HUX 503

The Philosophy of Music

Written Assignment #5
(Discussion of The Unanswered Question by Charles Ives)

Casey Robertson
202306117

08 14 2011

Of the various Twentieth Century works that Lewis Rowell discusses in the final
chapter of his book Thinking About Music, The Unanswered Question written by Charles
Ives is not only an influential composition of the past century, but also an innovative
work worthy of much exploration. Although the output of Ives as an American composer
was largely ignored until his later years, leading him to pursue a double-life in the
insurance business to fund his composition efforts, works such as The Unanswered
Question have undoubtedly earned him a place within the not only Twentieth
Century music, but also alongside the great innovators of the modernist realm. This
discussion will attempt to examine the elements of this particular work, and how it fits
within the context of the modern period of music.
One of the first noticeable details of interest with The Unanswered Question is
that although the revised version of this composition was premiered in 1946, the original
score was actually written much earlier during 1906. With this said, the piece could be
deemed even more groundbreaking than first assumed. Although the piece utilizes
traditional instruments with traditional performance techniques employed (although
through an unusual combination), it is the compositional techniques that render this piece
to be so fascinating. It was one of the first modern compositions to reside within the
spatial model of composition, in which the spatial deployment of the performers and their
independence from one another constitutes the primary organizational concept of the
work.1 Structurally, The Unanswered Question is comprised of three sections executed
through a collage-type arrangement with a woodwind quartet, solo trumpet, and an
offstage (or distantly placed) string quartet. While these selected elements in themselves
do not make the piece unique for its period, the fact that each of these sections employs

its own independent tempo and key greatly set it apart from other works of its time. By
demonstrating polytonality and polyrhythm, this piece is definitely most unusual for this
period.
The work begins with the string quartet carrying the listener through a haunting,
pianississimo diatonic progression almost suggestive of a hymn or chorale, which Ives
described in the foreword to the score as the Silences of the Druidswho Know, See
and Hear Nothing.2 The string quartet resides within its own spatial dimensions of
tempo and tonality, utilizing proper voice-leading techniques, along with passing and
ornamental tones. The movement and harmonic changes of the strings are so slowly
paced that they offer very little in terms of metric organization to the listener. It appears
to also move towards rather uncertain cadences, creating what one could describe as
static phrasing. A repetition, however, is finally reached after thirteen bars. Only one
repetition is evident though, despite what first deceivingly appears as a type of cyclic
pattern. With the solo trumpet positioned behind the audience then interspersing into the
strings, the perennial question of existence is carried out through its independent atonal
nature. This atonal questioning from the trumpet will occur repeatedly, with only the
final notes alternating one semitone between the B and C tones as the woodwind quartet
responds through what Ives referred to as the invisible answer with increasing
intensity until they reach a climatic point of violent frustration that he described as the
fighting answerers, who, for all their sound and fury, get nowhere.3 The intensity of the
woodwinds becomes so erratic that Leonard Bernstein actually described the final answer
as utter gibberish.4 The seventh round of questioning posed by the trumpet is then met
by silence, with no tonal response coming from the woodwinds section. With silence as

the only response, and no tangible resolution, the piece then concludes without ever
satisfactorily resolving the perennial question that was posed so many times. The G
major triad of the strings then seems to continue into the distance for eternity as the piece
concludes.
Each section of this work creates a number of interesting contrasts. The stringed
section appears to be rhythmically free, yet tonal. The wind section seems measured, yet
atonal in sonority, with the solo trumpet acting as a type of intermediary between these
two opposing forces. The effects of these processes have also been amplified through
their spatial separation. Ives appeared to have success with this function as he also
incorporated the concept into Central Park in the Dark, as well as his Fourth Symphony.
This technique is quite possibly the inspiration behind techniques that would later be
employed in a similar fashion within the modernist works of John Cage and Karlheinz
Stockhausen. In addition to spatial separation, Ives appeared to be an early proponent of
a form of randomness or chance in compositions such as this one. While he was insistent
upon retaining the integrity of the notation as he expressed it, the instructions written in
the foreword of this piece reflect an intended desire for random coordination among the
musical lines. Through his own comments, as well as the experiences of his associates,
he also appeared to be expressing music as more of a philosophical proposition, with an
openness to allow for interpretation of the performer (5); a concept which would not
become popularized until a later period of this century. Ives also engaged the concept of
active participation from the listener, envisioning that the audience would in someway
become involved in the performance by whatever means. He hoped for a transformation
from the passive state to that of positive participation (6); another concept that was very

forward-thinking for his time.

