FREE! Click here to Join FunTrivia. Thousands of games, quizzes, and lots more!
Quiz about Early Icons of German Culture
Quiz about Early Icons of German Culture

Early Icons of German Culture Trivia Quiz


Here are ten people who were instrumental in creating German culture. Have fun!

A multiple-choice quiz by shvdotr. Estimated time: 5 mins.
  1. Home
  2. »
  3. Quizzes
  4. »
  5. People Trivia
  6. »
  7. People by Country
  8. »
  9. Germans

Author
shvdotr
Time
5 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
388,824
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Average
Avg Score
7 / 10
Plays
237
Awards
Top 35% Quiz
Last 3 plays: Guest 76 (7/10), Guest 216 (4/10), wellenbrecher (10/10).
- -
Question 1 of 10
1. The best known of the 13th century Minnesänger, this poet is considered the best German lyrical poet before Goethe. Who is this writer of over 100 love songs? Hint


Question 2 of 10
2. Another Minnesänger and a contemporary of the above poet is a Bavarian knight famous for his version of "Parzival." Who is this poet who claimed to be illiterate? Hint


Question 3 of 10
3. Before even the Minnesänger is this remarkable woman, who was born around 1098. In addition to her religious visions, this abbess and philosopher composed 70 musical works. Who is this mystic and saint who is also known as the "Sibyl of the Rhine"? Hint


Question 4 of 10
4. By the 15th century, the Minnesänger phenomenon had transformed into the Meistersänger. Probably the greatest of these was born in Nuremberg in 1494. Who was this poet, playwright, fabulist, and shoemaker whose literary output consisted of over 4000 works, including Meisterlieder (mastersongs), plays, fables, and religious tracts? Hint


Question 5 of 10
5. One of Germany's greatest artists was born in Nuremberg in 1471. His self portrait paintings, engravings like "Knight, Death, and the Devil", and woodcuts like "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" are unsurpassed in German art. Who is this master whom the Lutheran Church honors annually on April 6?

Hint


Question 6 of 10
6. Perhaps the greatest German woodcarver of all time was born about 1460. Perhaps his best creations are altars carved from limewood such as the "Holy Blood Altar" in the Jakobskirche in Rothenburg ob der Tauber. Who was this master sculptor who only gained fame after his death in 1531? Hint


Question 7 of 10
7. An esteemed painter and engraver who lived from about 1445 to 1491, our next subject even had one of his engravings ("Trial of St. Anthony") copied by Michelangelo, according to Italian painter Giorgio Vasari. Who was this most important engraver north of the Alps prior to 1500? Hint


Question 8 of 10
8. Born in Nuremberg in 1653, this organist and composer is best known for his "Canon in D." Before his death in 1706, he produced a wide variety of both religious and secular music. Who was this fugue master who influenced the later work of J.S. Bach? Hint


Question 9 of 10
9. Painter of the "Isenheim Alterpiece," our next artist lived from around 1470 until 1528. Unfortunately, only ten paintings and 35 drawings of his work survive. Who was this creator of religious works whose "Crucifixion" is on display in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.? Hint


Question 10 of 10
10. Probably the least known figure on our quiz was born in Strasbourg in 1457. Who was the humanist and satirist who wrote "Das Narrenschiff" ("The Ship of Fools") in 1494? 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 17 2024 : Guest 76: 7/10
Feb 29 2024 : Guest 216: 4/10
Feb 21 2024 : wellenbrecher: 10/10
Feb 05 2024 : Guest 151: 10/10

Score Distribution

quiz
Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. The best known of the 13th century Minnesänger, this poet is considered the best German lyrical poet before Goethe. Who is this writer of over 100 love songs?

Answer: Walther von der Vogelweide

Minnesang, meaning "love song," was a form of German lyric poetry in the Middle High German period. Walther von der Vogelweide (about 1170 to about 1230) was probably its best known writer. He was also the author of a lot of political poetry, including satire and moralizing.

Wieland der Schmied was a legendary blacksmith dating back to Old Norse, German, and Old English traditions. Chrétien de Troyes was a 12th Century French poet known for his Arthurian stories. Dafydd ap Gwilym was a great Welsh poet of the 14th century.
2. Another Minnesänger and a contemporary of the above poet is a Bavarian knight famous for his version of "Parzival." Who is this poet who claimed to be illiterate?

Answer: Wolfram von Eschenbach

Wolfram, of whose life very little is actually known, based his "Parzival," the first German work based on the Holy Grail legend, on the same story by France's Chrétien de Troyes.

Hiëronymus van Alphen was a Dutch legal scholar and officeholder who lived from 1746 to 1803. Perhaps Germany's greatest poet, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe lived from 1749 to 1832. Heinrich von Kleist, after whom a prestigious German literary prize is named, was a poet, novelist, and dramatist who lived from 1777 to 1811.
3. Before even the Minnesänger is this remarkable woman, who was born around 1098. In addition to her religious visions, this abbess and philosopher composed 70 musical works. Who is this mystic and saint who is also known as the "Sibyl of the Rhine"?

Answer: Hildegard von Bingen

Hildegard was beatified by Pope John XXII in 1326 and canonized as a Doctor of the Church by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012. A Benedictine abbess, she is credited with founding scientific natural history in Germany. Besides being a writer and composer, she has been described as a Christian mystic, visionary, philosopher, and polymath.

Bertha von Suttner was a novelist and pacifist who lived from 1843 to 1914. In 1905 she became the first woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Annette von Droste-Hülshoff was a German composer and writer who lived from 1797 to 1848. Marlene Dietrich was a well-known German singer and actress who lived from 1901 to 1992.
4. By the 15th century, the Minnesänger phenomenon had transformed into the Meistersänger. Probably the greatest of these was born in Nuremberg in 1494. Who was this poet, playwright, fabulist, and shoemaker whose literary output consisted of over 4000 works, including Meisterlieder (mastersongs), plays, fables, and religious tracts?

