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Quiz about Small Talk About Historical Classics

Small Talk About Historical Classics Quiz

Sometimes classic musical compositions or their makers get surrounded by anecdotes or have a history of their own outside music. Such 'trifles' and 'small talk' is what this quiz deals with.

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

Author
flem-ish

Time
4 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
79,862

Updated
Dec 03 21

# Qns
10

Difficulty
Average

Avg Score
7 / 10

Plays
742

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 10

1. Which of Wagner's works is the famous 'Here Comes The Bride' (Wedding March) taken from? Hint

The Mastersingers of Nuremberg

Tannhauser

Lohengrin

Tristan and Isolde

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Question 2 of 10

2. Apart from Wagner's 'Here Comes The Bride' there are of course many other 'suitable' 'wedding marches' as well. One of those rivalling compositions was by another German composer who hardly could have been a friend of Wagner's. Who is that German composer? Hint

Felix Mendelssohn

Johannes Brahms

Ludwig van Beethoven

Robert Schumann

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Question 3 of 10

3. Antonio Lucio Vivaldi,the maker of one of the most popular baroque musicworks, 'The Four Seasons' was technically speaking a priest. What was his nickname? Hint

The Magpie of Ventemiglia

The Nightingale of Verona

The Mad Priest of Viterbo

The Red Priest of Venice

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Question 4 of 10

4. A recent study published in a serious 'Psychiatric Bulletin' claims that one of the most famous compositions in twentieth century European music may have been the work of a composer whose mind was debilitated by Alzheimer's Disease. This 'diagnosis' has been based on the 18 times that the central melody is repeated without any change. In which 'classic' masterpiece does this oddity occur? Hint

Ravel's 'Bolero'

Kachaturian's Sabre Dance

Bizet's aria 'Toreador' from Carmen

Tchaikovski's 'Nutcracker-suite'

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Question 5 of 10

5. Popular masterpieces need not be lengthy works. As what did Ludwig van Beethoven 'classify' his famous mini-composition 'Fuer Elise'? Hint

A sonatina.

A bagatelle.

A triolet.

A minuet.

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Question 6 of 10

6. Boccherini's 'Minuet' is definitely one of the most popular works in eighteenth century music. What was a 'minuet' originally? Hint

An Italian type of flute, a precursor of the piccolo.

The traditional name for the third movement in a classic symphony.

A smaller version of the piano-like 'spinet'.

A French dance in triple metre.

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Question 7 of 10

7. Few composers are as exclusively known for just ONE work as Pachelbel for his 'Canon'. What country was he born in ? Hint

Austria

Germany

Bohemia (=Czechia)

Turkey

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Question 8 of 10

8. Which Swedish film used Mozart's 21st Piano Concerto as main musical theme? Hint

'Elvira Madigan' by Bo Widerberg 1967

'Wild Strawberries' by Ingmar Bergman 1959

'Adalen '31' by Bo Widerberg 1969

'Scenes From A Marriage' by Ingmar Bergman 1974

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Question 9 of 10

9. Which of these composers was a lifelong bachelor? Hint

Ludwig van Beethoven

W.A. Mozart

Johann Sebastian Bach

Edward Grieg

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Question 10 of 10

10. Where was Haendel's 'Messiah' performed for the very first time? Hint

New York

London

Hanover

Dublin

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Which of Wagner's works is the famous 'Here Comes The Bride' (Wedding March) taken from?

Answer: Lohengrin

Wagner was born at Leipzig in 1813 and died at Venice in 1883.

Answer: Felix Mendelssohn

Wagner wrote a very unkind treatise on the influence of Jewish composers on German music. Mendelssohn, who WAS a German Jew, wrote 'his' wedding-march in his teens when he was working on a musical version of Shakespeare's 'Midsummernight's Dream'. Other works by Mendelssohn are his 'Scottish', his 'Italian' and his 'Reformation Symphony'. Brahms was born in Hamburg in 1833.

He died in Vienna ,1897. Schumann was born in 1810 and died young in 1856. Mendelssohn died even younger: he lived from 1809 till 1847.

3. Antonio Lucio Vivaldi,the maker of one of the most popular baroque musicworks, 'The Four Seasons' was technically speaking a priest. What was his nickname?

Answer: The Red Priest of Venice

Il Prete Rosso ... was born in Venice in 1678 and died in Vienna in 1741.

Answer: Ravel's 'Bolero'

Tchaikovski lived from 1840 till 1893. Kachaturian died in 1978, at age 74. Bizet was born in 1838 and died in 1875, 3 months after the first performance of his Carmen. Ravel lived from 1875 till 1937.

5. Popular masterpieces need not be lengthy works. As what did Ludwig van Beethoven 'classify' his famous mini-composition 'Fuer Elise'?

Answer: A bagatelle.

Beethoven lived from 1770 and died in 1827. He was born at Bonn. A triolet is a term from poetry. (A trio is a composition for three instruments. 'Fuer Elise' just requires a piano.)

6. Boccherini's 'Minuet' is definitely one of the most popular works in eighteenth century music. What was a 'minuet' originally?

Answer: A French dance in triple metre.

Third movement usually contained a ternary structure of Minuet, Trio and again Minuet. Later the Third Movement became a Scherzo. Boccherini's 'Minuet' is taken from his String Quartet in E-Major, Opus 11 Nr.5, G 275. Boccherini was born at Lucca in 1743. He died in Madrid in 1805.

7. Few composers are as exclusively known for just ONE work as Pachelbel for his 'Canon'. What country was he born in ?

Answer: Germany

Johann Pachelbel was born in Nuremberg in 1653. He also died there in 1706. In between he had been an organist at Erfurt, a court musician at Stuttgart, an organist again at Gotha, and finally from 1895 he could do his job in his native town Nuremberg.

8. Which Swedish film used Mozart's 21st Piano Concerto as main musical theme?

Answer: 'Elvira Madigan' by Bo Widerberg 1967

'Elvira Madigan' is about the love of a tight-rope artist for an aristocratic army-officer. The officer, Sixten Sparre, abandons a promising career for a raptured affair with his beloved tight-rope artist Elvira. Mozart lived from 1756 till 1791.

9. Which of these composers was a lifelong bachelor?

Answer: Ludwig van Beethoven

This does not mean there were no women in Beethoven's life. There was the 'the Immortal {Beloved)', there was Countess Giuletta Guicciardi, Countess Josephine von Deym, Madame Marie Bigot, Therese Malfatti and a few more. Grieg lived from 1843 till 1907.

In 1867 he married Nina Hagerup. Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) married Elisabeth Laemmerhirt in 1668. And as is generally known since Milos Forman's 'Amadeus', Mozart married Constance Weber (in 1782).

10. Where was Haendel's 'Messiah' performed for the very first time?

Answer: Dublin

First performance was in Dublin in Fishamble Street, 1742. The first performance in America (1770) still preceded the first performance in Haendel's own country, Germany. Haendel lived from 1685 till 1759.

Source: Author flem-ish

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