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Quiz about My Country Tis Of Thee
Quiz about My Country Tis Of Thee

My Country 'Tis Of Thee Trivia Quiz


Many classical composers have written pieces, such as tone poems and overtures, that are inspired by the landscape, history, and folklore of the country of their birth. Can you match these composers with their patriotic works?

A matching quiz by stedman. Estimated time: 3 mins.
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Author
stedman
Time
3 mins
Type
Match Quiz
Quiz #
405,102
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Easy
Avg Score
9 / 10
Plays
191
(a) Drag-and-drop from the right to the left, or (b) click on a right side answer box and then on a left side box to move it.
QuestionsChoices
1. Jan Sibelius  
  Nights in the Gardens of Spain
2. Richard Strauss  
  Cockaigne: In London Town
3. Charles Ives  
  Three Places in New England
4. Bedřich Smetana  
  Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks
5. Ottorino Respighi  
  The Land of the Mountain and the Flood
6. Edward Elgar  
  Má vlast
7. Anatoly Lyadov  
  Finlandia
8. Peter Sculthorpe  
  Fountains of Rome
9. Manuel de Falla  
  Kakadu
10. Hamish MacCunn  
  Baba-Yaga





Select each answer

1. Jan Sibelius
2. Richard Strauss
3. Charles Ives
4. Bedřich Smetana
5. Ottorino Respighi
6. Edward Elgar
7. Anatoly Lyadov
8. Peter Sculthorpe
9. Manuel de Falla
10. Hamish MacCunn

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. Jan Sibelius

Answer: Finlandia

The Finnish composer Jan Sibelius (1865-1957) wrote many pieces that are explicitly inspired by the folklore of Finland, including the four "Lemminkäinen Legends" and the choral symphony "Kullervo". "Finlandia" (op 26) is one of his most openly nationalistic works, having been written in 1899 at a time when Finland was still part of the Imperial Russian Empire. "Finlandia" became closely associated with the nationalist movement, and many early performances had to be given under less explicitly patriotic titles to avoid Russian censorship.
2. Richard Strauss

Answer: Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks

During the 1880s and 90s, Richard Strauss (1864-1949) wrote several tone poems that helped to cement his reputation as a significant composer of the German "Late Romantic" movement. "Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks" (op 28) is based on the character of a roguish fourteenth-century German peasant, the subject of a 1515 chapbook, whose often scatological adventures poke fun at figures of authority such as priests and academics. Strauss's piece, while generally light-hearted in tone, ends with a rather gruesome representation of Till's execution by hanging for the crime of blasphemy.
3. Charles Ives

Answer: Three Places in New England

Much of the orchestral music of Charles Ives (1874-1954) is a fascinating combination of avant-garde musical techniques, intermingled with musical quotations from popular American hymns and songs, marching-band tunes, and spirituals. The orchestral suite "Three Places in New England" uses all of these techniques to describe three locations associated with the American Civil War, the War of Independence, and the rural landscape of the Housatonic River in Massachusetts. To this effect, the three movements are entitled:

1. The "St. Gaudens" in Boston Common (Col. Shaw and his Colored Regiment)
2. Putnam's Camp, Redding, Connecticut
3. The Housatonic at Stockbridge
4. Bedřich Smetana

Answer: Má vlast

The Czech composer Bedřich Smetana (1824-64) is often considered to be the "father of Czech music". "Má vlast" ("My fatherland") is a set of six tone poems, each describing in music a feature of Czech legend, history, or geography. Briefly, these are as follows:
"Vysehrad" - a 10th-century castle in Prague, which was at one time the palace of the earliest Czech kings.
"Vltava" - a river which flows through Prague. The piece, which is the best-known of the six, depicts the route of the river from source to the point at which it joins the River Elbe in Germany.
"Sárka" - a legendary female warrior who led a revolt of warrior maidens at some point in the 8th century.
"Z českých luhů a hájů" (From Bohemia's Woods and Fields) - a general portrait of the Czech countryside.
"Tábor" - a city founded by the Hussites in 1420.
"Blaník" - a mountain inside which (according to legend) St Wenceslas and an army of knights lie sleeping, ready to awaken and save the country at times of grave danger.
5. Ottorino Respighi

