Classical Music Study Guide

General

129 answers | 494 clues

Must-Know (15)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 20x 10.0% stumper $530 avg J:3 DJ:17

J $200 2017 Batting first, Symphony No. 40 in g minorby this Austrian who always leads his league in hits

DJ $600 1993 While a court organist in Salzburg, he composed his famous "Coronation" mass

DJ $1,200 2008 Giuseppe Gazzaniga & this composer based their "Don Giovanni" operas on the same libretto

Ludwig van Beethoven 14x 7.7% stumper $562 avg J:2 DJ:11 FJ:1

J $200 2017 ...& we'll head to the middle of the Fifth... this composer's Fifth, actually

DJ $600 1994 He dedicated his third symphony, the "Eroica", to his patron Prince Lobkowitz

DJ $2,200 DD 2009 His Third Symphony in E Flat Major is known as "Eroica"

Johannes Brahms 12x 33.3% stumper $592 avg J:1 DJ:11

DJ $200 1994 This "Lullaby" composer based "A German Requiem" on Biblical texts rather than the requiem mass

DJ $500 DD 1991 Though he never married, he loved children & wrotethe following:

DJ $1,600 2008 Joseph Joachim, a friend of this German composer, lived to make a 1903 recording of his works

George Frideric Handel 11x 9.1% stumper $573 avg J:2 DJ:9

J $100 1988 Tho German-born, this 18th century composer famed for his "Messiah" is buried in Westminster Abbey

DJ $800 2010 In 1741, if oratorio lovers asked this composer, "Where's your 'Messiah' now?", he could say, "I just finished it"

DJ $1,200 2008 After his oratorio "Esther" hit big in concert instead of drama form, he wrote others like it, including "Messiah"

Franz Schubert 11x 18.2% stumper $727 avg DJ:11

DJ $400 1996 In 1814 this lieder composer wrote the song "Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel", using words by Goethe

DJ $600 1995 In 1826 this Lieder composer tried but failed to get a position at the court of the Austrian emperor

DJ $1,000 1987 Though he began studying with Salieri, this composer still left one symphony "unfinished"

Joseph Haydn 11x 18.2% stumper $1,309 avg J:1 DJ:10

DJ $800 2006 The loud surprise in his "Surprise" Symphony comes during a soft passage in the second movement

J $1,000 2017 Now stepping up to the plate, No. 94,"Surprise Symphony", by this composer

DJ $800 1994 This "Creation" composer's wife used his manuscripts to line pastry pans

Felix Mendelssohn 11x 9.1% stumper $1,082 avg J:2 DJ:9

DJ $400 1995 At age 26 this "Wedding March" composer was named conductor of the Gewandhaus Orch. in Leipzig

DJ $800 2004 Arthur Sullivan in 1856 was the first person to receive the scholarship named for this "Bridal March" composer

DJ $1,000 2001 In 1821, at age 12, this Jewish-born German composer met Goethe, who was impressed with the boy

Tchaikovsky 10x 20.0% stumper $480 avg J:1 DJ:9

DJ $200 1999 You can dance with this composer

DJ $600 1995 One of the St. Petersburg Conservatory's first graduates was this "Eugene Onegin" composer

DJ $200 1991 He composed his "Swan Lake" ballet while serving on the faculty of the Moscow Conservatory

Vivaldi 10x 20.0% stumper $820 avg J:2 DJ:8

DJ $200 1995 His "The Four Seasons" concertos are from his 1725 work "The Trial Between Harmony and Invention"

DJ $600 1991 An ordained priest, this "Four Seasons" composer taught at a Venetian girls' orphanage for many years

J $1,000 2007 Hisconcertsbecame year-long events

Chopin 10x $600 avg DJ:7

DJ $200 2001 This composer, George Sand's lover, was nicknamed "The Ariel of the Piano"

DJ $600 1993 After a final break with George Sand in 1847, he composed almost nothing

DJ $1,000 1985 Most of this Polish composer is buried in Paris, but his heart is entombed in Poland

