Practice Questions Set #1 Flashcards
In the musical “Camelot,” Lancelot’s entrance is with a song in which he asks, “But where in the world is there in the world a man so extraordinaire?” His answer is what two-word French phrase that means “It is I”?
“C’est moi”
Recite the first line of Julia Ward Howe’s rousing work “The Battle Hymn of the Republic”.
“Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord”
Phoenix office worker Marion Crane is asked by her boss to bank $40,000, but she takes the opportunity to run away and start a new life with the divorced man she loves. After a long drive, she stops for the night at the Bates Motel. This is the plot of what classic 1960 Alfred Hitchcock movie?
Psycho
The Sagrada Familia, the church of the Holy Family, and the Casa Mia, both located in Barcelona Spain, are excellent examples of rococo architecture and were designed by which architect?
(Antoni) Gaudi
As one of the bestselling writers of legal thrillers like Absolute Power, what author departs from his usual fare and slows things down a bit for his latest saga, Wish You Well, a story he culled from his own family’s history and experiences in post-Depression ’40s?
(David) Baldacci
This philosopher is known for the statement, “I teach you the Superman. Man is something to be surpassed.” Name this 19th-century German philosopher and author of Beyond Good and Evil.
(Friedrich) Nietzsche [NEE-che]
Detectives derive their title from the Latin for “detectus” meaning uncover. Identify the two famous detectives created by, respectively, Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan Doyle.
(Hercule) Poirot, (Sherlock) Holmes
Name the 20th century African-American singer who, while performing in Paris created a sensation by dancing wearing only a string of bananas.
(Josephine) Baker
What well-known dancer and chorus remembered for his staging of Les Sylphides [lay sill-FEED] and creating the role of The Dying Swan for Anna Pavlova?
(Michel) Fokine [fo-KEEN]
Identify the contemporary author whose novel Empire Falls was awarded the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
(Richard) Russo
The foreboding, violent atmosphere of his poetry was influenced by his father’s account of service in World War 1. Identify this Poet Laureate of England and husband of Sylvia Path who authored the collections Hawk in the Rain and Under the North Star.
(Ted) Hughes
Brought about by the stirring sermon of Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield, what intense revival of religion in the American colonies lasted from approximately 1720 until 1750?
(The) Great Awakening
This contemporary musical has earned more Tony Awards than any other show in the history of Broadway. It is based on a classic 1968 film by Mel Brook and includes the high-kicking production number “Springtime for Hitler.” Name this popular 2001 show.
(The) Producers
Despite its name, this composition has nothing to do with wrestling. One of the greatest keyboard pieces ever written, give the title of this work for the harpsichord by Johann Sebastian Back.
Goldberg Variations
An oracle foretold that whoever untied the Gordian knot would rule all of Asia. Name the clever King who, according to legend, solved the problem by cutting the know with his sword.
Alexander (The Great or Alexander 3)
In art, a metal framework is sometimes constructed to serve as a skeleton for a clay or wax sculpture. What is the term for this underlying framework of metal?
Armature
An important social event in Jewish families is what ceremony that marks the beginning of religious responsibility for Jewish boys when they turn thirteen years old?
Bar Miztvah
What colorful two-word term is used in finance to denote the stock of a well-established, reliable, and successful company?
Blue Chip
When translated it means “place of a skull.” Now home to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, it was the hill just outside the walls of Jerusalem where Jesus was crucified. Name it.
Calvary (accept: Golgotha)
If you dance the cueca [KWAY-kuh], drink pisco [PEES-koh] made from Muscatel grapes, and read works by Isabel Allende [ah-YEN-day], you’re an aficionado of which South American country’s culture?
Chile
Fortuna, the roman goddess of luck, had as he’d symbol a horn of plenty that was filled with delicious fruit. What name is given to such a horn that is filled with everlastingly with food and drink?
Cornucopia
It comes between the exposition and the recapitulation in the classic sonata-form. Name this middle section of a sonata, during which the themes are expanded, modified, combined or broken up.
Development
What chemical additives are inserted into certain foods in order to keep oil and water mixed together?
Emulsifiers
Rhythm, conveyed by the dancer’s clapping hand intricate heel work and by the clapping, singing, and guitar playing of the accompaniment, gives what Spanish dance of the Gypsies its theatrical impact?
Flamenco
An international laymen’s association, it was organized in the state of Wisconsin in 1899. Give the name of this religious group known for its distribution of Bibles in hospitals, prisons and hotels.
Gideons
This painting focuses on just two primary figure; however, Eve can be seen hiding under the Lord’s left arm. Name this Michelangelo painting, one of the nine scenes adorning the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
(The) Creating of Adam
The final scene of this Opera takes place inside a large spaceship, and when the curtain falls, on it is written “e equals m-c squared.” Blake this contemporary opera by composer Philip Glass.
