Classical

Question 1

“Women are like that” is the rough but common English translation of the title of what Mozart opera?

Answer 1

Cosa Fan Tutte

Question 2

The title of Claude Debussy’s Suite bergamasque comes from a line in a Paul Verlaine poem, and Debussy uses the title of that Verlaine poem as the title of the third movement of Suite bergamasque. What is the title shared by that poem and movement

Answer 2

Claire de Lune

Question 3

Meaning “sung” in Italian, what term describes a musical composition, often using a sacred text, comprising recitatives, arias and choruses?

Answer 3

Cantata

Question 4

This composer’s 1868 work “Wiegenlied” is better known to us as “Lullaby.”

Answer 4

Brahms

Question 5

A term derived from the Italian for “beautiful singing” has been defined as a vocal style, popular in Italy in the 18th and early 19th centuries, which emphasizes technique and tone over dramatic expression. What is this term?

Answer 5

Bel Canto

Question 6

Led by Johann Stamitz, a group of mid-18th-century composers, who played an important role in the development of the modern orchestra and classical symphony form, are associated with a “school” based in what southwestern German city? Musically, the city may today be more closely associated with new-age and prog Christmas music.

Answer 6

Mannheim

Question 7

What composer may have written one of his most famous melodies for soprano singer Elisabeth “Elise” Rockel?

Answer 7

The dedicatee of Beethoven’s “Fur Elise” is still a mystery figure, but Rockel is among the candidates.

Question 8

The father of this future composer was a French teacher at the Warsaw Lyceum, where the child would later attend.

Answer 8

Frederic Chopin

Question 9

This future composer was far from “The Common Man” when he graduated from Boys’ H.S. in Brooklyn in 1918.

Answer 9

Aaron Copland

Question 10

A set of six string quartets by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed between December 1782 and January 1785, and published in September of that year, were dedicated to—and are commonly named after—what other composer?

Answer 10

Joseph Haydn

Question 11

His symphonic poem “Also Sprach Zarathustra” is an homage to Neitzsche.

Answer 11

Richard Strauss

Question 12

Part of his “Unfinished Symphony” became the “Song of Love” in a Broadway show about him, “Blossom Time.”

Answer 12

Franz Schubert

Question 13

Bagatelle No. 25 is better known by what name?

Answer 13

Fur Elise

Question 14

J.S. Bach’s Concerto in A minor, Beethoven’s Concerto in D major, op. 61, Mozart’s Concerto in A major, K. 219, and Tchaikovsky’s Concerto in D major, op. 35 were all written for what instrument?

Answer 14

Violin

Question 15

Composed by Mozart in 1791 (the year he died) and last in the Kochel catalog of all his works, K. 626 is this work.

Answer 15

Requiem (In D Minor)

Question 16

Site of the first outdoor recording by any symphony orchestra, this amphitheater in the hills is the L.A. Philharmonic’s summer home.

Answer 16

Hollywood Bowl

Question 17

In the 1980s, composers Julia Wolfe, Michael Gordon, and David Lang founded a new music collective in New York in an effort to provide community and opportunity for contemporary classical music creators. Perhaps appropriately (given its post-minimalist aesthetic), the group was named ____ on a ____ . Provide either of the words that fill in the blanks.

Answer 17

Bang on a Can

Question 18

What symphonic work did Claude Debussy complete in 1905 watching the English Channel from Eastbourne’s Grand Hotel?

Answer 18

“La Mer” means “The Sea.”

Question 19

The oeuvre of Johann Sebastian Bach includes over 200 works of a type of composition known as what? A multi-movement work predominantly for voices with instrumental accompaniment, it is usually shorter than an oratorio.

Answer 19

Cantata

Question 20

Joseph Haydn’s Symphony No. 101 in D Major, composed in 1794, has what nickname, after the rhythmic two-note sequence that repeats throughout the second movement?

Answer 20

Clock Symphony

Question 21

The “Sunrise” portion of this classical piece is perhaps best known for its use in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey. Name the composer and the piece.

Answer 21

Richard Strauss - Also Sprach Zarathustra

Question 22

Frédéric Chopin wrote about fifty pieces based on what traditional dance, a folk dance in 3/4 time similar to the waltz that originated in the region around Chopin’s Warsaw childhood home?

Answer 22

Mazurka

Question 23

What word is often used in music to describe an instrumental or vocal composition, typically in 12/8 or 6/8, whose subject is rustic or bucolic in nature? Examples include a 1920 symphonic poem by Arthur Honegger, an 1808 symphony by Ludwig van Beethoven, and a 1922 symphony by Vaughan Williams.

Answer 23

Pastoral

Question 24

A sudden forte drumbeat in the piece’s second movement gives Franz Joseph Haydn’s Symphony in G Major, No. 94, what common nickname in English?

Answer 24

Surprise Symphony

Question 25

This Russian series of compositions by Modest Mussorgsky achieved contemporary fame in the 20th century when it was used in perhaps the most popular sequence from 1940’s Fantasia.

Answer 25

Night on Bald Mountain (or Night on the Bare Mountain)

Question 26

In 1879 the heart of this composer was sealed up in a Warsaw church.

Answer 26

Chopin

Question 27

Neoclassicism in music is closely associated with some of the works of what composer, in particular works composed during the period from Pulcinella (1920) to The Rake’s Progress (1951)?

Answer 27

Igor Stravinsky