Franz Liszt 10x 33.3% stumper $1,111 avg DJ:9 FJ:1

DJ $200 1988 At age 10, this Hungarian virtuoso went to study with Salieri in Vienna

DJ $500 DD 1999 He died in Bayreuth, Germany on July 31, 1886 during the festival honoring his son-in-law

DJ $1,200 2003 The unpublished manuscript of the 20th of his "Hungarian Rhapsodies" has been in a museum in Weimar, Germany

Johann Sebastian Bach 9x 44.4% stumper $1,578 avg J:1 DJ:8

DJ $400 1991 His brother, Johann Christoph, was the organist at the Michaeliskirche in Ohrdruf until 1721

DJ $800 2005 Piano sonatas were a specialty of Johann Christian, youngest surviving son of this man

DJ $1,000 1991 In 1708, the Mühlhausen city council paid for printing "Gott ist mein König", his first published music

Handel's Messiah 9x $625 avg DJ:8 FJ:1

DJ $400 2011 Part III of this 1742 oratorio begins with the aria "I Know That My Redeemer Liveth"

DJ $2,000 DD 1989 "And he shall purify" & "O thou that tellest good tidings" are choruses in this famous work

FJ 2009 A chorus in this 1741 work says, "King of kings and Lord of lords and He shall reign forever and ever"

Claude Debussy 8x 25.0% stumper $1,012 avg DJ:8

DJ $400 1997 The flute plays an important role in this composer's "Prelude a l'apres-midi d'un faune"

DJ $600 1987 Though he may not have liked the term, he wrote "impressionistic" works such as "Clair De Lune"

DJ $1,000 1993 This French composer's only completed opera, "Pelleas et Melisande", was first performed in 1902

Richard Wagner 8x 12.5% stumper $600 avg J:3 DJ:5

DJ $200 1999 Ludwig II of Bavaria adored this composer's work & paid him to complete "The Ring of the Nibelung"

J $800 2017 OK, Valkyrie fans! Let's hear it for this composer as he hits for the cycle!

J $1,000 2015 Here comes "Lohengrin" by this man, in a way he likely did not consider

Should-Know (29)

Richard Strauss 7x 14.3% stumper $600 avg DJ:7

DJ $400 1985 "He talks only German, but he smiles in all languages", said a N.Y. newspaper about this "waltz king"

DJ $800 1998 From 1933 to 1935, he served as president of Germany's Reichmusikkammer, or chamber of state music

DJ $1,200 2002 From 1933 to 1935 he was head of the music bureau of the Third Reich

Stravinsky 6x $733 avg DJ:6

DJ $400 1993 Some date the birth of modern music to the May 29, 1913 premiere of his "The Rite of Spring"

DJ $600 1996 Premiering on June 25, 1910, "The Firebird" was the first ballet he composed for Sergei Diaghilev

DJ $1,600 2022 He dedicated "The Firebird" to his teacher Rimsky-Korsakov

the 1812 Overture 6x 20.0% stumper $1,020 avg DJ:5 FJ:1

DJ $400 1985 The instrumental prelude to an opera

DJ $3,500 DD 2019 This piece by Tchaikovsky depicts Napoleon's retreat from Moscow

FJ 2013 This piece that premiered in Moscow in 1882 includes strains from "God Save the Czar" & "La Marseillaise"

Puccini 6x 16.7% stumper $833 avg DJ:6

DJ $400 2004 After seeing Verdi's "Aida" he decided opera was to be his forte & came up with "La boheme" & "Tosca" among others

DJ $600 1995 When he died in 1924, he was working on the last scene of "Turandot"

DJ $1,600 2020 This composer supervised when the Met staged his "Madama Butterfly" in 1907

the violin 6x 16.7% stumper $383 avg J:3 DJ:3

J $300 1986 It is acknowledged as "the premier instrument of the symphonic orchestra"