Einstein On the Beach
“Someday My Prince Will Come,” “Whistle While You Work” and “Heigh-Ho Heigh-Ho” are three songs from a 1937 movie that was the first full-length feature by Walt Disney. Name this classic.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
He learned his craft in the workshop of Nicolo Amati [ah-MAH-tee]. Name this violin maker from Cremona, Italy, whose instruments are considered to be the finest ever made.
(Antonio) Stradivari (accept: Stradivarius
His luncheon on the Grass shocked the public of his day because it depicted a naked woman having a picnic. Name this French painted, one of the originators of Impressionism.
(Édourd) Manet [ma-NAY]
He was the first comic strip artist to win the Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning. Name this creator of the popular comic strip Doonesbury.
(Garry) Trudeau [troo-DOE]
September 2001 saw the death of this celebrated american violinist who was a key factor in saving Carnegie Hall from destruction. Who was this virtuoso?
(Isaac) Stern
The king of Phrygia [FRIDGE-ee-uh] insisted that Pan was a better musician than the god Apollo and, as a result, was given the ears of a donkey. Who was this Greek figure who was given the coveted “golden touch”?
(King) Midas
Rising to almost ninety-six hundred feet in height, name the great, snow capped mountain near the Aegean coast that was supposedly the home of the gods in Greek mythology.
(Mount) Olympus
A proponent of abstract expressionism, name the American painter best known for his series Elegy for the Spanish Republic.
(Robert) Motherwell
Accounts of this natural disaster can be found in The Epic of Gilgamesh and the Bible, as well as in Greek and Chinese mythology. What was this epic catastrophe, thought to have been of such enormous proportions that it covered the entire earth?
(The Great) Flood
Housed in the former Winter Palace, it was originally begun as the royal museum for the Russian imperial family. Name this world-famous art museum in St. Petersburg, which is especially known for it collection of French Impressionist painting.
(The) Hermitage (Museum)
USA Today is the most widely circulated newspaper in the United States. What newspaper, based in New York City, is the country’s second most widely read?
(The) Wall Street Journal
A hobo steals and butchers a lamb, then leaps to his death when pursued by the authorities in what Andrew Patterson ballad, the unofficial national anthem of Australia?
Waltzing Matilda
Because it makes a sound when the player’s lips vibrate, it’s played like any orchestral brass instrument. But it doesn’t look like one, because it’s usually 12 feet long. What instrument usually starts as the trunk of a fir tree and is usually found among herdsmen in Switzerland?
Alphorn (or Alpenhorn)
New York City’s Chrysler Building is an example of what type of architectural style, popular from 1910 until 1940, that was characterized by a sleek use of straight lines and slender forms?
Art Deco
Throughout the world, many workmen have sung songs to occupy their time. What name is given to the type of songs traditionally sing by gondoliers?
Barcarole [bahr-cuh-ROLE]
A Spanish dance in 3/4 time, this international ballroom dance is extremely popular in Latin America. Give the name of this dance, the subject of a 1928 musical work by Maurice Ravel.
Bolero [boh-LAIR-oh]
What country celebrates Thanksgiving on the second Monday in October? The country includes in its culture the history of Acadia and a popular singer named Alanis Morissette.
Canada
A leading figure in concept art is what Bulgarian artist known for his trademark of wrapping familiar object in cloth and other materials?
Christi (Javacheff)
What artistic technique uses intersecting parallel lines on a two-dimensional surface to create shadows and suggest a three-dimensional look?
Cross-Hatching
He is said to have live in a large tub and to have gone about Athens with a lantern, claiming to be looking for an honest man. Who was this Ancient Greek philosopher and founder of cynicism?
Diogenes [dy-AH-jen-eez]
The moon goddess Selene fell in love with this beautiful youth as he lay sleeping on a mountainside. Name this young shepherd who was put into an enchanted sleep so that he would remain forever young and beautiful.
Endymion [en-DIM-ee-uhn]
Typical of many Gothic cathedrals, identify the type of external support arch that transfers the thrust of a vault to a lower support structure.
Flying Buttress
It’s name comes from the German words for “bells” and “to play.” Tuned metal bars, supported at two points, are laid out in a keyboard configuration and are struck with beaters usually made of plastic or wood. Name this instrument, often seen in marching bands.
Glockenspiel
In what 1940 movie – Charlie Chaplin’s first “talkie” – did Chaplin play a Jewish barber who looked just like the power-mad ruler of Tomania?
