
motif that the piece saw earlier. Psychologically speaking, the Flutes are getting madder as the
piece goes along, which, as mentioned before, cultivates into a long frenzy of dissonance and
craziness before the song ends, as if telling the trumpet to shut up in a way. Which of course,
the trumpet doesnt do, almost mockingly itself.
The part with the most stability, the string part, is fairly stagnant (though very pretty
when standalone). In this piece, it seems that there is a pitch center of G natural, heard played by
the violoncello/contrabass. If there is any dissonance heard/seen in the String part, it would have
to be the F# in measures 17, 32, and 56. It seems that the dissonance appears to supplement
points in the music when the Trumpet changes from that Dim8-m3 to a Dim8-Dim4 or when the
question resurfaces/a new mocking response from the Flutes are heard. Another interesting point
to think about is that the strings are played in mostly major chords up until the Trumpet is heard

asking a question, where they dive into a minor chord and then back into a major chord after
its asked. This could possibly signify peace and harmony until that specific question is asked,
perhaps the swift change into turmoil in someones mind about an unknown answer to a question
that might be meant to be left unanswered.
It doesnt seem that the piece follows a specific form, although there is a constantly
repeating idea throughout each of the sections (aside from the flutes). The argument could be
made that its ternary, but the B section would be so short that it wouldnt follow the normal rule
that other songs in ternary form do follow. The 15 measure A-section, followed by the 6 measure
B-section, and then its short A-B sections after that (in a very call-response sort of form). It
doesnt seem to follow any traditional form, but if there was a form that it would follow most
closely, it would definitely be Ternary form, in my opinion.