Dead Music

15 Points Per Correct Answer - No time limit  

1. Before the twentieth century, nearly all composers were performers as well. Match the following greats with their respective performance specialisms: Vivaldi, Bach, Beethoven, Berlioz, Wagner, Richard Strauss. violinist, horn player, pianist, conductor, pianist, conductor violinist, pianist, conductor, pianist, pianist, conductor violinist, organist, pianist, conductor, conductor, conductor violinist, organist, pianist, horn player, conductor, pianist

2. Machaut, Dufay, Josquin des Prez and Palestrina all wrote what kind of work? Oratorio Mass Partsong Glee

3. Which of these have not been revived in the twentieth century? Harpsichord Castrato Viol Natural trumpet

4. Handel was one of the greatest composers of Italian opera of his day. True False

5. Quite a few composers had other careers on the side - or sometimes it was even their musical careers that were secondary. Can you match the following trades and positions with their composers: prince, politician, fur merchant, insurance company director, naval officer, chemist, priest? Telemann, Palestrina, Haydn, Charles Ives, Schumann, Rimsky-Korsakov, Shostakovitch Schuetz, Charles Ives, Vivaldi, Phil Glass, Haydn, Purcell, Verdi Gesualdo, Verdi, Palestrina, Charles Ives, Rimsky-Korsakov, Borodin, Vivaldi Telemann, Charles Ives, Borodin, Elgar, Purcell, Verdi, Vivaldi

6. In the couple of decades around 1600, English composers wrote far more madrigals in total than their Italian counterparts. True False

7. Piano is to harpsichord as flute is to....? oboe Baroque flute recorder shawm

8. Tschaikovsky called him a "giftless bastard", a "scoundrel", a "self-inflated mediocrity" and his music "chaotic and absolutely empty dried-up stuff"; Hugo Wolf claimed him as one of the worthiest representatives of the art of composing without ideas; Mahler called him "a puny little dwarf with a rather narrow chest"; and Benjamin Britten didn't mind his bad music, but couldn't stand his good stuff. Who was he? Richard Wagner (1813-1883) Anton Bruckner (1824-1896) Franz Liszt (1811 - 1886) Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)

9. What medical conditions affected respectively Bach, Handel, Beethoven, Schumann and Wolf shortly before they died? Bach and Schumann went blind, Handel went deaf and Beethoven and Wolf went mad Bach went blind, Handel and Beethoven went deaf and Schumann and Wolf went mad Bach and Handel went blind, Beethoven went deaf and Schumann and Wolf went mad Bach went mad, Handel and Beethoven went deaf and Schumann and Wolf went blind

10. He wrote the Eroica, the Emperor and the Archduke. Who was he? Robert Schumann (1810-1856) Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1828) Peter Ilyich Tschaikovsky (1840-1893) Josef Haydn (1732-1809)

11. Two masterworks, Puccini's "shabby little shocker" and one of Elgar's, both premiered in 1900. What were they? "Madame Butterfly" and the Violin Concerto "La Boheme" and the "Enigma Variations" "Il Fanciula del West" and the Cello Concerto "Tosca" and "The Dream of Gerontius"

12. Tonic solfa is derived from a medieval plainchant hymn to St John the Baptist. True False

13. In Western musical notation, did polyphony (the simultaneous sounding of more than one note) appear before the musical staff/stave of one or more lines? Yes No

14. Which of these composers wrote a work called "The Seasons"? Vivaldi (1678-1741) Haydn (1732-1809) Rossini (1792-1868) Pergolesi (1710-1736)

15. The harpsichord and piano are the chief representatives of two of the three main types of keyed stringed percussion instruments. Which instrument is the main representative of the third type? Psaltery Organ Clavichord Dulcimer

16. Match these pieces with their nicknames: Haydn's last symphony, no.104 in D major, Beethoven's Piano Sonata op.27 no.2 in c# minor, Tschaikovsky's Symphony no.2 op.17 and Prokoviev's Symphony no.1 in D major. The London, the Moonlight, the Little Russian and the Classical The Farewell, the Appassionata, the Little Ukranian and the Neo-classical The Oxford, the Waldstein, the Big Russian and the Romantic The Surprise, Les Adieux, the Big Georgian and The Modern

17. With which monarch were the composers JS Bach, CPE Bach and JJ Quantz, as well as Voltaire, all aquainted? The empress Catherine II (the Great) of Russia Louis XV of France The emperor Joseph II of Austria Frederick II (the Great) of Prussia

18. Which composer wrote a piece of music consisting entirely of silence? Steve Reich Harry Partch John Cage Phil Glass

19. Match the following Scandinavian countries and Finland with their respective greatest composers: Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland. Edvard Grieg, Franz Berwald, Jean Sibelius, Carl Nielsen Edvard Grieg, Jean Sibelius, Franz Berwald, Carl Nielsen Edvard Grieg, Franz Berwald, Carl Nielsen, Jean Sibelius Edvard Grieg, Carl Nielsen, Franz Berwald, Jean Sibelius

20. Wagner's father-in-law was....? ...Franz Liszt (1811-1886) ...Giacomo Meyerbeer (1791-1864) ...Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) ...Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826)

21. Finish this quote, by Haydn to Leopold Mozart regarding his son: "I declare to you before God, and as an honest man, that your son... ...is the greatest composer I know, either personally or by name." ...has personal habits which I cannot mention before you, but which I utterly abhor and detest." ...swindled me out of 50,000 talers, and I swear that I will not leave this house until I am repaid." ...can no more write music than I can shoe a horse."

22. The tone poem "Thus Spake Zarathustra" (Richard Strauss), Albinoni's "Adagio", Borodin's opera "Prince Igor" and Mozart's Piano Concerto no.21 K467 in C major all featured prominently in films and musicals. Respectively, which ones? The film "2001: A Space Odyssey", the film "Gallipoli", the musical "Kismet" and the film "Elvira Madigan" The film "2001: A Space Odyssey", the film "Nosferatu", the musical "Kismet" and the film "Casablanca" The film "2001: A Space Odyssey", the musical "West Side Story", the film "Superman" and the film "The Sixth Sense" The film "2001: A Space Odyssey", the film "Dumb and Dumber", the musical "West Side Story" and the film "A Nightmare on Elm Street"

23. On the works of which famous literary figure did all of the following composers base at least one of their works: Prokoviev, Mendelssohn, Tschaikovsky, Berlioz, Verdi, Weber, Bellini, Wagner, Lehar? Answer: (One Word, last name only)

24. What is common to all these works: Schubert's 8th, Bruckner's 9th and Mahler's 10th symphonies, Bach's Art of Fugue, Puccini's opera "Turandot", Berg's opera "Lulu" and Schoenberg's opera "Moses and Aaron", and Mozart's Requiem? They're all in the key of B minor They've all been used for television programme themes They all include voices They're all unfinished

25. Which two of these were not JS Bach's sons: CPE, JC, JL, PDQ, WF? CPE and WF PDQ and JL WF and JL JC and JL