Classical Soundtracks Trivia Quiz

Answer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Mozart (1756-1791) was a prolific Austrian composer. He left us more than 625 works, including at least 41 symphonies, more than 40 concerti, 18 masses and 21 operas.
Mozart's only clarinet concerto (in A Major, KV 622) dates from 1791. It is one of his last masterpieces. At the premiere in October 1791, it had a generally positive reception.
"Out of Africa" (1985) is a romantic movie starring Meryl Streep, Robert Redford and Klaus Maria Brandauer. The adagio of Mozart's clarinet concerto is used as the movie theme. The soundtrack includes some other instrumental works by Mozart too: "Rondo alla Turca" (KV 331), the "Sinfonia concertante in E flat Major" (KV 364) and "Three Divertimenti" (KV 136, 137 and 138). The movie won an Oscar for Best Music.

Answer: Gustav Mahler

Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) finished nine numbered symphonies and "Das Lied der Erde", a symphonic poem which Mahler did not want to title a symphony. Mahler's Tenth symphony was not completed when he died.
Mahler started as a conductor and only spent part of his time composing music. He was the main conductor of the Viennese Hofoper from 1898 until 1908. In 1908, he was appointed conductor of the Metropolitan Opera in New York, where he worked for three years. In 1911 he returned to Vienna and died a few days after arrival.
Gustav Aschenbach, the fictional character created by Thomas Mann, is a fifty year old author with almost perfectly the same physical appearance as Gustav Mahler. Indeed, Mann based the physical description of his character on one of Mahler's photos.
Luigi Visconti, the director of the movie, made Aschenbach a composer instead of an author, and thus refers more precisely to Mahler. Visconti's movie includes parts of Mahler's Third and Fifth symphonies.

Answer: Frederic Chopin

Chopin (1810-1849) was born in Warsaw and emigrated to Paris in 1830. In 1836 he met George Sand (born Amandine Aurore Dupin, 1804-1876), who at that time had just left her husband. Soon a romance ensued.
Chopin was a master at the piano. His compositions include over 225 works for piano solo, as well as some works for piano and orchestra or piano with string instruments or piano with vocals.
The soundtrack to "Impromptu" includes eleven of Chopin's masterpieces, as well as some work by his friend Franz Liszt (1811-1886).

Answer: Richard Strauss

Stanley Kubrick sketched in this masterpiece a space voyage to a mysterious black monolith on the moon. The soundtrack includes not only Richard Strauss' tone poem mentioned in the question, but also music by Johann Strauss (no relative of Richard's) and of Gyorgy Ligeti.
Richard Strauss (1864-1949) was a German composer best remembered for his operas (for instance "Der Rosenkavalier"), Lieder (e.g. "Vier Letzte Lieder") and symphonic poems (including "Also sprach Zarathustra").
"Also sprach Zarathustra" is a work for large orchestra (at least 100 musicians). It consists of nine movements, of which the prelude "Sonnenaufgang" ("Sunrise") is the one used in the movie "2001: A Space Odyssey".
Most of the music by Lygety used for the movie fits in with the astronomical theme: "Atmospheres", "Lux Aeterna" and "Adventures". But also Lygety's "Requiem" is played during the movie.

Answer: Richard Wagner

Richard Wagner (1813-1883) was a famous German opera composer. But he did not only compose the music for his operas, he also wrote the libretti, advised on the theatrical release (costumes, make-up, décor, props...) and conducted most of the premieres. Wagner completed a dozen operas, of which ten are still regularly performed - most famously in Bayreuth, in a theatre for which Richard Wagner designed the acoustics. "Apocalypse Now" has a scene in which the Americans use a number of helicopters to attack a small Vietnamese village in which the North-Vietnamese army has stationed some soldiers. To scare the inhabitants away, the American commander decides to play a recording of Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries" really loud.

Answer: Giuseppe Verdi

Verdi (1813-1901) is only one of the Italian composers whose music dominates "The Great Caruso". Mario Lanza (1921-1959) played the role of the Italian tenor Enrico Caruso (1873-1921). Caruso's career is sketched throughout the movie by some of the best known roles he played: the Duke of Mantua in Verdi's "Rigoletto", Rodolfo in Puccini's "La Bohème".
Giuseppe Verdi composed about 25 operas, and arias from three of Verdi's masterpieces are used in the score of "The Great Caruso". Lanza in his role of Caruso sings also arias from Verdi's operas "Aida" and "Il Trovatore".
Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924), Gioacchino Rossini (1792-1868), Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848), Ruggiero Leoncavallo (1857-1919), Amilcare Ponchielli (1834-1886) and Pietro Mascagni (1863-1945) are the other Italian composers whose opera arias are used in the soundtrack. Furthermore, there are songs by Ernesto de Curtis (1875-1937) , Friedrich von Flotow (1812-1883) and Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750). Now, if all that doesn't make a great movie for lovers of classical music...

Answer: Ludwig von Beethoven

Beethoven (1770-1827) is best known for his nine symphonies. The Ninth (which he composed while being completely deaf) is a monument in classical music: the first symphony to include vocals. Some sources even state that the storage capacity of a compact disc was designed in order to fit the complete Ninth on one disc.
"A Clockwork Orange" is a movie by Stanley Kubrick following the young delinquent Alex DeLarge. At one point he is subject to an experimental treatment (sort of brainwashing) to eliminate his disposition to violence.

Answer: Maurice Ravel

Ravel (1875-1937) was a French composer. He left us two operas, three or four ballets (including "L'enfant et les sortilèges") and various instrumental works (among which "Pavane pour une enfante défunte" and "Le tombeau de Couperin"). The "Bolero" is arguably Ravel's best known composition.
Ravel's "Bolero" takes eighteen reprisals of the same melody, gradually growing stronger and including more instruments.
The movie "10" is a comedy in which George Webber (played by Dudley Moore) meets Jenny Hanley (role by Bo Derek) , and they decide to have a one-night stand. Jenny then suggests "Did you ever do it to Ravel's "Bolero"? "

Answer: Peter Tchaikovsky

Peter Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) was a prolific Russian composer. Although he is not one of the "Mighty Five" (Mili Balakirev, Alexander Borodin, Cesar Cui, Modest Mussorgsky and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov), Tchaikovsky is one of the best known Russian classical composers.
Tchhaikovsky composed several operas (for instance "Queen of Spades" and "Eugene Onegin"), at least six symphonies, various compositions for piano and orchestra, program music, and three ballets ("Sleeping Beauty", "The Nutcracker" and "Swan Lake").
The movie "Black Swan" is about two ballerinas applying for the main role in the ballet "Swan Lake". So naturally the musical score is inspired by Tchaikovsky's composition. But unlike other of the movies mentioned in this quiz, there are no literal excerpts from the classical composition, rather a pop group has rearranged fragments to fit in the score. 

Answer: Samuel Barber

Barber (1910-1981) was an American composer. He created one opera ("Vanessa"), various orchestral music and a few compositions for solo piano or for solo violin.
"Adagio for Strings" is probably the best known music composed by Barber. It has been performed on various commemoration services, and it leaves most audiences in a sad mood. That's why it is quite fit for Oliver Stone's movie "Platoon", because it is a typical anti-war movie.