The Old Question is based on a Yiddish song of the same name — di alte kashe (די אַלטע קשיא). The text of the song explains, rather cryptically, that the world asks an old question, “Trala-tradi-ri-di-rom?” to which one answers, “Tradi-ri-di-rom!” and thus the question persists. The Yiddish word for question here is kashe (קשיא) which isn’t a question in the sense of a straightforward inquiry — which in Yiddish would be frage (פֿראַגע) or shayle (שאלה) — but rather something more philosophical: an enigma or a conundrum. This folksong offers a bit of Jewish folk wisdom, reminding the listener that the eternal and existential questions of life always remain unanswerable.
As I adapted this folksong for my own composition I wondered: What does the wisdom of this folksong mean to me? What does this melody and its musical language mean to me? How do I bring them into my own personal musical language? I decided to ask these questions musically by deconstructing the melody into motivic elements (a focus on repeated Gs, a melodic octave, a 4-note descending melodic line motif, etc.) and crafting something searching of a prelude-nature with them (m. 1-80). I then answer that musical “question” by taking the folksong itself, re-harmonizing it, and fitting it into my soundworld (m. 81-end). The work closes with a brief nod to a more traditional harmonization of the melody (m.96-99), before concluding by returning to my own harmonies and textures.
