Not opera, but the next best thing... Quiz

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. This great composer never wrote an opera, but he came close in some of his works. Heinrich Sch�tz was a composer of which era?

Answer: Baroque

Among the best composers of vocal music, most of the compositions of Sch�tz (1585-1672) are works for the church. His music often explored the acoustical possibilities of church music, and the dramatic elements that those acoustics gave him freedom over. Among his best works is a German Requiem, which was one of the great inspirations for composers like Johannes Brahms centuries later.

2. Among Sch�tz's best known pieces is one formally titled "Sacred Symphony". It is by no means a symphony in the modern sense, but an almost operatic piece about six or seven minutes long for double choir and orchestra. What event does this piece depict?

Answer: The conversion of Paul

A great piece that truly takes into account the theatrical possibilities of the music. In the New Testament Paul's conversion comes in a moment of blindness and ecstasy, as a godly voice asks him what it is he is really looking for in life. In the music, the singers are often hidden from the listeners in church, suggesting the "blindness" of Paul and the unknowable nature of God. And the music fills the hall from every corner, taking the listener on a great spiritual journey with only what seems to be a heavenly choir accompanying him.

3. Another Baroque composer wrote a piece which might be considered to be an opera, or at least a "mini-opera" without stage settings. It has possibly the best known title of any of his cantatas. What is the whimsical nickname of this piece?

Answer: Coffee Cantata

While a cantata at the time would generally be something written more for religious purposes, some of Bach's cantatas touch on secular or popular themes. The "Coffee cantata" was a satire of the German stereotyping of coffee drinkers, and of the notion that coffee was a dangerous and addictive substance (as opposed to beer).

It is a charming little piece scored for three soloists (in the roles of a narrator, a father and his daughter), strings and flute.

4. So extended was this composer's family that the family name became almost synonymous with the term "town musician" in the 17th Century. He himself was among the sixth of at least seven generations of his family working as musicians. Eventually settling in Leipzig, who was this man?

Answer: Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) never wrote an opera, unlike his great rival George Frederick Handel. But a number of his works approach the scale and scope of operatic writing. The best known of these is the "St. Matthew Passion", which calls for about as large an orchestra and vocal ensemble as any composer had written for up to that date.

5. Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) technically did write an opera when he was very young, but it wasn't any great success. He did, however, want to write a much better opera later in life - "Lorelei", for which he had wished the great soprano Jenny Lind to sing the title role. Sadly, he died before he could write that music. Who ended up writing the opera?

Answer: Max Bruch

Jenny Lind (1820-1887) was known in her day as "the Swedish Nightingale" for her beautiful soprano voice. Mendelssohn was among her best friends, while others included Robert and Clara Schumann.

6. One of Mendelssohn's greatest stage works is nowadays thought of by some as the greatest masterpiece of theater music. He had written the overture to this play as a teenager, but it was only some decades later that he finished writing the music for the rest of the play. What was this play, which he famously wrote music for?

Answer: A Midsummer Night's Dream

Mendelssohn ventured several times into near-operatic works. The music to "A Midsummer Night's Dream" was probably the best known of his stage pieces, though among others he wrote a cantata based on "Oedipus Rex". He also wrote two very operatic sounding oratorios - "Elijah" (based on the Old Testament figure) and "Paul" (based on the New Testament figure).

It would probably have been interesting to hear what "Lorelei" might have sounded like if Mendelssohn had written it.

7. One of my main influences in my composition was Johannes Brahms (1833-1897). Brahms was very famous for never having written an opera. In fact, he often said publicly that he would "as soon write an opera as marry". Brahms actually did think of setting several operatic libretti to music, including one about the California gold rush.

Answer: True

Nothing survives of Brahms's actual attempts at opera. It certainly would have been interesting to see. He never was satisfied with a libretto though, at least not to the point where he would actually set it to music he would publish.

8. Brahms came close to an operatic story once. Listed as Op. 50 among his works, this cantata can be said to be a transition between his younger style of orchestration and his more mature style in the later choral works. Which piece is this?

Answer: Rinaldo

While the alto rhapsody does have an almost operatic quality to it, it really can't be said to be telling an operatic story. Rinaldo can. Most critics and listeners would say that the piece is not Brahms at his best, but I always liked it myself.

9. The last composer on my non-operatic list is Edvard Grieg (1843-1907), Though not anywhere near the end of the list of people who have influenced me. Grieg's contribution is a setting of background music for a play by which author?

Answer: Henrick Ibsen

Grieg worked with the author on his play "Peer Gynt" for two years. The composer became famous for two suites which he arranged from eight of the numbers from the play. But in my opinion, it is that which did not make it into the suites which is much better.

10. Did Grieg consider the priesthood for a time as an alternative to music?

Answer: Yes

One thing I did learn from Grieg was that the vowel notations of his native Norwegian can really allow a great deal of textual freedom to a composer trying to compose in Yiddish. Nevertheless, Grieg was not the least bit Jewish. In fact, he had considered becoming a priest early in life. For whatever reason Grieg did not don the clerical robes, his religiosity did produce some great church music in Norwegian and in Latin.

The opera I am writing is about a Lutheran girl who converts to Judaism, and her Jewish friend who becomes a rabbi. I wonder what Grieg would have thought of that.

Source: Author Arpeggionist

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor Bruyere before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

I wrote this quiz while working on my first opera. This quiz is my expression of appreciation for those great composers who influenced me without having written any great operas themselves.

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