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Famous Bassoon Solos Trivia Quiz

Bassoon solos show up everywhere from ballet to pop music. Take this quiz and see how many you recognize!

A multiple-choice quiz by ertrum. Estimated time: 4 mins.

Author
ertrum

Time
4 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
283,001

Updated
Dec 03 21

# Qns
10

Difficulty
Average

Avg Score
7 / 10

Plays
449

Awards
Top 10% Quiz

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 10

1. Which ballet by Igor Stravinsky starts with a bassoon solo? Hint

Petrushka

The Firebird

The Rite of Spring

Apollo

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Question 2 of 10

2. Paul Dukas wrote a short work which features a bassoon solo. Watchers of Walt Disney's 1940 film, "Fantasia" may recognize the solo from the scene in which Mickey Mouse battles armies of bucket-carrying broomsticks. What piece was this? Hint

The Sorcerer's Apprentice

Bluebeard

La Peri

Faust

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Question 3 of 10

3. In the thirteenth century, monks and students in a monastery near Munich wrote a collection of poems which have come to be called "Carmina Burana". Some of these poems were set to music in the 1930's by which German composer? Hint

Anton Webern

Kurt Weill

Carl Orff

Paul Hindemith

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Question 4 of 10

4. Carl Maria Von Weber wrote a bassoon concerto among his other works, including the operas "Der Freisch�tz" and "Oberon". Later composers, including Berlioz and Debussy, held his method of orchestration in high esteem. Von Weber was a pioneer of which style of music? Hint

Modern

Classical

Romantic

Baroque

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Question 5 of 10

5. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote music for many different and unusual instruments. How many bassoon concertos did he write? Hint

seven

three

one

five

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Question 6 of 10

6. Sergi Prokofiev uses many instruments to give voices to the characters in "Peter and the Wolf". Was the bassoon the wolf?

Yes

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Question 7 of 10

7. Peter Schickele, or his alter ego, PDQ Bach, was quite fond of bassoons. What is the title of his 1974 bassoon quartet, on themes by Richard Wagner? Hint

Last Tango in Bayreuth

Fanfare for Fred

Contrary Dances for Winds and Percussion

Grand Serenade for an Awful Lot of winds and Percussion

NEXT>

Question 8 of 10

8. "Tears of a Clown" may be unique in popular music - it may be the only US number one hit to feature a bassoon solo. Who wrote the words for this unusual hit? Hint

Smokey Robinson

Marvin Gaye

Stevie Wonder

Holland-Dozier-Holland

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Question 9 of 10

9. Edvard Grieg wrote music for this famous play by Henrik Ibsen. The suite features a bassoon solo in "In the Hall of the Mountain King". Which play was the music written for? Hint

Hedda Gabler

A Doll's House

Ghosts

Peer Gynt

NEXT>

Question 10 of 10

10. For which television show was Charles Gounod's "Funeral March of a Marionette" the theme? Hint

The Twilight Zone

The NBC Nightly News

Suspense

Alfred Hitchcock Presents

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Which ballet by Igor Stravinsky starts with a bassoon solo?

Answer: The Rite of Spring

"The Rite of Spring" was very controversial at its debut in Paris in 1913. The performance was booed, and French composer Camille Saint-Saens was reputed to have left the premier of the ballet saying about the bassoon solo at the beginning "What instrument was that?"

Answer: The Sorcerer's Apprentice

"The Sorcerer's Apprentice" was written in 1897. Dukas took the theme of an apprentice sorcerer who overreaches his abilities from Goethe's 1797 poem of the same name.

Answer: Carl Orff

"The Roast Swan Sings" (Cignus ustus cantat), the first song in the section titled "In Taverna", begins with a bassoon solo. The song presents the swan's point of view at being roasted.

Answer: Romantic

Von Weber's bassoon concerto, Opus 75, was written in 1811 and revised in 1822. Von Weber also wrote a short piece for bassoon and orchestra called the "Andante and Hungarian Rondo".

5. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote music for many different and unusual instruments. How many bassoon concertos did he write?

Answer: one

Mozart's bassoon concerto, K 191, was written in 1774 when he was eighteen. It is believed that he may have written two more concerti, but they have not survived.

6. Sergi Prokofiev uses many instruments to give voices to the characters in "Peter and the Wolf". Was the bassoon the wolf?

Answer: No

The bassoon was grandfather. The wolf was voiced by French horns. "Peter and the Wolf" was written in 1936. The work has been recorded many times, with many different narrators, including Michael Flanders, Sting, and Wierd Al Yankovic.

7. Peter Schickele, or his alter ego, PDQ Bach, was quite fond of bassoons. What is the title of his 1974 bassoon quartet, on themes by Richard Wagner?

Answer: Last Tango in Bayreuth

"Last Tango in Bayreuth" appears on PDQ Bach's "Music for an Awful Lot of Winds and Percussion" CD. The eminently forgettable PDQ Bach was, as his biographer said, the last and least of JS Bach's many children. Among his other works, you may find the "Concerto for Horn and Hardart", the madrigal "My Bonny Lass, She Smelleth", and "The Abduction of Figaro".

8. "Tears of a Clown" may be unique in popular music - it may be the only US number one hit to feature a bassoon solo. Who wrote the words for this unusual hit?

Answer: Smokey Robinson

The music for "Tears of a Clown" was written by Stevie Wonder. Smokey Robinson must have been fascinated by "Pagliacci" - he used the same line, "just like Pagliacci did/I'll keep my sadness hid", in "Tears of a Clown" and "My Smile Is Just A Frown (Turned Upside Down)". The latter, however, doesn't feature a bassoon solo. So no wonder it didn't reach number one!

9. Edvard Grieg wrote music for this famous play by Henrik Ibsen. The suite features a bassoon solo in "In the Hall of the Mountain King". Which play was the music written for?

Answer: Peer Gynt

Grieg's music for "Peer Gynt" has been collected into two orchestral suites. "In the Hall of the Mountain King" is the last section of the first suite.

10. For which television show was Charles Gounod's "Funeral March of a Marionette" the theme?

Answer: Alfred Hitchcock Presents

"Good evening"
Gounod wrote "The Funeral March of a Marionette" in 1872. It was originally written for piano, and later scored for orchestra.

Source: Author ertrum

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