Temporal Rift Trivia Quiz

Answer: Classical

Mozart lived from 1756 until 1791, beginning his musical career at an extremely young age, already composing music at the age of five, and performing (on keyboard and violin) even earlier. With more than 600 composed works, he is considered to be one of the most prolific and influential composers of the Classical period, which lasted from 1750 until 1830.

The Classical period was tied in with similar movements in the world of architecture, literature, and visual art. Classicism made a move away from the florid styles of the Baroque period and returned to the perceived ideals of Classical Greece (mostly). This orderly (comparatively) style was reflected in the music of the period through less layered polyphony (multiple lines of music), and more melody over a harmonic undertone that didn't interfere.

Answer: Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina lived from 1525 to 1594, spending most of his musical career in the city of Rome. A composer of sacred music, Palestrina's work came to represent the best of the Roman School of Renaissance music. In his lifetime he wrote over 700 works, which included over 100 masses and 300 motets.

The Renaissance musical period lasted from 1400 to 1600, marking a growth in the use of polyphony in music and breaking free of many of the restrictions placed on the music of the Medieval period. Following the Renaissance was the Baroque, which included the works of J.S. Bach, Händel, and Vivaldi, to name but a few. The Baroque period was marked by heavy ornamentation and a movement away from the 'church modes' and into functional tonality.

Answer: Ludwig van Beethoven

The Classical period's years fall roughly between 1750 and 1830, with the Romantic period beginning around 1815 and lasting until around 1910.

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) studied with Joseph Haydn in Vienna in the 1790s, but by the turn of the century (before he hit 30), he had already begun to lose his hearing. By 1814, it is believed that Beethoven was almost totally deaf. Despite this, he continued to create music for another decade and more, until illness kept him bedridden in the last few months of his life.

Beethoven wrote nine symphonies in his life, and the transition from the Classical to the Romantic is evident as one follows the progression of his work. Many other composers looked to Beethoven's departures from the Classical style as the pinnacle of what they were trying to achieve, and his works helped redefine the musical practices of the day.

Answer: True

Kurt Weill (1900-1950) was a German-Jewish composer who believed that his work should have social relevance. His music was littered with social commentary and he was known for his leftist leanings. His most well-known work was "The Threepenny Opera", which included the famous "Mack the Knife".

Weill fled Germany in 1933 with the rise of the Nazi party, first to Paris, then eventually to New York City. He became a US citizen in 1943.

Answer: Baroque

The Baroque period lasted from 1600 until approximately 1760.

Jean-Baptiste de Lully was born Giovanni Battista Lulli in Italy in 1632, but chose to discard his Italian heritage in favour of France. In 1661 he became a French citizen in truth, after having spent a decade in service to Louis XIV as a composer and dancer.

Among Lully's accomplishments in the French music scene was the creation and development of French opera (distinctly different from the Italian style).

The circumstances surrounding his unfortunate death were ironic in that the injury occurred during a performance of a Te Deum honouring Louis XIV's recent recovery from an illness.

Answer: Igor Stravinsky

A number of composers became involved in the Neoclassical movement, but among the more well-known were Stravinsky, Erik Satie, Maurice Ravel, and Paul Hindemith. Neoclassicism did not ever become an organized movement, nor did it last overlong, as other styles were being experimented with in the early 20th century (atonality, for example), and the rapid developments in Jazz competed for composers' attentions.

Answer: False

Guillaume de Machaut lived from circa 1300 until 1377, meaning that he lived during the late Medieval period, which began circa 500 and transited to the Renaissance around the year 1400. During the Medieval period, not much music was written down, and most of what survived during that time was passed on by memorization from generation to generation. The church began the practice of recording music in a notation format called neumes, that gave a musical instruction connected with a chant text.

Machaut lived in that part of the Medieval period where music was becoming more commonly written down with a better system of notation, and polyphony was being developed. Among Machaut's works are rondeaus and ballades (both polyphonic), as well as what may be the earliest Mass written by a single composer.

Answer: Romantic

Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky lived from 1839 until 1881, planting him firmly within the Romantic period (1815-1910). He worked to establish a very Russian identity with his music, becoming part of the group known as "The Five"; a circle of composers that met regularly in St. Petersburg over a period of fifteen years. The group included Mussorgsky, Mily Balakirev, Cécar Cui, Alexander Borodin, and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.

Sadly, Mussorgsky's life ended tragically as he essentially drank himself to death.

Answer: Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach

C.P.E. Bach was the second-oldest of Johann Sebastian Bach's children (that survived to adulthood). Born in 1714, C.P.E. Bach was raised with the Baroque style of music, which still lasted until approximately 1760, even as the Classical style began circa 1750. His legacy was such that Mozart was quoted saying of him, "He is the father, we are the children." (quote from Wikipedia page on C.P.E. Bach)

Salieri (1750-1825), Süssmayr (1766-1803), and Weigl (1766-1846) all lived and composed later during a well-established Classical period.

Answer: Johan de Meij

Prior to the release of the "Lord of the Rings" movie trilogy, Johan de Meij had written his Symphony No. 1 "The Lord of the Rings" with five movements entitled "Gandalf", "Lothlórien", "Gollum", "Journey in the Dark", and "Hobbits". A Dutch composer, de Meij was born in 1953 and studied Trombone and conducting at The Hague's Royal Conservatory of Music. He published his first work in 1979 and has continued composing into the 21st century.

Ralph Vaughan Williams, Percy Grainger and Robert Russell Bennett were also all composers of band and orchestra music, but unfortunately they all ended their music careers with their respective passings in the 20th century. Vaughan Williams died in 1958, Grainger in 1961, and Bennett in 1981.