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Chapter 40
Charles Ives
The Unanswered Question
Chapter at a Glance
Listen to This First
Contrasting Timbres
Layered Texture
Atonal versus Tonal Harmony
Connect Your Playlist: Dissonance
Chapter Objectives
After reading this chapter and listening to the work, students should be able to:
40.2 Listen f The Unanswered Question.
The
Unanswered Question.
40.4 Listen for the rhythmic contrasts among the three ensembles as you listen to The
Unanswered Question.
Key Concepts
consonance, dissonance, layered texture
Chapter Highlight: Tonality versus Atonality
music, pitting the tonal and rhythmically regular strings against the atonal and
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Chapter Summary
Charles Ives was the son of a bandmaster and exposed to all types of music early in his life:
concert hall, band music at community gatherings, hymns at church, popular tunes in parlors.
demonstrated with the words
Ives used all of these idioms in his atonal and bold new music. The Unanswered
Question is scored for a small string orchestra, solo trumpet, and four wind players. The strings
play a traditionally harmonized, measured, but slow-moving piece of music, as they represent
Listening Guide
Although dissonant, new, and certainly different from anything encountered thus far in Listen to
This! The Unanswered Question is relatively simple to
understand. His use of texture to delineate each idea gives the listener a clear aural map through
MyMusicLab Resources
Automated Listening Guide: Charles Ives: The Unanswered Question
Chapter Audio: Chapter 40
Animated Notation: Atonal versus Tonal Harmony
Profile: Charles Ives (1874 1954)
Connect Your Playlist: Dissonance
Flashcards
163
Discussion Topics and Critical Thinking Questions
1. Why do listeners feel that the strings in The Unanswered Question are oblivious to the
the
problem seem to resolve? Why or why not? What is it about the music that interrupts the
Activities and Exercises
1. Arrange the class into four groups, physically separating the groups as much as possible in the
classroom. Ask each group to choose a song from a list of well-known tunes. Give each group
a starting pitch based upon one of four different keys. Sing the songs together, or conduct
them with entrances and exits, making sure that each group remains focused on a different
key, thus creating a fresh example of atonal music.
Journaling Prompt
Ives titled the composition profiled in this chapter The Unanswered Question. What do
that found in other places.)