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Popular Classics Trivia Quiz

It need not be "pop music" to be popular. Some classic works and especially fragments of classic works had conquered the world long before there were any charts. Check your knowledge.

A multiple-choice quiz by flem-ish. Estimated time: 5 mins.

Author
flem-ish

Time
5 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
100,853

Updated
Dec 03 21

# Qns
10

Difficulty
Average

Avg Score
6 / 10

Plays
1405

Last 3 plays: Hawkmoon1307 (5/10), Guest 75 (9/10), Guest 77 (9/10).

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 10

1. Which of these overtures was meant for a spectacular open air performance featuring booming cannons and ringing churchbells and even a final fireworks? Hint

Rossini's "Wilhelm Tell" Overture

Wagner's "Overture to the Flying Dutchman"

Tchaikovsky's "Overture 1812"

Von Suppe's "Light Cavalry Overture"

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Question 2 of 10

2. Classic compositions tend to gain extra popularity when they are given romantic nicknames. What is the nickname of Beethoven's "Fifth Piano Concerto"? Hint

Appassionata

The Archduke

The Emperor

Moonlight

3. Some shorter classic works or short fragments have definitely gained themselves a niche in the collective musical memory of Western civilisation. Not always because of their real musical qualities, but sometimes because of their spectacular character. Which of these is such a work composed by Rimskij-Korsakov? Hint

Finlandia

Night On Bald Mountain

Sabredance

The Flight of the Bumble-Bee

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Question 4 of 10

4. Music tends to be more spectacular when it can be incorporated into a
stage spectacle such as a ballet. One of the most popular balllet composers is Pjotr Illich Tchaikovski.Yet he was not the only Russian ballet composer. For which of these Russian ballets did he NOT write the music, though he wrote a Fantasy on the same theme as an Overture? Hint

Romeo and Juliet

Nutcracker

The Sleeping Beauty

Swan Lake

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Question 5 of 10

5. It helps when a piece of music gets a social function, e.g. for church ceremonies such as weddings and funerals. Yet not all "music related to weddings" is "wedding-music" and suitable for a wedding-procession. Which of these is because of its rhythm absolutely unfit? Hint

Henry Purcell's "Trumpet Voluntary" for trumpet in B and piano.

"Bridal Chorus" from Wagner's "Lohengrin "

Edvard Grieg's "Wedding-day at Troldhaugen "

"Wedding-March" from Mendelssohn's "Midsummernight's Dream"

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Question 6 of 10

6. Even piano music can be very spectacular and attractive to mainstream tastes. Chopin especially has written some of the more "sensational" pieces for that instrument. Which of these was not written by him however, but by Johann and Joseph Strauss? Hint

Minute Waltz in D flat

Pizzicato Polka

Raindrop Prelude

Grande Valse Brilliante

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Question 7 of 10

7. Even religious works may please the crowds. Of which of these "prayer-songs" are there even two very popular versions, one by Schubert, the other by Gounod? Hint

Panis Angelicus

Dies Irae

Ave Maria

Ave Verum Corpus

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Question 8 of 10

8. What appeals to the sentimental side of humans, earns a place in the hearts of the many. Popular among teachers and schoolkids is a musical version of Goethe's "Heather Rose". "Boy once saw a rosebud rare Rosebud in the heather". Who wrote the music? Hint

Brahms

Schubert

Beethoven

Mendelssohn

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Question 9 of 10

9. Occasionally some music even gets extra popularity because of the slight scandal linked to it. The "goliardic" poems that were the basis for Carl Orff's "Carmina Burana"(1937) had been written by drifting ex-scholars (and ex-clerics)in 12th century already. The language often was Latin and the style resembled church hymns. Which of the following lines is NOT goliardic, however, and constitutes the beginning of a real Church hymn? Hint

Tempus est iocundum o virgines

Puer natus est

Si puer cum puellula moraretur in cellula

Ego sum abbas Cocaniensis

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Question 10 of 10

10. Music may play a role in political and social life. Songs as "La Marseillaise" and the International were born from social revolution.
Occasionally a piece of music is composed for a special event. For which of these was the opening of the Suez Canal such an event? Hint

"Entry of the Gladiators" by Julius Fucik

"Coronation March" by Giacomo Meyerbeer

"March of the Toreadors" by Georges Bizet

"Grand Triumphal March" from Verdi's "Aida"

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Most Recent Scores

Dec 20 2024 : Hawkmoon1307: 5/10
Dec 16 2024 : Guest 75: 9/10
Dec 05 2024 : Guest 77: 9/10
Oct 31 2024 : Buddy1: 10/10

Score Distribution

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Which of these overtures was meant for a spectacular open air performance featuring booming cannons and ringing churchbells and even a final fireworks?