DJ $800 1989 Niccolo Paganini wrote 24 caprices for this instrument

J $400 2016 A string quartet typically has 2 of these instruments

Vienna 5x 20.0% stumper $460 avg J:1 DJ:4

J $100 1991 Appropriately, "The Blue Danube" debuted in this city

DJ $600 2001 In 1897 Gustav Mahler became the artistic director of this city's Imperial Opera, a post he held for 10 years

DJ $1,200 2025 Arnold Schoenberg & his pupils Alban Berg & Anton Webern are the modernist pillars of the "second school" of this city

Rimsky-Korsakov 5x 20.0% stumper $840 avg DJ:5

DJ $400 1995 This "Flight of the Bumblebee" composer was a graduate of the Russian Naval Academy at St. Petersburg

DJ $600 2001 From 1903 on, Igor Stravinsky studied privately with this composer of "Scheherazade"

DJ $1,600 2002 In 1896 this "Scheherazade" composer reorchestrated Mussorgsky's opera "Boris Godunov"

Camille Saint-Saens 5x 75.0% stumper $1,200 avg DJ:4 FJ:1

DJ $800 2001 This Frenchman did not allow the publication of his "Carnival of the Animals" during his lifetime

DJ $1,000 1997 Death plays a merry dance on the violin in this Frenchman's "Danse macabre"

FJ 2013 "Royal March of the Lion", "The Aquarium" & "The Aviary" are them atically related 1886 works from this man

Van Cliburn 5x $725 avg J:2 DJ:2 FJ:1

J $300 1988 An international piano competition named for this pianist is held about every 4 years in Ft. Worth, Texas

DJ $600 1989 A Ft. Worth piano contest is named for this winner of the 1958 Int'l Tchaikovsky Competition

DJ $1,600 2024 Soon after this American pianist won the Tchaikovsky Competition in 1958, a major intl. piano competition was named for him

Pablo Casals 5x 20.0% stumper $1,200 avg DJ:5

DJ $800 1995 In 1919 this cellist formed his own orchestra in Barcelona

DJ $1,200 2005 In his early teens, around 1890, he studied cello in Barcelona with Jose Garcia

DJ $1,000 1995 This Catalan cellist made his debut in Barcelona in 1891

Bolero 5x $460 avg J:1 DJ:4

DJ $200 1984 Dudley Moore came un"ravel"ed when Bo put on this music

DJ $1,000 1989 Maurice Ravel composed this classical piece for dancer Ida Rubenstein in 1928

J $300 1988 In 1929 Arturo Toscanini, not Bo Derek, conducted the U.S. premiere of this Ravel work

Giuseppe Verdi 5x 20.0% stumper $900 avg J:1 DJ:4

J $500 1988 His operas include "Il Trovatore" & "La Traviata"

DJ $2,000 DD 1987 If you're too old to sing in this Italian's operas, you can retire to his home for opera singers:

DJ $600 1993 In 1860 this "Rigoletto" composer was elected to Italy's Chamber of Deputies

Sibelius 5x 20.0% stumper $960 avg DJ:5

DJ $400 DD 1995 In 1939 Helsinki's Helsingfors Conservatory was renamed for this composer

DJ $800 1993 During periods of civil unrest, performances of his "Finlandia" were banned in Finland by the Russians

DJ $1,600 2022 Though he'd live to age 91, this "Finlandia" composer pretty much stopped composing for the last 30 years of his life

Robert Schumann 5x 40.0% stumper $1,400 avg DJ:5

DJ $800 1991 When this composer went insane, Brahms helped his wife, Clara, manage the family

DJ $1,000 1986 In "Spring Symphony", Nastassja Kinski plays Clara Wieck, pianist & wife of this composer

DJ $1,600 2011 In 1840, the year that he married Clara Wieck, he composed an incredible 140 pieces of music

Gioachino Rossini 5x 20.0% stumper $520 avg J:1 DJ:4

DJ $200 1999 Born the son of the town trumpeter in Pesaro, Italy, he composed "Il barbiere di Siviglia"

