Who Listens to Classical Music Anyway? Quiz

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Ludwig van Beethoven is one of the most famous composers of all time. Most famous for pieces such as his 9th Symphony and 'Fur Elise', he was a key figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras of Western music. That's all very well, but which American, more famous for directing films such as 'The Breakfast Club', co-wrote the 1992 film 'Beethoven'?

Answer: John Hughes

In total Beethoven wrote nine symphonies, some of the most famous acquiring special names over the years. For example his 3rd is called 'Eroica', his 6th the 'Pastoral' Symphony and his 9th the 'Choral' symphony, so called as it was the first symphony composed by a major composer to contain the human voice. He also composed five piano concertos, sixteen string quartets, 32 piano sonatas and a single opera before his death in 1827.

John Hughes wrote and directed some of the most popular films of the 1980s and early 90s, including titles such as 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off', 'Sixteen Candles' and 'Pretty in Pink', which earned him the distinction of being dubbed the 'king of teen films'. Although 'Beethoven' is perhaps not considered as one of that genre of films, it starred Charles Grodin and Bonnie Hunt and was successful enough to allow the sequel, 'Beethoven's 2nd', to be made in 1993.

2. Many composers of classical music have had the surname Strauss over the centuries. Two of the best known are Johann Strauss II, an Austrian composer of the first half of the 19th Century, and the German Richard Strauss, who worked in both the Romantic and Modern periods. More recently, Englishman Andrew Strauss captained his country at which sport?

Answer: Cricket

Most of the composers carrying the name Strauss have been Austrian, with Richard Strauss being the notable exception. In fact, many were related. Johann Strauss II was unsurprisingly the son of Johann Strauss I, but he also had two brothers, Josef and Eduard, who composed a similar style of light music to the man himself. Furthermore, Eduard had a son who also became a composer. He was known as Johann Strauss III.

Andrew Strauss was born in 1977 in South Africa, but like several other players, such as Kevin Pietersen, he chose England as his international team as a result of his English heritage. He played as an opening batsman and spent most of his career at Middlesex, before his retirement in 2012. He also retired from international cricket in 2012 after exactly 100 test matches. His teammates bought him 100 bottles of wine to celebrate.

3. There have also been several composers with the surname Bach. Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer of the Baroque period and wrote pieces such as the 'Brandenburg Concertos'. But in which 1984 film did Arnold Schwarzenegger famously say "I'll be Bach"? Or something like that anyway...

Answer: The Terminator

Johann Sebastian Bach lived from 1685 until 1750, his death often being seen as the end of the Baroque period of classical music. He had twenty children in his lifetime, seven with his second cousin Maria Barbara Bach and a further thirteen with Anna Magdalena Wilcke, whom he met in the German city of Kothen in 1720. Of these children, many also became composers. The most notable of these are Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach and his youngest son Johann Christian Bach.

Arnold Schwarzenegger says "I'll be back" when denied entry into a police station where his target Sarah Connor is being held. He them promptly drives his car through the front door of the station. The quote was chosen as part of the American Film Institute's '100 years... 100 Movie Quotes' in 2005, ranking 37th.

4. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is perhaps the best known composer of all time. His compositions include the 'Jupiter' symphony and the operas 'Don Giovanni' and 'The Magic Flute'. He also has a namesake crater on which planet, the smallest in the solar system since 2006?

Answer: Mercury

Mozart was born in Salzburg, Austria in 1756 and showed great music aptitude from an early age. He quickly became proficient in piano and violin and started composing at the age of five. Over the next 30 years he composed over 600 works, including 41 symphonies (the last of which was 'Jupiter'), 23 operas, 25 piano concertos and hundreds of other pieces for both religious and non-religious purposes.

Mercury has been the smallest planet in the solar system since 2006 due to the reclassification of Pluto from planet to dwarf-planet. Since that reclassification Mercury also has the most irregular orbit of any planet in the solar system and goes round the sun faster than any other (88 days). Venus is the third smallest planet, with a radius only slightly smaller than Earth's, while Ceres is the largest asteroid in the solar system.

5. George Frideric Handel was a German-English composer of the Baroque era. His best known work is the oratorio 'Messiah', recognisable for its Hallelujah chorus. Being clean shaven, Handel would never have sported one of these, but which of the following is a style of moustache?

Answer: Handlebar

George Frideric Handel did not come from a musical family, but after gaining a musical education across Europe, he moved to England in 1712 to follow a career as a composer. He originally founded three opera companies to expose British society to his preferred Italian opera. However, after the success of 'Messiah' in 1742 he ceased to produce Italian opera. Along with 'Messiah', many of his other pieces such as 'Water Music' still remain popular today.

