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Musical Medley Trivia Quiz

A short collection of classical music trivia, all rather silly stuff and all multiple choice.

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

Author
fringe

Time
4 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
88,851

Updated
Dec 03 21

# Qns
5

Difficulty
Tough

Avg Score
3 / 5

Plays
975

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 5

1. Not only was this composer prolific in terms of musical compositions, he also fathered 20 children, four of whom would make their own mark on the music world. Who was he? Hint

Beethoven

Bach

Brahms

Bizet

NEXT>

Question 2 of 5

2. Which composer, in his early teens, risked excommunication by Pope Clement XIV by writing down, totally from memory after just one hearing, Gregorio Allegri's "Miserere"? Hint

Mozart

Mussorgsky

Mendelssohn

Mahler

3. Popularised a century and a half later by Lewis Carroll, the names 'Tweedledum' and 'Tweedledee' were originally coined by poet John Byrom in 1725 to satirize the ongoing feud between which two composers? Hint

Vivaldi and Bononcini

Handel and Purcell

Handel and Bononcini

Purcell and Vivaldi

NEXT>

Question 4 of 5

4. This composer was not lucky in love and both his first wife and long- term mistress tried to commit suicide by shooting themselves when the relationship ended. Luckily neither succeeded, but who was the man causing their angst? Hint

Debussy

Dvorak

Delius

Dukas

NEXT>

Question 5 of 5

5. Which of the following composers did not suffer from deafness at some time during his life? Hint

Smetana

Faure

Beethoven

Scarlatti

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Not only was this composer prolific in terms of musical compositions, he also fathered 20 children, four of whom would make their own mark on the music world. Who was he?

Answer: Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) had seven children with his first wife, his cousin, Maria. After Maria's death he married again, and had a further thirteen children with his second wife, Anna. Four sons would become well known composers. Unfortunately, ten of the children were to die before maturity.

2. Which composer, in his early teens, risked excommunication by Pope Clement XIV by writing down, totally from memory after just one hearing, Gregorio Allegri's "Miserere"?

Answer: Mozart

This work, being sacrosanct to The Vatican, and then only during Holy Week, was never to be allowed to appear in any other venue or be replicated in any way. The fact that Mozart was able to perform such an amazing feat was not lost on the Pope, and instead of excommunication bestowed upon him the Order of the Golden Spur, the second highest of Papal Orders.

Answer: Handel and Bononcini

An intimate of many of the great men of his age, Byrom witnessed the public feud between Handel and Bononcini, who at the time were very competitive and very much equals.

Answer: Debussy

Following a nine-year affair with Debussy, Gabrielle Dupont tried to commit suicide when the relationship came to an end in 1898. The following year he married Rosalie (Lily) Texier, but left her five years later, when she also tried to commit suicide by shooting herself.

5. Which of the following composers did not suffer from deafness at some time during his life?

Answer: Scarlatti

By the age of fifty Beethoven was almot totally deaf; however, this did not prevent him from composing some of his major works. By the same age Smetana was suffering from the effects of syphillis, and deafness was creeping up on him. Faure suffered from deafness in later life; from about the age of sixty five it began to affect him more and more.

Source: Author fringe

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