Answer: Hans Sachs

While the Minnesänger were largely knights and nobles, the Meistersänger were mostly commoners. Hans Sachs practised his trade of shoemaking as a life-long career. He was also an ardent follower of Martin Luther and a great proponent of the Reformation.

Frans Hals was a portrait painter of the Dutch Golden Age. He lived from 1582 to 1666 and is perhaps best known for his "Laughing Cavalier." Hans Blix is a Swedish diplomat and former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency who was born in 1928. Klaus Fuchs was a physicist who was convicted of selling information on the Manhattan Project to the Soviets. He lost his British citizenship and spent the end of his career in East Germany. He died in 1988.
5. One of Germany's greatest artists was born in Nuremberg in 1471. His self portrait paintings, engravings like "Knight, Death, and the Devil", and woodcuts like "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" are unsurpassed in German art. Who is this master whom the Lutheran Church honors annually on April 6?

Answer: Albrecht Dürer

Dürer was also in communication with Rafael and Leonardo da Vinci and was patronized by Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I.

Grass and Hesse were both novelists and each won a Nobel Prize in Literature, Hesse in 1946 and Grass in 1999. Bonhoeffer was a Lutheran minister and dissident against the Nazi regime. He was executed by the Nazis in 1945.
6. Perhaps the greatest German woodcarver of all time was born about 1460. Perhaps his best creations are altars carved from limewood such as the "Holy Blood Altar" in the Jakobskirche in Rothenburg ob der Tauber. Who was this master sculptor who only gained fame after his death in 1531?

Answer: Tilman Riemenschneider

Riemenschneider was one of the first sculptors who did not have his work extensively painted by other artists.

Caspar David Friedrich lived from 1774 to 1840. Best known for allegorical landscapes, he is often considered the greatest German painter of his time. Rainer Maria Rilke's poetry is often described as lyrically intense and mystical. He was born in Prague and died in 1926. I know of no one named Heinrich Holzschnitt, which is a name I made up meaning Henry Woodcut.
7. An esteemed painter and engraver who lived from about 1445 to 1491, our next subject even had one of his engravings ("Trial of St. Anthony") copied by Michelangelo, according to Italian painter Giorgio Vasari. Who was this most important engraver north of the Alps prior to 1500?

Answer: Martin Schongauer

Schongauer's contemporaries also referred to him as "Hübsch Martin" ("pretty Martin") and "Martin Schön" ("Martin beautiful").

Adalbert Stifter was an Austrian poet, writer, and painter who lived from 1805 to 1868. Clemens Brentano was a major German poet and writer of the Romantic era. He lived from 1778 to 1842. Anton Bruckner was an Austrian composer best known for his innovative symphonies and sacred choral works. He lived from 1824 to 1896.
8. Born in Nuremberg in 1653, this organist and composer is best known for his "Canon in D." Before his death in 1706, he produced a wide variety of both religious and secular music. Who was this fugue master who influenced the later work of J.S. Bach?

Answer: Johann Pachelbel

Pachelbel's influence on Bach was indirect, as the latter was tutored by an older brother named Johann Christoph, who had studied with Pachelbel.

Robert Schumann was one of the greatest composers of the Romantic movement. He lived from 1810 to 1856 and had eight children. Mendelssohn, whose full name was Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, lived from 1809 to 1847 and was also a noted Romantic composer. Engelbert Humperdinck was a late Romantic composer best known for his opera "Hänsel und Gretel." He lived from 1854 to 1921.
9. Painter of the "Isenheim Alterpiece," our next artist lived from around 1470 until 1528. Unfortunately, only ten paintings and 35 drawings of his work survive. Who was this creator of religious works whose "Crucifixion" is on display in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.?

Answer: Matthias Grünewald

The "Isenheim Altarpiece" is so named because it was painted for the Monastery of St. Anthony in Isenheim, a commune in Alsace and is in the Unterlinden Museum in Colmar. Thus, Ruprecht Isenheim is an alias I created for this quiz. The altarpiece itself has two sets of wings which fold out to reveal three different presentations.

In 1938 composer Paul Hindemith wrote an opera based on Grünewald's life, called "Mathis der Maler." Hindemith, who died in 1963, was a teacher and conductor as well as a violinist and composer. Käthe Kollwitz, who lived from 1867 to 1945, was a painter, printmaker, and sculptor, much of whose work depicts the effects of war on the working class. She was the first woman elected to the Prussian Academy of Art.
10. Probably the least known figure on our quiz was born in Strasbourg in 1457. Who was the humanist and satirist who wrote "Das Narrenschiff" ("The Ship of Fools") in 1494?

Answer: Sebastian Brant

Brant also created a large volume of writing on civil and canon law, as well as a compilation of fables and other stories. "Das Narrenschiff" is a satirical look at abuses of the Church.

Bertolt Brecht, who died in East Berlin in 1956, was a leading playwright of the Epic theater movement, which sought to reflect political realities of the mid 20th Century. Among his best-known works are "Mother Courage and Her Children" and "The Threepenny Opera." Only Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a comparable poet, playwright, and philosopher to Friedrich Schiller, who had a complicated friendship with the former. Schiller lived from 1759 to 1805. The Austrian Stefan Zweig was a dramatist, novelist, and poet who was born in Vienna in 1881 and died in Rio de Janeiro in 1942.
Source: Author shvdotr

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor bloomsby before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.
3/28/2024, Copyright 2024 FunTrivia, Inc. - Report an Error / Contact Us