(The) Great Dictator
When Napoleon crowned himself emperor on May 18, 1804, Beethoven was so angry that he tore the title page of his Third Symphony in half and renamed the symphony what?
“Eroica” or “Heroic” (Symphony)
George and Ira Gershwin collaborated on many popular songs of the 20th century. Give the title of the song that begins, “There’s a somebody I’m longing to see … I hope that he … Turns out to be …” what?
Someone to Watchover Me
Known as “The Red Priest,” what Baroque composer taught at a Venetian orphanage for young girls and gained ever-lasting game when his work “The Four Seasons” was first performed?
(Antonio) Vivaldi
This 19th century showman helped create the minstrel show as the first purely American form of entertainment. Name this producer whose shows popularized the many songs written by Stephen Foster.
(Edwin P.) Christy
The story of an English grammarian who teaches a flower girl and turns her into a proper lady was a play long before Lerner and Loewe out music to it and it became “My Fair Lady.” Who wrote the play “Pygmalion,” on which it was based?
(George Bernard) Shaw
Wearing only a simple tunic like the Greek vase figures that inspired many of her dances, she weaved and whirled in flowing natural movements, until her death in 1927. Name this dancer who shocked or delighted audiences by baring her body and soul in what she called free dance.
(Isadora) Duncan
A product of the Moscow Bolshoi School, what Russian dancer, known for his comic and character roles, performed in the 1948 film The Red Shoes?
(Leonide) Massine
This question requires a multiple answer. Their most popular subjects were 19th century sports and hand-colored prints of hunting, fishing, boxing, and horse racing. Identify these 19th century american printmakers who published more than 7,000 color lithographs between 1840 and 1940.
(Nathaniel) Curriee, (James) Ives
In the 1950s and 1960s, television censors band any script that appeared to question American society. In order to examine society and human nature in his work, what dramatist disguised social criticism with a science-fiction mask in the hit series, The Twilight Zone?
(Rod) Serling
Michael Chabon won the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for fiction for what book, which brings to life World War 2 America and the golden age of comic books?
(The) Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
Heracles poisoned his arrows with the blood of what monstrous serpent from Greek mythology that kept regrow ing heads whenever one was cut off?
(The) Hydra
It allows people to earn interest on money they entrust to the government. Name this type of registered bond issues by the U.S. government.
(U.S.) Savings (bonds)
In what year was the independent Jewish state of Israel created in the historic region of Palestine?
1948
Fragrant and pleasant tasting, it preserved immorality and conferred beauty and youth upon mortals who consumed it. Often eaten along with nectar, what was this food of the Greek gods?
Ambrosia
What ten-letter religious term beginning with the letter “A” is defined as “the practice of self-denial and renunciation of worldly pleasure in order to attain a higher degree of spirituality?
Asceticism
During the Great Depression of the 1930s, actors at the State Theater of Virginia gave performances in exchange for food. What noun refers to this exchange of goods in order to receive goods or services in return?
Bartering
The ads for this 1967 film boasted, “They are young, they are in love, they kill people.” Name this gangster film that starred Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway as Depression-era bandits.
Bonnie and Clyde
A horizontal projection; such as a balcony or a beam, that is supported at one end only is given what architectural name?
Cantilever
The years 1750 and 1820 mark the beginning and end of what time period in music?
Classical (period of era)
Rather than trying to portray things as they are, this type of art strives to show several views of an object, expressing an idea rather than any single view of the subject. The parent of all abstract art forms, identify this movement, which originated in the works of Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso.
Cubism
What type of insurance provides monetary compensation for the loss of income when an illness or injury prevents an individual from working?
Disability
An overture is a short musical composition that serves to introduce an opera and set the overall mood. What do we call the orchestral introductions to later acts of an opera?
Entr’acte
In what country did such dances as the gavotte [guh-VAHT], minuet, and cancan originate?
France
Identify the sport played by these athletes: Rocco Mediate, Casey Martin, Austin Horn, Paul Azinger, and Tiger Woods.
Golf
Jack Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff bend the truth a bit to add excitement to their lives. Their deceptions cross paths and complicate their romantic pursuits in which comedic play, the last written by Oscar Wilde?
(The) Importance of Being Earnest
An expedition is sent from Earth to find out what happened to a colony of settlers on Altair IV. Name this 1956 Sci-fi movie classic featuring Robby the Robot.
Forbidden Planet
After the Rev. Samuel Sayer is killed by the Germans in Africa during World War I, Charlie Allnut agrees to take the preacher’s sister back to civilization aboard his steamboat. The boat’s name is the same as what 1951 movie that earned Humphrey Bogart his only Academy Award?