Answer: Tchaikovsky's "Overture 1812"

Tchaikovsky's Overture was created to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Russia's victory over Napoleon. Brass bands, cannon fire, shotguns and the pealing of every church bell in Moscow was to be incorporated in its first performance. Gioacchino Rossini lived from 1792 till 1868. Wagner from 1813 till 1883, von Supp� from 1819 till 1895, and Tchaikovsky from 1840 till 1893.

2. Classic compositions tend to gain extra popularity when they are given romantic nicknames. What is the nickname of Beethoven's "Fifth Piano Concerto"?

Answer: The Emperor

"Moonlight" and "Appassionata" refer to piano sonatas nr 14 and 23. Sometimes the term "Moonshine Sonata" is used to translate "Mondschein". Yjay may create confusion as "Moonshine" may also refer to Debussy's "Clair de Lune"."Archduke" is the name of Trio nr 7 for Piano, Violin and Cello.

Answer: The Flight of the Bumble-Bee

"Sabredance" is by Aram Khachaturian(1903-1978); "Finlandia" is by Sibelius(1865-1957). Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky(1839-1881) wrote the "Night on Bald Mountain". Rimskij-Korsakov lived from 1844 till 1908.

4. Music tends to be more spectacular when it can be incorporated into a stage spectacle such as a ballet. One of the most popular balllet composers is Pjotr Illich Tchaikovski.Yet he was not the only Russian ballet composer. For which of these Russian ballets did he NOT write the music, though he wrote a Fantasy on the same theme as an Overture?

Answer: Romeo and Juliet

The ballet "Romeo and Juliet" was composed by Sergei Prokofiev(1891-1953)and first performed at Brno in 1938.
Tchaikovski wrote a Fantasy on Romeo and Juliet as an Overture.

Answer: Edvard Grieg's "Wedding-day at Troldhaugen "

"Bridal Chorus" is better known as "Here Comes the Bride".
Another wedding-march might have been the one from "Le Nozze di Figaro" or "Sound of Music". More on wedding-music at www.wam.umd.edu/~sek/wedding/music.html
See Processional Music.

Answer: Pizzicato Polka

Chopin was born in 1810 and died young in 1849. There are TWO Johann Strausses: Senior (1804-1849) and Junior (1825-1899). Joseph Strauss lived from 1827 till 1870.

7. Even religious works may please the crowds. Of which of these "prayer-songs" are there even two very popular versions, one by Schubert, the other by Gounod?

Answer: Ave Maria

"Panis Angelicus" is one of the more sentimentally attractive works by Cesar Franck. "Dies Irae" is, apart from a traditional church song, a fragment from Berlioz's " Symphonie Fantastique". Mozart's "Ave Verum" was listed in Koechel's list as KV 618.

Answer: Schubert

Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847). Schubert (1797-1828). Beethoven (1770-1827).Brahms (1833-1897).

Answer: Puer natus est

Cocaniensis refers to the story of the monastery of Cockayne where there is only good food, good drink and lots of fun. "Tempus est iocundum o virgines" is an appeal to young girls to take time for some fun with these "travelling students", many of them unfrocked priests or runaway monks.
"Si puer cum puellula" is even more specific and suggests what may happen when a handsome boy and a pretty girl happen to be by themselves in one room.

10. Music may play a role in political and social life. Songs as "La Marseillaise" and the International were born from social revolution. Occasionally a piece of music is composed for a special event. For which of these was the opening of the Suez Canal such an event?

Answer: "Grand Triumphal March" from Verdi's "Aida"

The "Coronation March" is from "The Prophet". Bizet's "Toreadors" are from "Carmen". Julius Fucik (1872-1916) was a successful Czech military orchestra conductor and composer, born in Prague.
Meyerbeer lived from 1791 till 1864. Bizet from 1838 till 1875. The first performance of "Aida" was on 24th December 1871, in Cairo, Egypt.

Source: Author flem-ish

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