DJ $800 2002 This Italian wrote 37 operas, from "Demetrio e Polibio" in 1806 to "William Tell" in 1829

J $400 2007 The fat lady sang for this man's rockin' operas after the tuneheard here

harpsichord 5x $680 avg DJ:5

DJ $200 1987 This keyboard instrument's name is the Anglicized form of the Italian "arpicordo"

DJ $600 1992 In a contest against Handel, Scarlatti lost in organ playing but held his own on this instrument

DJ $1,200 2013 In 1952 (not 1752) Elliott Carter composed a sonata for flute, oboe, cello & this keyboard instrument

the piano 5x $320 avg DJ:5

DJ $200 1985 The largest of these "grand" instruments measures about 9 ft. long

DJ $800 2023 Canadian Glenn Gould is known primarily for his unique stylings on this instrument

DJ $200 1988 In 1900, at age 13, A. Rubenstein went on his 1st European concert tour, playing this instrument

Edvard Grieg 5x 20.0% stumper $1,160 avg DJ:5

DJ $200 1991 "Solveig's Song" is part of his "Peer Gynt"

DJ $1,200 2004 In September 1907 this Norwegian's ashes were buried in a cliff near his country home Troldhaugen

DJ $1,200 2002 His 1896 work "Wedding Day at Troldhaugen" was named for his villa outside Bergen, Norway

William Tell 4x 25.0% stumper $400 avg J:1 DJ:3

DJ $200 1998 14th century hero in the title of the following

J $600 2015 He's the historic figure in the title of the overture heard here

DJ $200 1996 In 1829 Rossini composed his last opera, this one about a Swiss hero

the New York Philharmonic 4x $700 avg J:1 DJ:3

J $200 2016 In 2016 it was announced that Jaap van Zweden, maestro of the Dallas Symphony, will lead this Big Apple band

DJ $600 1989 Arturo Toscanini, Pierre Boulez & Zubin Mehta have served as dir. of this symphony orchestra

DJ $1,200 2016 (Kelly of the Clue Crew reports outside David Geffen Hall.) As of fall 2015, this orchestra performed its glorious music at David Geffen Hall, formerly Avery Fisher Hall

Itzhak Perlman 4x 25.0% stumper $450 avg DJ:4

DJ $200 1998 20th century violin virtuosi include Isaac Stern & this Israel native whose name is a form of Isaac

DJ $800 1985 After a polio attack at 4, this great Israeli-born violinist lost the use of his legs

DJ $400 1989 This brilliant Israeli-American violinist is a avid New York Knicks fan

The Surprise Symphony 4x 50.0% stumper $650 avg DJ:4

DJ $400 2021 The German name for Haydn's 94th symphony translates to "with the drum stroke"--the sudden one that gives it this name

DJ $600 1991 This name was given to "Symphony in G" because of a loud chord that Haydn said "would make ladies jump"

DJ $800 1986 Haydn's Symphony No. 94 in G Major was named this, from the sudden loud chord which made the lades wake up

Bizet 4x $700 avg J:1 DJ:3

DJ $400 1993 This French composer died 3 months to the day after his opera "Carmen" premiered

DJ $800 2020 This "Carmen" composer hid away his "Symphony in C", maybe because it was too imitative of his teacher Charles Gounod

J $800 2015 "Carmen" get this Frenchman who brought theoperato live in 1875

the cello 4x 25.0% stumper $750 avg DJ:4

DJ $400 2012 One of the most common chamber groups, the string quartet consists of 2 violins, a viola & this instrument

DJ $800 2011 Zoltan Kodaly wrote some of the finer works for solo this bass member of the violin family

DJ $1,200 2014 In 1965 Jacqueline du Pre sat down & made great recording of Elgar's Concerto for this instrument

Maurice Ravel 4x $650 avg J:1 DJ:3

DJ $400 1990 In 1928 Ida Rubinstein commissioned him to write a ballet, so he created "Bolero"