The Unanswered Question also evokes a definite sense of transcendental
philosophy, seeming to express concepts of the philosophical realm which are equally as
powerful as those of the musical ones. Through what Ives described as a cosmic
landscape, he not only contemplates the notion of sublime creation, but also illustrates in
a sense that the question, rather than the answer is the key point to be emphasized.
Certain scholars such as Douglas Lee speculate that the inspiration for the title of the
work actually came from the 1841 poem titled The Sphinx written by the leader of the
transcendentalist movement, Ralph Waldo Emerson, which stated Thou art the
unanswered question;/ Couldst see thy proper eye,/ Always it asketh, asketh;/ And each
answer is a lie.7 Emersons movement essentially held the belief that all things were
divine, with a type of universal connectedness between man, nature, and God (8); a
concept which Ives appeared to be very connected with. Transcendentalism also
addressed issues relating to questions of truth, suggesting that answers are not necessarily
revealed through God, but could rather be attained through nature (9), a concept which
appears to be a theme central to this work. The trumpets question and the agitated winds
also reside within the transcendentalist philosophy, expressing that answers cannot be
forced, and attempts to do so end in a sense of not only foolishness, but also chaotic
failure. Ives also makes rather brilliant use of silence in this piece. Instead of merely
using silence as a periodic tool to augment expressiveness, he utilizes it as a canvas of
continuity to place sound upon through what Lossoff refers to as a type of heard silence
by means of sounds.10
Bernstein once referenced this work as almost a foreshadowing of the century of

music to lie ahead: tonality and syntactic clarity residing on one side, atonality and
syntactic confusion residing on the other; two schools of practice to become very much
split as time would progress.11 The Unanswered Question is indeed a fascinating piece,
combining separately, yet at the same time the earlier tonal music concepts such as
Classical period harmony with the atonal concepts of the Twentieth Century which would
become the fixture of the Second Viennese School.
In context, The Unanswered Question by Charles Ives has proven to not only be
an influential composition of modernist Twentieth Century Music due to its
groundbreaking atonal and polyrhythmic applications, but it has also proved to be an
important work through its philosophical concepts and innovative performance elements.
Though it was written over a century ago, it has definitely held its reputation as one of the
great early innovative works of Twentieth Century music in the United States.

Works Cited
1. Rowell, Lewis. Thinking A bout Music. The University of Massachusetts Press.
Amherst. 1985. p. 239.
2. Lee, Douglas. Masterworks of 20th-Century Music: The Modern Repertory of the
Symphony Orchestra. Routledge. New York, New York. 2002. p. 218.
3. Swafford, Jan. Charles Ives: A Life With Music. W.W. Norton. New York, New
York. 1996. p. 181.
4. Bernstein, Leonard. The Unanswered Question: Six Talks at Harvard (Charles
Eliot Norton Lectures). Harvard University Press. Cambridge, Massachusetts.
1981. p. 269.
5. Lee, Douglas. Masterworks of 20th-Century Music: The Modern Repertory of the
Symphony Orchestra. Routledge. New York, New York. 2002. p. 219.
6. Salzman, Eric. Twentieth-Century Music: An Introduction. Prentice-Hall.
Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. 1967. p. 145.
7. Lee, Douglas. Masterworks of 20th-Century Music: The Modern Repertory of the
Symphony Orchestra. Routledge. New York, New York. 2002. p. 218.
8. Richardson, Robert D. Jr. Emerson: The Mind on Fire. Berkeley, California:
University of California Press. 1995. p. 538.
9. Hankins, Barry. The Second Great Awakening and the Transcendentalists.
Greenwood Press. Westport, Connecticut. 2004. p. 136.
10. Lossloff, Nicky. Silence, Music, Silent Music. Ashgate Publishing. Burlington,
Vermont. 2007. p. 102.
11. Bernstein, Leonard. The Unanswered Question: Six Talks at Harvard (Charles
Eliot Norton Lectures). Harvard University Press. Cambridge, Massachusetts.
1981. p. 270