Continuous Question-Answer Pairs

This article offers a generalized study of continuous question-answer pairs in common-practice tonal music. In all (and only in) question-answer pairs, the first ending is less conclusive than the second. The first ending need not, however, be a cadence. The category of question-answer pairs (QAPs) that are continuous cuts across various theme types in Caplin’s (1998) taxonomy. Examples of continuous QAPs include (1) continuous periods (with a dominant-version consequent or a consequent with a non-tonic beginning); (2) most, but not all cases of the hybrid theme type compound basic theme + consequent; and (3) many, but not all statement-response pairs in sentential presentations. Various aspects contribute to the evaluation of each specific case, including caesuras, motivic parallelism, symmetry, internal organization, unit length, independence of the hyper-unit, and melodic closure.