FREE! Click here to Join FunTrivia. Thousands of games, quizzes, and lots more!
Quiz about Ten Great Pianists
Quiz about Ten Great Pianists

Ten Great Pianists Trivia Quiz


As a solo instrument, the piano is second to none in classical music, and many internationally famed players have made their mark as performers. This quiz tests your knowledge of just ten of them.

A multiple-choice quiz by stedman. Estimated time: 5 mins.
  1. Home
  2. »
  3. Quizzes
  4. »
  5. Music Trivia
  6. »
  7. Other Music
  8. »
  9. Classical Music

Author
stedman
Time
5 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
338,767
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Average
Avg Score
7 / 10
Plays
1224
Awards
Top 10% Quiz
Last 3 plays: quizbloodhound (9/10), Andyboy2021 (10/10), Guest 86 (10/10).
- -
Question 1 of 10
1. These days he is remembered almost entirely as a composer, but for much of his lifetime this Russian-born musician was at least as well known as a virtuoso pianist. He often appeared as soloist in his own five compositions for piano and orchestra, consisting of four concertos and a "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini". What is his name? Hint


Question 2 of 10
2. The Austrian pianist Paul Wittgenstein, elder brother of the philosopher Ludwig, had a successful career as a pianist despite what handicap, caused by an injury during the First World War? Hint


Question 3 of 10
3. The Canadian pianist Glenn Gould (1932-82) became almost as famous for his eccentric behaviour while playing as for his acknowledged musical brilliance. Which of the following behaviours marred many of his performances, both live and recorded? Hint


Question 4 of 10
4. This female English pianist, born in 1890, was a distinguished interpreter of Mozart and Beethoven, but is best remembered as instigator of a series of some 1,700 lunchtime concerts at London's National Gallery in Trafalgar Square, held during the Second World War when the majority of London's concert halls had closed during the evenings because of the blackout. Hint


Question 5 of 10
5. A few pianists have branched out into other activities, although these are usually music-related, such as conducting. But what non-musical position did the famous Polish pianist Ignacy Jan Paderewski hold between January and December 1919? Hint


Question 6 of 10
6. Born in 1948 in Japan, this pianist became a British citizen, and was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 2009. She is especially renowned for her performances of the Mozart piano concertos directed from the piano, but she also champions the piano works of twentieth century composers such as Berg and Schoenberg. Hint


Question 7 of 10
7. Some fine pianists work mainly as recital accompanists. The most famous of these is probably Gerald Moore (1899-1987), who accompanied many of the twentieth century's greatest singers such as Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Victoria de los Ángeles and Elisabeth Schwarzkopf. What title did he give to his 1962 volume of memoirs? Hint


Question 8 of 10
8. This famous pianist, born in Kiev in 1903, left the Soviet Union in 1925 to live and work in the West. He did not return until 1986, three years before his death, when he gave an acclaimed solo recital in Moscow. What is his name? Hint


Question 9 of 10
9. The great British pianist John Ogdon died in 1989 at the age of 52, as a result of pneumonia related to undiagnosed diabetes. But what medical condition caused his temporary retirement from performance from 1973 until the early 1980s? Hint


Question 10 of 10
10. This Argentine-born Israeli pianist made his public debut in 1950 at the age of seven in Buenos Aires. He has performed as a pianist under most of the world's greatest conductors, and is now well known as a conductor himself. In the twenty-first century, he has become especially associated with the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra. Hint



(Optional) Create a Free FunTrivia ID to save the points you are about to earn:

arrow Select a User ID:
arrow Choose a Password:
arrow Your Email:




Most Recent Scores
Mar 23 2024 : quizbloodhound: 9/10
Feb 29 2024 : Andyboy2021: 10/10
Feb 17 2024 : Guest 86: 10/10
Feb 09 2024 : Guest 76: 7/10
Jan 29 2024 : Guest 122: 4/10
Jan 29 2024 : Guest 50: 7/10
Jan 29 2024 : Guest 50: 4/10

Score Distribution

quiz
Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. These days he is remembered almost entirely as a composer, but for much of his lifetime this Russian-born musician was at least as well known as a virtuoso pianist. He often appeared as soloist in his own five compositions for piano and orchestra, consisting of four concertos and a "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini". What is his name?

Answer: Sergei Rachmaninov

Rachmaninov (1873-1943) is generally included amongst the greatest pianists of the first half of the twentieth century. Up until 1917, when he left his home country after the Russian Revolution, he combined his successful career as a pianist equally with composition. Between 1918, when he moved to the United States, and his death in 1943, he composed relatively few works, but performed throughout America with great success as a pianist.
2. The Austrian pianist Paul Wittgenstein, elder brother of the philosopher Ludwig, had a successful career as a pianist despite what handicap, caused by an injury during the First World War?

Answer: Amputation of his right arm

Wittgenstein refused to give up his musical career, making arrangements of existing piano concertos to enable them to be played with the left hand alone, and commissioning new works from composers including Prokofiev, Korngold, Britten and Richard Strauss.

The most famous of these is probably Ravel's "Concerto for the Left Hand in D major", which is still regularly played by two-handed performers.
3. The Canadian pianist Glenn Gould (1932-82) became almost as famous for his eccentric behaviour while playing as for his acknowledged musical brilliance. Which of the following behaviours marred many of his performances, both live and recorded?

