The Ives Of March...Err, June

Charles Ives
Album: Charles Ives
Song: The Unanswered Question

You live on a peaceful Greek island.  You are retired.  You spend your days gardening, reading the paper, perhaps going for coffee with friends.  In the evening, your only desire is to sit and listen to the radio.  Your neighbor, however, a young woman with a taste for loud music, plays her CDs at full volume every evening, without exception.  You ask her nicely to turn down her stereo, but she is unswayed.  You complain; she ignores you.  You request police intervention, but they claim that her behavior is completely legal.  The noise continues; if anything worsens.  Driven to sheer mindless rage by this constant barrage on your senses, you pick up your shotgun, knock on her door, and when she answers fire three shots into her chest, killing her instantly.

Being both the father of two energetic boys and a band teacher, I can attest to the fact that an hour or two of relative silence goes a long way in keeping me sane.  "The Unanswered Question," by the great American composer Charles Ives, expresses the stillness that in my opinion lies at the heart of all things.

In terms of musical content, the trumpet repeatedly poses the "question" throughout the piece, while the flute quartet attempts to answer the question, increasingly stridently, and in vain.  Meanwhile, the strings express a type of formless timelessness.  A gorgeous piece of music.



EDIT: Inasmuch as I wrote this late last night as I was falling asleep, a few words of clarification are necessary.  The "Greek Island Guy" story is true.  A man literally driven insane by noise.  I happened upon this story in my current reading: George Michelsen Foy, The Quest For Absolute Silence.  Interesting book. Also, it was not my intention to devote much, if any, time to classical music in this blog, but it's easier to write about what I happen to be listening to, rather than listen to something that I happen to want to write about.