Music Flashcards
Bebop trumpeter
From South Carolina
Supposedly nicknamed for his stage antics
Signature bent trumpet & puffed cheeks (with stretched buccinators)
JOHN BIRKS “DIZZY” GILLESPIE
Wrote or co-wrote “Stardust”, “Georgia On My Mind”, & “Heart & Soul”
HOAGLAND “HOAGY” CARMICHAEL
Conductor
Born in Bombay, India
Musical director of Israel Philharmonic since 1981
ZUBIN MEHTA
Jewish-born German composer
His father renounced Judaism & took the name “Bartholdy”
Sister Fanny also composed
Grandfather Moses was a philosopher
Wrote overture & incidental music for “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, which is the source of his famous “Wedding March”
Wrote melody that became “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”
“Lieder ohne worte” (“Songs Without Words”) for piano
“Italian Symphony”
“Scottish Symphony” (inspired by Holyrood in Edinburgh)
FELIX MENDELSSOHN
Jewish Austrian composer
Director of Vienna’s court opera (1897-1907)
Composed 9 symphonies
No. 1 “Titan” (includes a variation of Frere Jacques)
No. 2 “Resurrection”
No. 8 “Symphony of a Thousand”
First spouse of Alma Schindler
Subject of a 1974 Ken Russell film
GUSTAV MAHLER
American composer
“Grand Canyon Suite” (1931), which includes “On the Trail”
“Niagara Falls Suite” (1961)
FERDE GROFE
French composer
“L’apprenti sorcier” (1897), based on a Goethe story and later used in Disney’s Fantasia (1940)
PAUL DUKAS
Austrian (Viennese), 1797-1828
“Ave Maria”
“Unfinished Symphony” (no. 8)
“Trout Quintet”
Popularized lieder, and is considered a master of them
“Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel”, a lied based on Goethe’s Faust
FRANZ SCHUBERT
Remixed the Beatles & Jay-Z into “The Grey Album”
Part of Gnarls Barkley
DANGER MOUSE
BRIAN BURTON
Group consisting of Danger Mouse (Brian Burton) & Cee-Lo Green
“Crazy” (2006)
GNARLS BARKLEY
Coach & judge on The Voice
Mummy in “Hotel Transylvania”
Part of Goodie Mob
“Fuck You”/”Forget You” (2011)
CEE LO GREEN
Atlanta hip-hop group formed by Big Gipp, Khujo, T-Mo, & Cee Lo Green
“Soul Food”
GOODIE MOB
French composer
“The Pearl Fishers” (first full opera)
“Carmen” (1875)
GEORGES BIZET
Bizet opera set in Seville, Spain
A gypsy woman works at a tobacco factory with Mercedes & Frasquita
Don Jose loses her to torero Escamillo, so he stabs her
Arias “Habanera” & “Toreador Song”
Inspired Hammerstein’s “____ Jones”
CARMEN
New York City-born Greek-American soprano
Subject of 1995 play “Master Class” by Terrence Mcnally
Dated Ari Onassis
MARIA CALLAS
Jamaican-American Calypso singer
“Banana Boat (Day-O)” (1956)
Starred in Carmen Jones film with Dorothy Dandridge
HARRY BELAFONTE
New Orleans-born “Queen of Gospel”
MAHALIA JACKSON
Italian tenor
Blind
ANDREA BOCELLI
American contralto
In 1939 was denied right to perform at Constitution Hall by the Daughters of the American Revolution
Gave an Easter Concert at the Lincoln Memorial instead, aided by the Roosevelts & Howard University, where she sang “My Country ‘Tis of Thee”
First black soloist at the Met, 1955
MARIAN ANDERSON
Spanish tenor
Born in Barcelona
Youngest of the “Three Tenors”
JOSE CARRERAS
Spanish tenor
Born in Madrid
Directed LA Opera 2017-2019
Name means “quiet Sunday”
PLACIDO DOMINGO
Italian tenor
Member of the Three Tenors
Previously taught elementary school
Gave a farewell tour in 2004
