Light Classics Trivia Quiz

Answer: Antonin Dvorak

Dvorak wrote the Symphony Number 9 in 1893 while he was the director of the National Conservatory of Music of America. It is by far the most popular of all his symphonies and astronaut Neil Armstrong took a recording of it with him on the Apollo mission to the moon. Dvorak was very influenced by both native American and African American music.

The work was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and was first played at the Carnegie Hall on December 16, 1893 and was conducted by Anton Seidl.

Answer: Violin

Nigel came from a musical family; his grandfather was principal cellist with the BBC Orchestra and his father was the principal cellist with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under Sir Thomas Beecham. At the age of seven Nigel joined the Yehudi Menuhin School of Music. Later he helped to fund his studies by busking with his friend and fellow student Thomas Demenga who played the cello.

At the age of only 16 the famous jazz violinist Stephane Grappelli invited him to join him and play at the New York Carnegie Hall. Nigel is a versatile violinist playing both jazz and classical music.

Answer: The bassoon

Prokofiev was commissioned by Natalya Sats, the director of the Central Children's Theatre in Moscow, to write a symphony for children. It takes the form of a narrated children's story with different instruments depicting the different characters to help the children learn the sound of them. Peter is played by a string quartet and is bright and lively; the crotchety old grandpa is the bassoon; the duck is the oboe and the wolf the French horn and so on.

At its premiere Natalya Sats was intended to be the narrator.

However, she was ill and the substitute was inexperienced so the work did not achieve much success. The next month there was a much more successful performance with Sats herself narrating. There are now many versions with different narrators.

Answer: Julian

Julian Lloyd Weber is the second son of the conductor William Lloyd Webber, his brother Andrew being the elder. Throughout his career he has collaborated with a wide variety of musicians including Yehudi Menuhin, Neville Mariner, Georg Solti, Stephan Grappeli, Elton John and Cleo Lane. Unfortunately in 2014 Julian had to give up playing the cello due to a neck injury.

When asked how had looked after his Stradivarius he said that he had tried to keep it 'comfortable like a person, not too hot and not too cold'. 'It is a friend' he said.

After he retired from performing Julian remained active in the world of music, especially musical education.

Answer: Paul Dukas

The piece was based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's 1797 poem of the same name. It is by far the most well-known of Dukas' works largely because of the antics of Mickey Mouse. Paul Dukas was a minor French composer little of whose work has survived because he destroyed any of his music which he considered inferior.

He was very critical of himself and much work was destroyed. The story is that the sorcerer goes out and leaves his apprentice in the work shop with the instruction to fill a bath of water.

The lazy apprentice soon finds this too arduous and uses a spell to make a broom do it for him. The whole thing gets out of hand and there are brooms and buckets of water everywhere, until the sorcerer returns and restores order.

Answer: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

The '1812 Overture' was written to commemorate the success of the Russian armies in repelling Napoleon's invasion. The overture was first performed in Moscow on August 20, 1882, conducted by Ippolit Al'tani under a tent near the then-unfinished Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, which also commemorated Russia's victory over France.

As well as cannon fire it contains church bells and traces of 'The Marseillaise'. To those in the United States '1812 Overture' signifies as a symbol Independence Day, a tradition that dates to a 1974 choice made by Arthur Fiedler for a performance on July 4 of the Boston Pops.

Answer: Beautiful

The original German name for this lovely waltz is "An der schönen blauen Donau", which translates as 'By the Beautiful Blue Danube'. Although it has been one of the most consistently popular pieces of classical music, when it was first performed in 1867 it was only a mild success.

The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra give a concert on New Year's Day and it is televised to many countries of the world. The music of the Strauss family always features heavily in this prestigious concert and the second encore is always 'The Beautiful Blue Danube' which is greeted with enthusiastic applause.

Answer: The William Tell Overture

The 'William Tell Overture' opened every episode of 'The Lone Ranger' while viewers watched him riding at top speed over the open country. The British comic and actor Billy Connelly once said that 'the definition of an intellectual was a person who could hear this music and not think of the Lone Ranger'.

At the end of the movie 'Brassed Off' the band play 'The William Tell Overture' at the Albert Hall, London as their entry for the competition of British Brass Band of the Year. Of course they won, and were able to return home at least triumphant in this, although their pit had been closed.

The Grimethorpe Colliery band portrayed them, and ironically their pit suffered the same fate as the one in the story.

Answer: Swan

Saint-Saens said to his publisher that he knew that he should have been working on his third symphony, but he found 'The Carnival of the Animals' such fun that he directed his attention to it. Originally it had been intended for his students at l'ecole Niedermeyer, but it was first played at a private concert hosted by the notable cellist Charles Lebouc.

The choreographer Mikhail Fokine was inspired to use the music of the swan for a short ballet which he called 'The Dying Swan'. It was danced by Anna Pavlova over 4,000 times and became popular all over the world.

Answer: Grieg's Piano Concerto

The idea behind this sketch was that Eric and Ernie had lured Andre Previn on to their show by promising that he would be conducting Yehudi Menuhin, the great violinist. In fact it was Eric who was going to play the piano. Andre Previn had said that they could take the mickey out of him all they liked but they were not to be disrespectful of the music.

Morecombe and Wise were adored in the U.K. and this is considered one of their best sketches. Many people still remember Eric's assertion that he was playing 'all the right notes but not necessarily in the right order'. Andre Previn said that he was called Mr. Preview (Eric and Ernie's distortion of his name) by taxi drivers and people in the street for many years after.