Answer: Singing or humming while playing

Recording engineers would try to remove Gould's vocalising, but with limited success. Gould eventually gave up performing in public altogether at the age of 31, although he continued to make recordings up until his premature death in 1982 aged 50. Eleven years after his death, the movie "Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould", directed by the Canadian Francois Girard, prompted renewed interest in his life and work.
4. This female English pianist, born in 1890, was a distinguished interpreter of Mozart and Beethoven, but is best remembered as instigator of a series of some 1,700 lunchtime concerts at London's National Gallery in Trafalgar Square, held during the Second World War when the majority of London's concert halls had closed during the evenings because of the blackout.

Answer: Dame Myra Hess

Myra Hess played at many of the concerts herself, and they quickly became celebrated for maintaining the morale of London during the war, by showing that cultural life could continue despite the bombs and blackouts. She was awarded her DBE (Dame Commander of the British Empire) in 1941 in recognition of this achievement. She died in 1965 at the age of 75.
5. A few pianists have branched out into other activities, although these are usually music-related, such as conducting. But what non-musical position did the famous Polish pianist Ignacy Jan Paderewski hold between January and December 1919?

Answer: Prime Minister of Poland

Paderewski (1860-1941) was already a world-famous pianist when he became involved in the Polish nationalist movement during the First World War. In 1918, Poland was still ruled by Germany, but in December of that year Paderewski himself made a speech in Poznan, which inspired the successful Greater Poland Uprising against German rule. Paderewski agreed to become Prime Minister of the newly-independent Poland in January 1919, although by the end of the year his support had faded, and he resigned in December.

He then resumed his career as a pianist, which he pursued with great success until his death in 1941.
6. Born in 1948 in Japan, this pianist became a British citizen, and was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 2009. She is especially renowned for her performances of the Mozart piano concertos directed from the piano, but she also champions the piano works of twentieth century composers such as Berg and Schoenberg.

Answer: Mitsuko Uchida

Mitsuko Uchida was born in Tokyo, but moved to Vienna at the age of twelve, where she studied at the Academy of Music. In 1975, she won second prize in the Leeds International Piano Competition (the Russian Dmitri Alexeev came first). In 2010, she took up the post of Artist-in-Residence with the Berlin Philharmonic.
7. Some fine pianists work mainly as recital accompanists. The most famous of these is probably Gerald Moore (1899-1987), who accompanied many of the twentieth century's greatest singers such as Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Victoria de los Ángeles and Elisabeth Schwarzkopf. What title did he give to his 1962 volume of memoirs?

Answer: Am I Too Loud?

Until Gerald Moore came along, the recital accompanist was usually effectively anonymous, against the main attraction of the famous singer or instrumentalist. Moore, who was born just outside London, in Watford, but was raised in Toronto, Canada, was very much an equal partner, and his services were actively sought by many of the world's finest singers for their recitals.

The title of his first autobiographical volume is an ironic reference to the traditionally subservient role of the humble accompanist.
8. This famous pianist, born in Kiev in 1903, left the Soviet Union in 1925 to live and work in the West. He did not return until 1986, three years before his death, when he gave an acclaimed solo recital in Moscow. What is his name?

Answer: Vladimir Horowitz

Horowitz was famous for his virtuoso technique. Although he had a long public career, giving his final solo recital in 1987 at the age of 84, there were several periods during his life when he did not perform in public, as a result of stage fright brought about by insecurity about his abilities.

But the final series of public recitals he gave between 1985 and 1987 showed him to have lost little of his technical ability and style. He died in 1989.
9. The great British pianist John Ogdon died in 1989 at the age of 52, as a result of pneumonia related to undiagnosed diabetes. But what medical condition caused his temporary retirement from performance from 1973 until the early 1980s?

Answer: Mental illness

John Ogdon studied at the Royal Northern College of Music in the 1950s, where his contemporaries included the composers Harrison Birtwistle and Peter Maxwell Davies. In 1962, at the age of 25, he won joint first prize at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Piano Competition, with Vladimir Ashkenazy.

As a performer, he was famous for his wide repertoire and phenomenal sight-reading ability. The illness which caused him to be hospitalised for considerable periods throughout the 1970s was believed to be a form of either manic depression or schizophrenia.

His early death only a few years after returning to the concert platform in the 1980s was thus especially tragic.
10. This Argentine-born Israeli pianist made his public debut in 1950 at the age of seven in Buenos Aires. He has performed as a pianist under most of the world's greatest conductors, and is now well known as a conductor himself. In the twenty-first century, he has become especially associated with the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra.

Answer: Daniel Barenboim

During the 1960s and 70s, Barenboim made a specialty of performing chamber music with such equally distinguished musicians as the violinists Itzak Perlman and Pinchas Zukerman and the cellist Jacqueline du Pré, whom he married in 1967. In 1999 he and Edward Said founded the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, with the specific intention of enabling young musicians from Israel and Palestine to perform together, and thus promote understanding between the two nationalities.
Source: Author stedman

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor ralzzz before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.
Related Quizzes
This quiz is part of series Stedman's Classical Music Quizzes (2):

A second potpourri from my classical music quizzes

  1. Bells and Whistles Average
  2. Musical Flowers Easier
  3. Ten Great Pianists Average
  4. Are We in the Right Ballet? Easier
  5. Concert Halls of London Average

3/29/2024, Copyright 2024 FunTrivia, Inc. - Report an Error / Contact Us