LUCIANO PAVAROTTI
Soprano from Laurel, Mississippi
Starred in Porgy & Bess in 1952
Achieved world opera fame in the 1960s
First black American to perform at La Scala
LEONTYNE PRICE
American soprano that “invaded” from Georgia
JESSYE NORMAN
New York soprano
Sang as “Bubbles Silverman” as a child
BEVERLY SILLS
Wrote & sang “All By Myself” (1975)
ERIC CARMEN
Philadelphia rock duo
“Kiss on My List”
“You Make My Dreams”
“Rich Girl”
“Out of Touch”
“Method of Modern Love”
“Maneater”
“I Can’t Go For That (No Can Do)”
“Private Eyes”
“Sara Smile”
“Adult Education”
DARYL HALL & JOHN OATES
Italian tenor
One of first to make recordings
Survived the 1906 San Francisco earthquake
ENRICO CARUSO
Tenor
Played “The Great Caruso” (1951) on film
MARIO LANZA
Portuguese-Brazilian 1940s film star
Sang “The Lady in the Tutti Frutti Hat”
Subject of “Bananas is my Business”
CARMEN MIRANDA
American musician
“Walking in Memphis” (1991)
MARC COHN
Spanish cellist, considered the greatest of the 1900s
Spent time in Puerto Rico
San Juan now has a yearly festival in his honour
PABLO CASALS
British cellist
Suffered from MS
Portrayed in 1998 film “Hilary & Jackie”
JACQUELINE DU PRE
American cellist
Born in Paris to Chinese parents
YO-YO MA
American composer
Won an Oscar for “The Heiress” score
“Billy the Kid” ballet
“Fanfare for the Common Man”, from his 3rd symphony
“Rodeo - the Courting at Burnt Ranch” ballet (1942), choreographed by Agnes de Mille
“Appalachian Spring” (1944), choreographed by Martha Graham
AARON COPLAND
New York band
Named from a Dos Passos novel
“Boy From New York City” (1981)
MANHATTAN TRANSFER
Band fronted by Rivers Cuomo
“Buddy Holly”
“Island in the Sun”
“Pork & Beans”
“Say It Ain’t So”
“Undone - the Sweater Song”
WEEZER
Band
“Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked” (2009)
“Shake Me Down”
CAGE THE ELEPHANT
Italian-American composer of TV operas
“Amahl and the Night Visitors” (1951), a Christmas opera referring to the magi Balthasar, Melchior & Kaspar
Partner of Samuel Barber
GIAN CARLO MENOTTI
American composer
“Adagio for Strings” (1936)
Opera “Anthony & Cleopatra” (1966)
Partner of Gian Carlo Menotti
SAMUEL BARBER
German composer
Temporarily married Cosima Liszt
Talked about the “3 Bs” (Bach, Beethoven, Brahms)
HANS VON BULOW
Spanish singer
Father of Enrique
“To All the Girls I’ve Loved Before” (1984), with Willie Nelson
“All of You” (1984), with Diana Ross
JULIO IGLESIAS
Spanish singer
Son of Julio
“Bailamos” (1999, “We Dance”)
“Escape” (2001)
“Hero” (2001)
“Bailando” (2014, “Dancing”)
ENRIQUE IGLESIAS
Hungarian composer & pianist
Popular virtuoso perforomer, toured Europe
Daughter Cosima married Hans von Bulow & Richard Wagner
“Faust Symphony” (1857), including a “Mephistopheles” movement
“Liebestraume” (“Dreams of Love”) (1850)
“Mephisto Waltz(es)”
“Hungarian Rhapsodies”
FRANZ LISZT
German composer
Head of 3rd Reich’s music bureau, though never a Nazi himself
“Elektra” (1903), opera
“Salome” (1905), opera
“Der Rosenkavalier” (“Knight of the Rose”) (1911), opera
“Japanese Festival Music” (1940)
RICHARD STRAUSS
Sang “Harper Valley PTA” (1968), about an angry widow (“My momma socked it to the…”)
Later became a film & a TV series
JEANNIE C. RILEY
Lead singer of Muse
MATT BELLAMY
Swedish soprano 1820-1887
Nicknamed “Nightingale”
