The Unanswered Question I : Musical Phonology
Seen it?1976 | 105 min | Documentary, Music
Sunday Safe Betearly ratingWhy it’s a Sunday Safe Bet
It won 6 Emmys and people are still talking about it, though it had a box office flop. A safe bet when you want something reliable.
Based on critics, audiences, awards, box office and buzz. Details below.Is it for you?
- Who'll love it
- Made for the curious. If you loved The Beatles: Eight Days a Week - The Touring Years, start here.
- The mood
- Eye-opening.
- The pace
- Moves along nicely, at 1 hr 45 min.
- What might put you off
- Made in 1976: an older pace and style.
This series comprised six lectures on music, which cumulatively took the title of a work by Charles Ives, The Unanswered Question. Bernstein drew analogies to other disciplines, such as poetry, aesthetics, and especially linguistics, hoping to make these lectures accessible to an audience with limited or no musical experience, while maintaining an intelligent level of discourse: Phonology is the linguistic study of sounds, or phonemes. Bernstein's application of this term to music results in what he calls "musical phonology".
How it earned its rating
- CriticsNot counted
Not enough reviews on record yet
- AudiencesNot counted
Not measured yet: not enough ratings
- AwardsVery strong
Won 6 Emmys: Primetime Emmy Award: Best Musical Contribution for Television, Primetime Emmy Award: Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Music for Television, Primetime Emmy Award: Outstanding Musical Program, Primetime Emmy Award: Outstanding Variety or Musical Program – Classical Music and 2 more. Also nominated for 1 Oscar and 3 more Emmys. Plus 14 other awards.
- Box office & staying powerWeak
$2K worldwide on a $1K budget; interest faded quickly after launch
- Buzz & cultural impactVery strong
About 540K people sought it out in the past year
Trailer
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Cast & crew
Directed by Humphrey Burton
- Leonard BernsteinHimself