The African Queen
Originating among African Americans in the southern United States, what type of highly emotional vocal music is associated with such singers as Yolanda Adams and Mahalia Jackson?
(Black) Gospel (accept soul)
“They Died With Their Boots On,” “Captain Blood” and “The Adventures of Robin Hood” are three movies starring what swashbuckling actor of the 1930s?
(Errol) Flynn
This Russian-born choreographer came to America, where he founded the School of American Ballet in 1934. In 1948, he was made artistic director of the New York City Ballet. Name this great choreographer, the creator of the works “Apollo” and “Serenade.”
(George) Balanchine
Give the name of the mysterious assassin and title character in Robert Ludlum’s series of global mystery novels.
(Jason) Bourne
When he began to publish his western novels in the early 1950’s, this best-selling American author used the pseudonym Tex Burns. Identify the author of such popular works as The Walking Drum and Treasure Mountain.
(Louis) L’Amour
What author and social critic wrote the World War II novel The Naked and the Dead?
(Norman) Miller
This man was canonized in 1622 and is the patron saint of spiritual retreats. Name this 16th century Spanish priest who founded the religious order known as the Jesuits.
(Saint) Ignatius [ig-NAY-shuhs] or Loyola [loy-OH-luh]
The women of this religious order often wear bonnets and long skirts while the men sport full beards and broad-brimmed hats. Taking their name from Jacob Amman, what is this branch of the Mennonite church that shuns modern technology and practices simple farming and handicrafts?
(The) Amish
This fresco is now so badly damaged that it can no longer be viewed by the public. Identify this mural by Leonardo Da Vinci that depicts the exact moment when Jesus announced to his disciples that one of them had betrayed him.
(The) Last Supper
Whether he was playing the part of a tragic clown, Harlem slave, or even a rose, this Russian dancer possessed the uncanny ability to thoroughly transform himself into his role. Name this dancer for the Ballets Russes who choreographed The Rite of Spring and is considered to have been one of the best male dancers of the twentieth century.
(Vaslav) Nijinsky [ni-ZHIN-skee]
In art, this name is given to a flat slab forming the topmost part of a Doric column. What is this term, which also names an ancient adding composed of beads strung on wires that connect to a wooden frame.
Abacus
It is the most important religious center for the followers of Sikhism [SEEK-ism]. Name this city in northwestern India, the home of the Pool of Immorality and sacred Golden Temple.
Armitsar [um-RIT-sur]
Agnosticism questions the existence of God. What philosophy rejects the belief in God?
Atheism
What comic book and television hero hailed from Gotham City?
Batman
Its name is believed to come from the Turkish word for “broken.” This musical instrument looks a lot like a mandolin, except it’s a little more than two feet long. What eight string instrument, well known throughout the history and culture of Greece, is it?
Bouzouki [boo-ZOO-kee]
The hollowed sides of two shells, each about two inches across and typically made of rosewood or ebony, face each other and are linked with a cord. The player slips her thumb inside the cord, allowing the shells to dangle over the palm. Identify this musical instrument, associated with Spanish flamenco dancing.
Castanets
Italian for “tall,” what name is given to an ending or an added end piece for a musical composition?
Coda
I’m music, what note is a major third above the B natural?
D Sharp (do not accept: e flat)
The 1977 movie Saturday Night Fever created a nationwide enthusiasm for what type of popular dance music characterized by a fast tempo and a steady beat?
Disco
These individuals take the risk that their product will make money or that it will fail. What term beginning with “e” refers to individuals who organize a company to produce a product for a profit?
Entrepreneurs
Created in the 1960’s, what type of jazz music discarded many of the traditional forms and basic chord patterns of earlier jazz music?
Free (jazz)
Arising out of the Romanesque period, this style of architecture is characterized by ribbed vaulting and pointed arches. State the term applied to this type of art.
Gothic
On November 25th, 2002, this play about eight people stranded by a snowstorm in an English manor – one of whole is a homicidal maniac – celebrated 50 years of continual production in London’s West End. Name this Agatha Christie classic.
(The) Mousetrap
John Williams has composed scores for many movies and TV shows, and has won Academy Awards for best original score. Name two of the movies for which he has won.
“Jaws,” “Star Wars,” E.T. (The Extra-Terrestrial)” , “Schindler’s List”, “Fiddler on the Roof”
The opening song of the Broadway musical “Fiddler On the Roof” is introduced by Tevye, the main character, with this line: “And how do we keep our balance? That I can tell you in one word.” What is that one word?
Tradition
The revolutionary designs of this engineer were aimed at at achieving the maximum effect with a minimum investment of materials. Name this american author of the book Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth and architect of the geodesic dome.
(Buckminster) Fuller