Toured in America with PT Barnum (and appears as a character in the 1980 musical “Barnum”)
Friend & inspiration of Hans Christian Andersen, who loved her
JENNY LIND
American jazz & swing singer
“Strange Fruit”
“God Bless the Child”
Played by Diana Ross in “Lady Sings the Blues”, based on her autobiography
BILLIE HOLIDAY
“LADY DAY”
Lead singer of Weezer
RIVERS CUOMO
American singer
“Two Tickets to Paradise” (1977)
“Take Me Home Tonight” (1986)
EDDIE MONEY
(EDWARD MAHONEY)
Lead singer of Led Zeppelin
ROBERT PLANT
1896 tone poem By Richard Strauss
Based on Nietzsche
ALSO SPRACH ZARATHUSTRA
(“THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA”)
Russian composer
Member of the “Five”
“Boris Godunov” (1874), opera based on Pushkin work about czar
“Night on Bald Mountain” (1940)
MODEST MUSSORGSKY
1874 Modest Mussorgsky suite for piano
Later reorchestrated by Ravel
Features “Promenades” between movements
Movements include “Gnome”, “Old Castle”, “Baba Yaga”, and “Unhatched Chicks”
PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION
Russian composer
Member of the “Five”
“Prince Igor” (completed after his 1887 death by his colleagues)
Opera including “Polovotsian Dances”
Music later adapted for the musical “Kismet” (1953)
ALEXANDER BORODIN
Russian composer
Member of the “Five”
“Scheherezade” suite
“The Snow Maiden” opera
NIKOLAI RIMSKY-KORSAKOV
Composed by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1900)
Interlude from “Tale of Tsar Saltan” about a shape-changing prince
Al Hirt’s version was the theme for “The Green Hornet”
FLIGHT OF THE BUMBLEBEE
1960s girl group
“Leader of the Pack”
THE SHANGRI-LAS
American band
“An Old Fashioned Love Song” (“…comin’ down in 3-part harmony”)
“Shambala”
“Joy to the World”
THREE DOG NIGHT
American duo
“Let Your Love Flow” (1976)
BELLAMY BROTHERS
American group
“Flowers on the Wall” (1965)
THE STATLER BROTHERS
English band led by Matt Bellamy
“Black Holes and Reveleations”
MUSE
His father was considered “Father of the Viennese Waltz”
Known himself as the “Waltz King”, though he also composed marches and polkas
Vienna’s Music Director of Royal Court Balls (1863)
“On the Beautiful Blue Danube” (1866)
“Tritsch-Tratsch Polka”
“Emperor Waltz”
“Tales From the Vienna Woods”
JOHANN STRAUSS JR.
Opera by Johann Strauss Jr.
“The Bat”, referring to Dr. Falke’s ridiculed costume
Concerns Prince Orlofsky (often played by a woman)
In it, Champagne is called “King of All Wines”
DIE FLEDERMAUS
American lyricist & librettist
“Brigadoon”
“Camelot”
“My Fair Lady”
ALAN JAY LERNER
Austrian composer
“Brigadoon”
“Camelot”
“My Fair Lady”
FREDERICK LOEWE
English rock band
“Houses of the Holy”
“Physical Graffiti”
“In Through the Out Door”
“Coda”
Disbanded following the drummer’s death
LED ZEPPELIN
Russian-American ballet dancer & actor
Defected & left Bolshoi in 1979
Supporting roles in “Witness”, “Die Hard”, & “The Money Pit”
ALEXANDER GODUNOV
Founder of the Ballets Russes
SERGE DIAGHILEV
American ballet dancer
Osage heritage
Active in 1940s-50s
Married Balanchine; later annulled
Sister of dancer Marjorie
MARIA TALLCHIEF
American choreographer
“Chicago”
“Cabaret”
“Pippin”
“All That Jazz” (based on his life)
Most choreography Tonys with 8
Married Gwen Verdon
BOB FOSSE
American dancer & actress
“Damn Yankees”
“Redhead” (directed by Bob Fosse)
Married Bob Fosse
