Making Music in Vienna Trivia Quiz

Answer: Franz Joseph Haydn

Haydn (1732-1809) was born in a village near the Austrian border with Hungary, but was sent from there at the age of six so he could receive musical training, as his parents had recognised his talent. His singing earned him a place in the choir of St Stephens Cathedral, in Vienna.

There his career took off, but his location depended on his current patron, and included some visits to England before a triumphant return to Vienna. His contributions to the developing Classical Period of music, following the Baroque Period, were immense, and he has been called 'The Father of the Symphony'.

His Symphony No. 45 (in F# minor), which is better known as the 'Farewell' Symphony, was written in 1772. It was intended to convey to Prince Eszterházy the desire of his staff to end their extended visit to the prince's country estate, and return to their families in Vienna.

Answer: Antonio Salieri

Although born in Italy, Salieri (1750-1825) spent his adult life in the employ of the Habsburgs, mostly in Vienna, where he was a central figure in the development of opera during the latter part of the 18th century. His work was widely performed during his lifetime, although less so after 1800. Even then, he remained a highly-sought teacher with widely-felt influence in Viennese music.

His work gradually disappeared from the performance repertoires over the fifty years following his death, before a revival of interest caused by Peter Schaffer's play (and the subsequent movie) 'Amadeus'.

The comic opera 'La fiera di Venezia', written to be performed as part of 1772's Carnival, was his first big popular success, and featured the use of three languages to convey the vibrant celebrations, as well as incorporating dances (both from the protagonists and the chorus) with the singing.

Answer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Although his baptismal certificate reads Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart (1756-1791), he preferred to refer to himself as Wolfgang Amadč Mozart, and that is how the world generally refers to this musical prodigy. He was playing the clavier at three, started formal instruction at four, and was composing by five (but didn't write his first symphony until the ripe old age of eight).

He was born in Salzburg, where his career started, but his most productive period is associated with his time in Vienna, where he moved in 1781. 'Die Zauberflöte', one of his most popular operas, was one of the creations of his last year's work, a time of immense productivity before his tragically young death.

He conducted at the opera's premier on 30 September, just over two months before he succumbed to the illness he seemed to have contracted about three weeks earlier while in Prague for the premier of another opera, 'La clemenza di Tito'.

Answer: Ludwig van Beethoven

Born in Bonn (now Germany, then part of the Holy Roman Empire), Beethoven (1770-1827) moved to Vienna at the age of 21, where he studied with Joseph Haydn, and established a reputation for himself as a pianist. His first symphony was produced in 1800, by which time his hearing had already started to deteriorate.

By the time of his fifth symphony (yes, that one, that starts Da da da dum) premiered in 1808, he was almost completely deaf, and he stopped performing in 1811. He kept composing despite the loss of his hearing, ultimately producing nine symphonies, thirty-two piano sonatas (including 'Sonata quasi una fantasia'), sixteen string quartets, one mass and one opera. Additional bits and pieces include Bagatelle No. 25 in A minor, better known as 'Für Elise', familiar to the family of almost anyone who has learned piano.

Answer: Franz Schubert

Like a number of the other composers featured here, Franz Peter Schubert (1797-1828) showed great musical talent as a child; unlike most of them, he was actually born in Vienna, and did not just move there as an adult musician. He did not achieve particular acclaim as a composer during his lifetime, despite the vastness of the material he wrote before dying at the age of 31.

As well as hundreds of lieder (poems set to music) and a range of sacred pieces, he wrote seven complete symphonies, with his eighth, Symphony No. 8 in B minor, being incomplete at the time of his death, despite the fact that he wrote the first two movements in 1822.

Answer: Anton Bruckner

The organist and composer Josef Anton Bruckner (1824-1896) is associated with the transition from Romanticism to modern music, with his use of dissonance and unexpected modulations (changing from one key to another). He was known to be quite self-critical, and a number of his major works exist in multiple versions, as he reworked them in consultation with his peers.

This could, in part, be due to the fact that he was largely self-taught for much of his life, and only started serious training at the age of 31, and serious composition six years later.

The Mass in D minor, which is considered his first mature piece, was completed in 1864 and performed to widespread praise. He made slight revisions in 1876 and again in 1881-2. It is the musical setting for a solemn mass of the Catholic Church, set in four vocal parts for choir and soloists, with an orchestral accompaniment that includes a church organ.

Answer: Johann Strauss II

The father of Johann Baptist Strauss (1825-1899) was a composer of dance music and operettas. The son was known variously as Johann Strauss II, Johann Strauss Jr., Johann Strauss the Younger, and Johann Strauss the Son - or alternatively, as 'The Waltz King', due to his prolific writing in that genre. 'An der schönen blauen Donau', possibly his best known piece, was not very successful when first performed as a choral piece in 1866, but the revised instrumental version that debuted at the 1867 Paris World's Fair was a hit, and is the version with which we are familiar today.

As well as waltzes, Strauss wrote other dance music (including polkas, quadrilles, etc.) and operettas, of which the best known is 'Die Fledermaus' ('The Bat').

Answer: Johannes Brahms

If I had used the popular name ('Brahms's Lullaby'), you would have had no problem connecting Brahms to his Op. 49, No. 4, which was originally written for voice and piano in 1868. It premiered with his close friend Clara Schumann (who premiered a number of his works, when he was not himself displaying his skill as a pianist) on piano.

The lyrics have been changed over the years, but the tune remains familiar. Along with Beethoven and Bach, Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) was decreed to be one of the 'Three Bs' by Hans von Bülow, indicating his status as a composer.

Although born into a musical family in Hamburg, Brahms spent most of his life after the age of 30 in Vienna, where he became recognised as a major force in the musical world. In his later years he formed a close friendship with Johann Strauss II.

Answer: Franz Lehár

Franz Lehár (1870-1948) was born in what was then the Kingdom of Hungary, in a region that is now Slovakia, and studied violin at Prague Conservatory. His father was a bandmaster in the Austrian army, and he followed suit, before becoming conductor at the Theatre an der Wien (a Viennese theatre located on the banks of the Wien River) in 1902.

He wrote in a range of musical forms, but is now most associated with operettas, of which 'Die lustige Witwe' (first performed in 1905) is probably the most famous, both in its entirety and because individual songs have had popular success.

These include (using English titles) 'You'll Find Me at Maxim's' and 'The Merry Widow Waltz'. In 1975, Sir Robert Helpmann adapted the plot, and organised for additional music from John Lanchbery and Alan Abbot, to produce a ballet performed by the Australian Ballet Company.

Answer: Arnold Schoenberg

A native of Vienna, Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951) was a largely self-taught musician, whose early work built on the traditions of both Johannes Brahms and Richard Wagner. He became one of the most significant composers of the 20th century, because so many were motivated either to extend his work or to oppose it.

He is most associated with the use of a chromatic scale, using what he called the twelve-tome technique. This was a method of composition that ensured that all twelve notes of the chromatic scale were equally represented in a piece, as opposed to standard musical use of scales which primarily use only the seven of those notes contained in a diatonic scale. Variations for Orchestra, composed between 1926 and 1928, was Schoenberg's first twelve-tone piece written to be performed by a large ensemble.

In 1933, the rise of the Nazi party to power made it unsafe for him to remain in Germany, where he was then living, and he moved to the United States, where he remained for the rest of his life.