Music By The Numbers 3: Operations Quiz

Answer: 19

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) composed 15 symphonies, and is probably one of the most famous examples of breaking the Curse of the Ninth.

Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) composed 4 piano concertos, and they are his most famous works.

Adding 15 and 4, we get our answer, which is 19.

Answer: 3

Niccolo Paganini (1782-1840) was a violin virtuoso. He is known for writing some of the most technically challenging pieces for the violin. His most famous works are his 24 caprices, and the most well known out of those is his last and 24th one.

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) composed 21 Hungarian Dances, of which the fifth is undoubtedly the most famous.

Subtracting 21 from 24, we get 3.

Answer: 5

Although Tchaikovsky only composed 3 ballets compared to Prokofiev's eight, his are much more famous. Prokofiev's "Cinderella" and "Romeo and Juliet" ballets, though well known, are not known as widely as Tchaikovsky three works, which include "The Nutcracker" and "Swan Lake" as well as "The Sleeping Beauty".

Answer: 70

Saint-Saëns's "Carnival of the Animals" has 14 animals, although not all of them are about animals. One is about pianists, one is about fossils, one is about people with long ears, and one is simply the finale, and is not about anyone.

Schubert's "Trout Quintet" is one of his more famous pieces. There are five people in a quintet, which means that five people are needed to perform the "Trout Quintet".

Multiplying 14 and 5 to get the answer, we get 70.

Answer: 4

Claude Debussy (1862-1918) composed 24 preludes for piano, and they are separated into 2 books of 12 preludes each.

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) composed 6 symphonies, of which the last is the most famous.

Dividing 24 by 6, we get our answer, which is 4.

Answer: 32

Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) composed 7 complete symphonies, and he started working on an eighth which mysteriously disappeared at the time of his death.

Hector Berlioz (1803-1869) composed 4 symphonies, of which "Symphonie Fantastique" is the most famous.

Multiplying 8 and 4, we get 32.

Answer: 32

Edward Elgar (1857-1934) composed two symphonies and started a third, but he did not finish it at the time of his death.

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) composed five piano concertos.

Taking 2 to the power of 5, we get 32.

Answer: 90

Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924) composed 10 operas, which include "Tosca" and "Turandot".

Anton Bruckner (1824-1896) composed 9 symphonies throughout his life.

Multiplying 9 and 10 gives our answer, which is 90.

Answer: 1000

Schumann composed 4 symphonies and Prokofiev composed 5 piano concertos.

Taking the sum of 5 and 4, we get 9. Taking the square root of 9, we get 3. Doubling it yields 6, and adding 4 to that gives us 10. Finally, we cube 10 get our final answer of 1000.

Answer: 3

Shostakovich composed 6 total concertos, of which 2 were piano, 2 were violin, and 2 were cello concertos. Ravel composed 2 piano concertos. Schubert composed 9 total symphonies.

Multiplying 6 and 2 yields 12. Subtracting 9 from 12, we get our final answer of 3.