DJ $600 1992 This French composer is known for his "Rapsodie Espagnole", a tune that'll Bolero you over

DJ $1,200 2021 Some people called this French composer Maurice; in 1928, his most famous work was performed as a ballet

Hector Berlioz 4x 50.0% stumper $1,875 avg DJ:4

DJ $2,000 2002 His "Symphonie fantastique" was inspired by his adoration for actress Harriet Smithson

DJ $1,500 DD 1995 His "Les Troyens" was completed 10 years before his death, but never performed in its entirety during his lifetime

DJ $2,000 2003 In 2003 the Met celebrated this composer's bicentennial by mounting his epic opera "Les Troyens"

Edgar Allan Poe 4x 25.0% stumper $550 avg DJ:4

DJ $200 1992 This author's poem was the source for Rachmaninoff's choral work "The Bells"

DJ $800 2003 Rachmaninoff's 1913 symphony "The Bells" was based on a Russian translation of this American's poem

DJ $1,000 1999 Claude Debussy's unfinished works based on this author's titles include "La Chute de la Maison Usher"

Dvorak 4x $650 avg J:2 DJ:2

J $300 1987 He denied using any actual negro or Indian melodies in his "New World Symphony"

J $500 2000 While visiting Iowa in 1893, this Czech composed his "String Quartet No. 12 in F Major", or the "American Quartet"

DJ $1,200 2008 It was a "New World" for this Czech after his comic opera "The Devil and Kate" opened in Prague in 1899

Arturo Toscanini 4x $1,700 avg DJ:4

DJ $600 1990 Early in his career he was the musical director of La Scala; he later led the NBC Symphony

DJ $1,000 1984 On radio he was the "maestro" of the NBC Symphony Orchestra

DJ $3,200 DD 2004 From 1937 to 1954 he directed NBC's Radio Symphony Orchestra

Worth Knowing (85)

Yo-Yo Ma 3 The Planets 3 The Nutcracker 3 Peter and the Wolf 3 Operas 3 Leonard Bernstein 3 fantasia 3 an overture 3 "Pomp And Circumstance" 3 Water Music 3 the organ 3 the "Sabre Dance" 3 Rachmaninoff 3 Paganini 3 Jupiter 3 concerto 3 Carnival of the Animals 3 a guitar 3 Gustav Holst 3 E.T.A. Hoffmann 3 W.A. Mozart 2 The Rite of Spring 2 the Pastoral Symphony 2 The Four Seasons 2 the Brandenburg Concertos 2 The Barber of Seville 2 symphonies 2 Stradivarius 2 songs 2 Scheherazade 2 Rome 2 rhapsody 2 Prague 2 Pierre Boulez 2 Pictures at an Exhibition 2 Peer Gynt 2 Pastoral 2 Orpheus 2 Night on Bald Mountain 2 lieder 2 Leopold Stokowski 2 Johann Strauss, Jr. 2 J.S. Bach 2 Israel 2 Hungarian Rhapsodies 2 Gustav Mahler 2 Grand Canyon Suite 2 Finlandia 2 Figaro 2 Enigma 2 Carmen 2 Billy the Kid 2 Benny Goodman 2 Bela Bartok 2 Bayreuth 2 bassoon 2 Baroque 2 a typewriter 2 "The Blue Danube" 2 Zubin Mehta 2 a viola 2 Goldberg Variations 2 the Royal Albert Hall 2 Philadelphia 2 the oboe 2 the Fugue 2 the Danse macabre 2 the conductor 2 the Berlin Philharmonic 2 the "Moonlight Sonata" 2 Appalachian Spring 2 Sergei Prokofiev 2 Albert Schweitzer 2 Rubinstein 2 a requiem 2 Queen Elizabeth II 2 I Pagliacci 2 an oratorio 2 an opera 2 Music for the Royal Fireworks 2 John Williams 2 Johann Strauss 2 Galway 2 (Sir Edward) Elgar 2 "Danse Macabre" 2

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