Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. The eighth of this Italian composer's twelve Concerti Grossi is popularly known as the "Christmas Concerto". He is blessed with the appropriately seasonal Christian name of "Arcangelo", but what is his surname?
2. This composer's "Christmas Oratorio" in fact consists of a series of six cantatas, each of which depicts a different scene from the story of Christ's birth. Who is he?
3. Most Christmas-related works seem to draw their principal inspiration from the festival's religeous aspects. However, the American William Henry Fry wrote a symphony whose title suggests a rather more secular origin! What is the name of this piece?
4. In 1874, Tchaikovsky wrote an opera named "Vakula the Smith" (revised in 1885 as "Cherevichki"), based on a short story by Gogol. But which other Russian composer in 1895 wrote an opera based on the same story, this time called "Christmas Eve"?
5. This English composer was 82 when his work "Hodie - A Christmas Cantata" was first performed in Worcester Cathedral, at the 1954 Three Choirs Festival. He also wrote a popular "Fantasia on Christmas Carols", and a number of other individual carol settings. What is his name?
6. This South-African born composer's "Carol Symphony" was first performed in 1929, and is his best-known work. Born in 1901, he died prematurely of pneumonia in March 1947. At the time of his death he was Director of Music at the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). Who is he?
7. This composer, born in France in 1892, is perhaps best known for his orchestral tour-de-force "Pacific 231", depicting a steam train on the move. His last work was a "Christmas Cantata", first performed in December 1953, two years before his death. Who is he?
8. This American composer, who died in 2000, wrote 67 numbered symphonies, the 49th of which is his "Christmas Symphony". Who is he?
9. This composer's "Ceremony of Carols" was partly composed on board ship, when he was returning from America to the UK in 1942. It is written for the unusual combination of treble voices and harp, and is based on medieval works that he found in a book entitled "The English Galaxy of Shorter Poems". What is his name?
10. The Second Symphony of this Polish composer, born in 1933 and perhaps best known for his "Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima", bears the subtitle "Christmas". What is his name?
Source: Author
stedman
This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor
agony before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.
