ANSWER. An answer in music is, in strict counterpoint, the repetition by one part or instrument of a theme proposed by another. In the following chorus from Handel's ‘Utrecht Jubilate
’ a and c are the theme, and b and d the successive answers. In Germany the theme and answer are known as dux and comes, or as Führer and Gefähter. (See the articles Canon, Counterpoint, and Fugue.)
The word is used in looser parlance to denote such replies of...