Exam 2 - Composers Lives

Question 1

Franz Joseph Haydn:

Answer 1

1732

Austria

Question 2

Classical time period years:

Answer 2

1750 - 1820

Question 3

Haydn’s Life:

Answer 3

8: choirboy in Vienna at Cathedral of St. Stephen
29: entered service for the Esterhazy’s (30 yrs)
104 symphonies, 68 string quartets
“Father of the Symphony”
“Father of the String Quartet”
Skull was stolen

Question 4

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart:

Answer 4

1756
Austria
Classical

Question 5

Mozart’s Life:

Answer 5

6-17: toured Europe
Father was also a court musician
1781: quit court position and became freelance
1782: married
1791: died from illness while composing his Requiem Mass (for funerals)
Died broke; unmarked grave
Friends with Haydn

Question 6

Ludwig Van Beethoven:

Answer 6

1770
Germany/Austria
Classical
Piano/Organ/Violin

Question 7

Beethoven’s Life:

Answer 7

Father was a court musician; tried to exploit Beethoven as a child prodigy; beat Ludwig
1786: visited Vienna to meet Mozart
Returned to Bonn bc Mom died
1792: Haydn invites Beethoven to study with him in Vienna
Heiligenstadt Testament (1802)
1812: letter to a woman, “Immortal Beloved”
1827: Dies in Vienna, 20K people attended his funeral
Never married
First musician to make a living successfully from freelance
Slow careful worker; different from Mozart

Question 8

Why is Beethoven’s 6th symphony so different?

Answer 8

5 movements instead of 4;
Movements have titles now!;
Music trying to depict a story/mood;
3rd movement connected to the 4th, no pause/break;

Question 9

Why is Beethoven’s 9th symphony so different?

Answer 9

a choir in the middle of the symphony;
vocal solos in the symphony!
re-occuring themes in last movement

Question 10

Hector Berlioz

Answer 10

1803
France
No instrument
Romantic period

Question 11

Berlioz’s Life:

Answer 11

Father was a doctor;
1821: sent to Paris for medical school
1833: Marries Henrietta; not happy; divorce
1853: marries lover after Henrietta dies; also unhappy; divorce
An important conductor;
wrote “Treatise on Instrumentation” the first book of its kind on orchestration!

Question 12

Classical Music Structure, 4 Parts:

Answer 12

1) Fast
2) Slow
3) Medium; Minuet; Trio
4) Fast

Question 13

Beethoven’s Music Structure, 4 Parts:

Answer 13

1) Fast
2) Slow
3) Scherzo
4) Fast

Question 14

Frederic Chopin:

Answer 14

1810
Poland
Romantic
Piano

Question 15

Chopin’s Life:

Answer 15

1810: born in Poland
1831: Paris and concentrates on composing
introverted
1849: dies in Paris of TB

Question 16

Franz Liszt:

Answer 16

1811
Hungary
Piano

Question 17

Liszt’s Life:

Answer 17

1811: born in Hungary
child prodigy at piano
“rock star” status; more extroverted than Chopin
1865: (Rome) became an Abbe of the Third Order of St. Francis of Assisi

Question 18

Peter Ilyich Tchiakovsky:

Answer 18

1840

Vorkisnk, Russia

Question 19

Tchiakovsky’s Life:

Answer 19

1840: born in Russia
1866 - 1878: professor at Conservatory in Moscow
tries to marry student at his school; 9-weeks; he was a homosexual
6 symphonies
carelessly drank unboiled water with cholera
1939: died of cholera within a week at age 53
known for his tone poems, symphonies, and ballets
Nutcracker, Swan Lake

Question 20

Johannes Brahms

Answer 20

1833
Germany
Piano

Question 21

Brahm’s Life:

Answer 21

1833: born in Hamburg, Germany
1843: played piano to get money for family
1853: Schumann claims Brahms as the next great master
Schumann’s family takes him into their home; he falls in love with the wife, Clara
1863: moves to Vienna for last 34 years of his life
dies of cancer at age 64
classical music but with a romantic twist
Became the heir of the symphony passed on from Beethoven