Jokes in Classical Music Trivia Quiz

Answer: Joseph Haydn

Haydn wrote more jokes into his music than anyone else except P.D.Q. Bach. In his Symphony No, 60, "Il Distratto," the orchestra breaks off near the beginning of the last movement, and the violins tune their G strings up to G (which means they had to start intentionally flat).

Answer: Ludwig van Beethoven

Beethoven was supposed to be fiercely serious, but there are jokes even in his music. In the first movement of the "Eroica" symphony, the orchestra is headed toward the home key but is still on a B flat 7 chord when the horn jumps in with the main theme on an E flat chord.

Answer: Camille Saint-Saëns

Saint-Saëns' "Carnival of the Animals" is full of humor. For the part titled "Tortoises," he uses the famous "Can-Can" theme from "Orpheus in the Underworld," but played at a crawling pace.

Answer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Mozart's "A Musical Joke" is a brutal parody of bad music. In the final measures, each of the string parts has a different key signature, and it sounds even worse than you might think. The better you understand classical styles, the funnier this piece is.

Answer: Robert Schumann

In Robert Schumann's little piano piece called "Soldier's March," what sounds like the strong beat doesn't match up with the bar lines, as if the soldier is out of step with the band. At the end, an extra quarter note is inserted to make it come out right.

Answer: Felix Mendelssohn

Mendelssohn wrote his "A Midsummer Night's Dream" overture when he was just seventeen. Much of it is delicate fairy music, but there's a rambunctious section which includes what sounds like the hee-haw of a donkey. It must be a reference to Bottom the weaver in Shakespeare's play, who's hit by a spell that turns his head into a donkey's.

Answer: Erik Satie

"Vexations" is a short piano piece by Satie, with a note by the composer suggesting it should be played 840 times in succession. At least once it was actually played that way, taking over 18 hours, and legend has it someone in the audience shouted "Encore!" at the end. The piece made it into the Guinness Book of World Records.

Answer: Gustav Mahler

In his first symphony, Mahler put "Frere Jacques" into a minor key and made it the main theme of the slow movement, which is a weird funeral march. A few times during the movement, a klezmer band seems to break into the proceedings.

Answer: Aaron Copland

Toward the end of Copland's "Rodeo," the orchestra seems to run out of steam before picking itself up for the conclusion. The effect is similar to an old hand-cranked record player that wasn't wound up enough.

Answer: Richard Strauss

"Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks" by Richard Strauss depicts a character who is the subject of many crude tales in German folklore. You can hear Eulenspiegel disrupting solemn proceedings, trying to make light of his impending execution, and making a mocking reappearance after everyone thinks he's dead.