Quotes from Composers Trivia Quiz

Answer: Hector Berlioz

Berlioz combined the ideas of Love and Music (among other things) in his masterpiece, "Symphonie Fantastique."

Answer: Gioacchino Rossini

The young Rossini was especially fond of the music of Mozart and Haydn, which earned him the nickname "Tedeschino" (Little German). He would become one of the greatest operatic composers Italy had ever seen, penning such works as "The Barber of Seville," "Guillaume Tell," "Semiramide," and "La Cenerentola."

Answer: Frederic Chopin

Answer: Felix Mendelssohn

Mendelssohn was alive in the earliest years of Romanticism, and he is sometimes called "the Classical Romantic." Born in the first generation of the Romantic composers, his music is considered to be the most conservative of the group. His music is classically refined and restrained, but still carries the emotion and weight of the Romantic era.

It evokes many moods, although it shies away from emotional extremes.

Answer: Giuseppe Verdi

Arguably the greatest operatic composer of all time, Giuseppe Verdi was certainly one of the most prolific and popular. His operas often evoked nationalistic pride at a time when Italy was struggling to throw off foreign rule.

Answer: Ludwig van Beethoven

There really aren't enough words in any language to describe the music of Beethoven. He was regarded as the bridge between the Classical and Romantic movements. The father of the Romantic movement in music, it was Beethoven who started writing music that was intense and personal.

This intensity arose out of his emotions, and he created a new musical language that influenced all composers who came after him.

Answer: Modest Mussorgsky

Modest Mussorgsky was a member of "Kuschka" - otherwise known as "The Mighty Five" Russian composers. This circle was composed of Mussorgsky, Borodin, Rimsky-Korsakov, Balakirev, and Cesar Cui. Mussorgsky's works ("Night on Bald Mountain," "Boris Godunov," "Pictures at an Exhibition") are today perhaps the most well-recognized of the Five's compositions, but Mussorgsky was not well-liked by his peers. Balakirev and Rimsky-Korsakov complained that Mussorgsky's work was disorganized and ineffective, and Balakirev and the Russian musical critic Vladimir Stasov were heard to agree, "Mussorgsky is almost an idiot."

Answer: Richard Wagner

Despite his genius, Wagner was a bitter, twisted man who believed in the superiority of the "Aryan" race. He was Hitler's favorite composer, and notoriously pro-German and anti-Semitic.

Answer: Georges Bizet

Bizet knew from whence he spoke. None of his operas except "Carmen" ever achieved any measure of success, and "Carmen" was only recognized for the masterpiece that it is after Bizet's death. Bizet had pinned all of his hopes on "Carmen," which he had intended to be his last opera, but it was met with critical reception.

Its stark realism shocked crowds. For Bizet, this was the last straw. It shattered his health and threw him into a deep depression. He retreated to his family home at Bougival, where he died of two heart attacks the age of only 37.

Answer: Johannes Brahms

Answer: Petyr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Although Tchaikovsky's music was decidedly Russian, and although he was influenced by Balakirev and the Five, he was not truly a member of the Russian nationalist movement and elected not to join "Kuschka." Tchaikovsky's music belongs to a more international style of composition.

Answer: Gustav Mahler

Answer: Richard Strauss

More quotable Strauss: "Never look at the trombones. It only encourages them."

Answer: Antonin Dvorak

Dvorak spent three years in the United States, where he composed some of his most important symphonies. Of his time in America, Dvorak said, "The Americans expect great things of me. I am to show them the way into the Promised Land, the realm of a new, independent art, in short a national style of music!"

Answer: Clara Wieck Schumann

A pioneer in the field of piano performance, Clara Wieck Schumann was one of the few musicians who performed from memory and along with Liszt, was the first to give completely solo piano concerts, which featured only one artist, the pianist.