The Unanswered Question

In my music appreciation last week we listened to Charles Ives’ piece The Unanswered Question. I am still contemplating the meaning of it. The piece is short, only about five or six minutes. There are three musical parts essentially:  the strings, a solo trumpet, and flutes. The strings play long notes very quietly throughout the piece. The trumpet repeatedly plays a phrase, and every so often, the flutes play weird, discordant notes.  Grandpa Wally thinks that the strings represent the universe; the trumpets are mankind asking the questions about the meaning of life; the flutes are the non-answers. It’s wild that Ives accomplished so much with so little.  


These thoughts go through my mind that have no answers, like, what is my purpose? What is the meaning of a life like mine, or is there none? You will get different answers depending upon who you ask, which is why the flutes all play different things. 

I am totally into this piece, and will be thinking about it for weeks.