The handlebar moustache is so called as it resembles the handlebars of a bicycle, and is also known as the spaghetti moustache due to its association with the stereotypical Italian gentleman.

6. Franz Josef Haydn was a pioneering Austrian composer of the classical era. He is often referred to as the 'Father of the Symphony' and composed over 100 symphonies in his lifetime, making him one of the most prolific composers ever. Not quite a composer, which Haydn starred in the TV series 'Heroes'?

Answer: Hayden Panettiere

As well as being the 'Father of the Symphony', Haydn is also called the 'Father of the String Quartet'. He composed 68 string quartets in his career, and over 340 hours of music overall. However, his symphonies have often been criticised for being very similar to one another and he famously said on his deathbed "I have just figured out how to use the winds".

The TV show 'Heroes' aired on NBC for 4 years between 2006 and 2010 and followed the stories of several 'ordinary' people who each discover that they have various superhuman abilities. Hayden Panettiere appeared as the cheerleader Claire Bennet who has the ability to regenerate any bodily tissue, meaning that she can recover rapidly from almost any injury.

7. Giuseppe Verdi is an Italian composer of the Romantic Era. He is best known for his operas, which include 'Rigoletto', 'Aida' and 'La Traviata'. Federazione dei Verdi is the name of an Italian political party, but which of the following best describes their political stance?

Answer: Green Party

In total Giuseppe Verdi composed a whopping 28 operas, making him one of the most prolific operatic composers of all time. Verdi was a devoutly religious man and in addition to his operas, he is also known for his 'Requiem', a musical arrangement for a Roman Catholic funeral. This requiem was composed in memory of poet Alessandro Manzoni, and is the loudest unamplified music ever written calling for a bass drum to play fffff (five fortes)! Unsurprisingly it is not normally performed in church, but usually as a concert lasting around an hour and a half.

Federazione dei Verdi or 'Federation of the Greens' in English are an Italian Green Party who have gone through many coalitions in their short history and in 2011 formed the centre of the 'Ecologists and Civic Networks' coalition.

8. Johannes Brahms was a German composer of the Romantic era, and famously one of the 'Three Bs' of classical music, along with Johann Sebastian Bach and Ludwig Van Beethoven. But in which British sitcom would you find the character Miss Brahms, an employee of the fictional department store Grace Brothers?

Answer: Are You Being Served?

Brahms is often noted for his study of the compositions of older composers in an attempt to use their themes in the Romantic era. Most notably he composed the 'Paganini Varitations' and 'Variations on a Theme by Haydn'. Although he only composed four symphonies, they are all held in high regard, as are his two piano concertos and his single violin concerto.

Miss Brahms was the assistant to Mrs Slocombe in the BBC1 comedy 'Are You Being Served', and was known for her almost incomprehensible Cockney accent when talking to customers. She was portrayed by Wendy Richard, who also played Pauline Fowler in 'Eastenders' and sadly passed away in 2009.

9. Franz Liszt was a Hungarian composer of the 19th Century. Noted for his virtuosic skill on the piano, he was acclaimed as the greatest pianist of his day. As well as performing and teaching, he composed hundreds of pieces during his career. On a somewhat unrelated note, if a building is 'liszted' in the UK, does this mean that it has been put onto a list to be demolished shortly?

Answer: No

Quite the opposite! A listed building in the UK one that has been designated to have 'special architectural or historic interest' and has therefore been placed on the Statutory List of Buildings. Each area of the UK (England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland) has a separate statutory body maintaining the list in their area. However, an area doesn't have to be a building to be a listed building. Places such as the Abbey Road pedestrian crossing, famous for appearing on the cover of the Beatles album 'Abbey Road', are also listed.

10. Similarly to Liszt, Chopin was also a virtuoso on the piano, despite being an infrequent performer in later life. The majority of his compositions were exclusively for the piano and even his two piano concerti had little orchestral back up. Chopin grew up in which European capital city, where you would you now find Chopin Airport?

Answer: Warsaw

Frederic Chopin lived from 1810 until 1849 and is considered one of the great pianists of the Romantic era. He was educated in Warsaw, but left before the November Uprising in 1830, where the Army of the Congress Poland rose up against the Russian Empire. He moved to Paris and continued to compose for the remaining 19 years of his life. His pieces are noted for their technical difficulty.

Source: Author pagea

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor LeoDaVinci before going online.
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Who Listens to Classical Music Anyway? Quiz

You don't need to know the difference between Tchaikovsky's 6th Symphony and Beethoven's 8th Piano Sonata for this one, it's just general knowledge with a classical music theme. Good luck!

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