Answer: Fountains of Rome

The Italian composer Ottorino Respighi (1879-1936) was born and lived in Bologna, before moving to Rome in 1913 to take up a Professorship at the Liceo Musicale di Santa Cecilia. In 1916 he wrote the tone poem "Fontane di Roma" ("Fountains of Rome"), which became internationally popular following a performance in Milan under the famous conductor Arturo Toscanini.
The piece describes in music four famous Roman fountains at different times of the day:
"The Fountain of Valle Giulia at Dawn"
"The Triton Fountain in the Morning"
"The Trevi Fountain at Noon"
"The Villa Medici Fountain at Sunset"
Respighi wrote two further tone poems inspired by the Italian capital: "Pines of Rome" (1924) and "Roman Festivals" (1928). Today, these three are probably his best-known works.
6. Edward Elgar

Answer: Cockaigne: In London Town

One of England's greatest composers, Edward Elgar (1857-1934) wrote "Cockaigne" in 1900-01 shortly after the premiere of his first major success, the "Enigma Variations" (1899). Commissioned by the Royal Philharmonic Society, Elgar himself described it in a letter as "cheerful and Londony, stout and steaky: honest, healthy, humorous and strong, but not vulgar".

The word "Cockaigne" originally referred to a mediaeval land of luxurious idleness, but to the English it echoes the name "Cockney" as a term for those born in the East End of London.
7. Anatoly Lyadov

Answer: Baba-Yaga

The Russian composer Anatoly Lyadov (1855-1914) wrote his short orchestral tone-poem "Baba-Yaga" in 1891 and revised it in 1904. Baba-Yaga is a well-known character from Russian folklore, usually characterised as an old woman or a witch who lives in a hut with hen's legs and has a pestle and mortar which she uses to fly around the countryside.

She is also the subject of the ninth "picture" from Mussorgsky's 1874 piano suite "Pictures at an Exhibition", which is entitled "The Hut on Fowl's Legs - Baba Yaga".
8. Peter Sculthorpe

Answer: Kakadu

Many of the works of the Australian composer Peter Sculthorpe (1929-2014) are inspired by the landscape and Aboriginal culture of Australia. His tone poem "Kakadu", written in 1988, in one of these. It is a musical depiction of the Kakadu National Park in Northern Australia, inspired by not just its landscape but also the culture of the Aboriginal tribes who live there.

A later revision of the score includes recordings of Aboriginal chant and Australian birdsong, and a part for the native wind instrument, the didgeridoo.
9. Manuel de Falla

Answer: Nights in the Gardens of Spain

The Spanish composer Manuel de Falla (1876-1946) wrote "Noches en los jardines de Espańa" in 1915 while he was living in Madrid, as a piece for piano and orchestra. There are three movements, each depicting a garden in the Andalusian region of Spain, where de Falla had been born. They are titled as follows:
"En el Generalife" (In the Generalife) - the gardens surrounding the Alhambra Palace.
"Danza lejana" (A Distant Dance) - a dance in an unidentified garden.
"En los jardines de la Sierra de Córdoba" (In the Gardens of the Sierra de Córdoba).
10. Hamish MacCunn

Answer: The Land of the Mountain and the Flood

It is likely that the Scottish composer Hamish MacCunn (1868-1916) would be entirely forgotten today, were it not for this lively concert overture, first performed in 1887 at London's Crystal Palace. The title comes from Sir Walter Scott's "The Lay of the Last Minstrel", the relevant stanza of which reads:
"O Caledonia! stern and wild,
Meet nurse for a poetic child!
Land of the heath and shaggy wood,
Land of the mountain and the flood,
Land of my sires! what mortal hand
Can e'er untie the filial band
That knits me to thy rugged strand!"
MacCunn's overture is a tuneful representation of the Scottish landscape. In the UK at least, it became more widely known in the 1970s when it was used as the theme for a BBC Scotland TV programme entitled "Sutherland's Law", which ran for five series between 1973 and 1976.
Source: Author stedman

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