Quiz 3: Historical Background

Question 1

Haydn’s Six Quartets

Answer 1

• written in 1781
• nicknamed the “Russian Quartets” (dedicated to and premiered in front of a Russian noble
• nicknamed “Joke Quartets” (comic/humorous elements such as extensive use of staccato {often found in opera buffa} and long, unexpected pauses)

Question 2

Beethoven’s String Quartet in C# minor

Answer 2

• written in 1826
• written a year before he died
• unusual aspects (such as slow fugue in the first movement and scherzo in duple meter)

Question 3

Mozart’s Piano Sonata in F major

Answer 3

• written in 1789

- written during the Early Viennese period

Question 4

Beethoven’s Piano Sonata in C minor

Answer 4

• written in 1799

- also called “Grand Sonata Pathéthique (a marketing tool; pathos -> emotions, grief)