Played by Michelle Williams in a 2019 FX series
GWEN VERDON
First black female primary for the American Ballet Theater
MISTY COPELAND
American modern dance choreographer
Active for 70 years & 181 works
Taught Betty Ford
Choreographed Copland’s “Appalachian Spring”
MARTHA GRAHAM
American dancer
Pioneer of modern dance
Danced barefoot
Died in a scarf/shawl auto accident
ISADORA DUNCAN
American ballet dancer & choreographer
Niece of director Cecil
Choreographed Copland’s “Rodeo”, “Oklahoma”, and “Brigadoon”
AGNES DE MILLE
Band formed in Maryland, 1996
Twin brothers Benji & Joel Madden
“Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous”
GOOD CHARLOTTE
70s-80s funk/soul band
Included Lionel Richie
“Brick House” (1977)
“Three Times a Lady” (1978)
COMMODORES
Emo band from Nevada
Fronted by Brendon Urie
“I Write Sins Not Tragedies” (2005)
“High Hopes” (2018)
PANIC! AT THE DISCO
They sang “867-5309/Jenny”
TOMMY TUTONE
Number & name in a 1981 Tommy Tutone hit
867-5309/JENNY
Ex-lead singer of Blink-182
TOM DELONGE
Member of Commodores
From Tuskegee, AL
“All Night Long”
“Hello”
“Dancing on the Ceiling”
“Endless Love” with Diana Ross
Wrote Kenny Rogers’ “Lady”
“We Are the World”
LIONEL RICHIE
“Hurts So Good” & “Jack & Diane” from 1982 album “American Fool”
“Pink Houses” (1984)
Co-founded first Farm Aid concert in 1985 with Willie Nelson & Neil Young
JOHN (COUGAR) MELLENCAMP
American bandleader called the “Mambo King”
Died 2000
“Oye Como Va” (1962) (“Listen how it goes”), covered by Santana in 1970
TITO PUENTE
Composer of “Guys & Dolls”
“How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” (Pulitzer)
“Baby It’s Cold Outside”
“Praise the Lord & Pass the Ammunition”
FRANK LOESSER
Eliminated from “The X-Factor”, later joined One Direction
From Cheshire
Acting debut in “Dunkirk” (2017)
“Adore You” (2019)
“Watermelon Sugar” (2020)
“Fashionable” - wore a Gucci dress on the cover of Vogue in 2020, first lone man to do so
“As It Was” (2022)
HARRY STYLES
Californian pop-punk band
Ex-lead singer Tom DeLonge
Drummer Travis Barker
“What’s My Age Again” (1999)
“All the Small Things” (1999)
“California” (2016)
BLINK-182
1973 hit by Scottish band Stealers Wheel
Mr. Blonde (Michael Madsen) dances to it in “Reservoir Dogs”
“Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right…”
STUCK IN THE MIDDLE WITH YOU
American band
“Caught Up in You” (1982)
“Hold On Loosely”
.38 SPECIAL
1972 Edgar Winter Group instrumental
Named for its editing process
FRANKENSTEIN
American band
“Free Ride” 1973
“Frankenstein” 1972
EDGAR WINTER GROUP
Japanese-American violinist
Mononymous
MIDORI (GOTO)
Quit One Direction in 2015
“PILLOWTALK” 2016
“I Don’t Wanna Live Forever” with Taylor Swift (50 Shades Darker)
Now mononymous
ZAYN (MALIK)
Lead singer of Panic! At the Disco
BRENDON URIE
Texan pianist
Won Russia’s 1st international Tchaikovsky Competition (1958)
A Fort Worth piano competition is now named for him
VAN CLIBURN
British goth band
Fronted by Peter Murphy
“Bela Lugosi’s Dead” (1979)
BAUHAUS
American blues-rock duo
Dan Auerbach & Patrick Carney
“Lonely Boy” (2011) from album “El Camino”
“Turn Blue” (2014)
THE BLACK KEYS
New Wave group from Athens, Georgia
“Rock Lobster” (1978)
“Private Idaho” (1980) (“You’re livin’ in your own…”)
“Love Shack” (1989)
Named for hairdos of Kate Pierson & Cindy Wilson
THE B-52s
