Twentieth Century Composers

A great twentieth-century composer who was also a leading scholar of the folk music of his native land was
– Claude Debussy
– Samuel Barber
– Bela Bartok
– Igor Stravinsky

Bela Bartok

The first significant atonal pieces were composed around 1906 by
– Igor Stravinsky
– Claude Debussy
– Arnold Schoenberg
– Aaron Copland

Arnold Schoenberg

The most important impressionist composer was
– Richard Wagner
– Bela Bartok
– Arnold Schoenberg
– Claude Debussy

Claud Debussy

Many of Debussy’s songs are set to poems by the symbolist poet
– Stephane Mallarme
– Paul Verlaine
– Jean Paul Sartre
– Arthur Rimbaud

Paul Verlaine

A dramatic turning point in Debussy’s career came in 1902 when
– his opera Pelleas et Melisande was premiered
– he undertook a series of concert tours
– he went to Italy to study
– he went to Bayreuth to hear Wagner’s music

his opera Pelleas et was premiered

Debussy’s music tends to
– sound free and almost improvisational
– have a strong sense of tonality
– affirm the key very notably
– use the full orchestra for massive effects

sound free and almost improvisational

In order to "drown the the sense of tonality," Debussy
– turned to the medieval church modes
– borrowed pentatonic scales from Javanese music
– developed the whole-tone scale
– all answers are correct

all answers are correct

Debussy’s opera Pelleas et Melisande is an almost word-for-word setting of the symbolist play by
– Paul Verlaine
– Arthur Rimbaud
– Maurice Maeterlinck
– Stephane Mallarme

Maurice Maeterlinck

In which of the following areas did Debussy not create masterpieces?
– symphonies
– art songs
– chamber music
– piano music

symphonies

The neoclassical movement in music roughly encompassed the years

1920-1950

Igor Stravinsky, at the age of twenty-one, began to study composition privately with
– Claude Debussy
– Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov
– Maurice Ravel
– Arnold Schoenberg

Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov

Stravinsky’s life took a sudden turn in 1909, when he met the director of the Russian ballet.
– Michel Fokine
– Sergei Diaghilev
– Valclav Nijinsky
– George Balanchine

Sergei Diaghilev

The immerse success of Stravinsky’s 1910 ballet __ established him as a leading young composer
– The Firebird
– The Rite of Spring
– Petrushka
– Pulcinella

The Firebird

The famous riot in 1913 was caused by the first performance of Stravinsky’s ballet

The Rite of Spring

Stravinsky’s enormous influence on twentieth-century music is due ot his innovations in
– Rhythm
– Harmony
– Tone color
– All answers are correct

rhythm

Stravinsky’s second phase is generally known as

Neoclassical

During the period about 1920-1951, Stravinsky drew inspiration largely from
– Eighteenth-century music
– Webern’s serial techniques
– Russian folklore
– African sculpture

eighteeth-century-century music

In the 1950s, Stravinsky dramatically changed his style, drawing inspiration from

Anton Webern which changed it to the twelve-tone system

Le Sacre du printempts (The Rite of Spring) is an example of
– Primitivism
– Neoclassical
– Serialism
– Romanticism

Primitivism

Igor Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring is socred for

An enormous orchestra

All of the following painters may be considered part of the expressionist movement except
– Claude Monet
– Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
– Oskar Kokoschka
– Edvard Munch

Claude Monet

Schoenberg’s teacher was

himself

Schoenberg’s first musical hero was
– Johannes Brahms
– Richard Wagner
– Igor Stravinsky
– Claude Debussy

Johannes Brahms

Schoenberg acquired his profound knowledge of music by
– going to concerts
– playing in amateur chamber groups
– studying scores
– All are correct

all are correct

Alban Berg and Anton Webern were Arnold Schoenberg’s

students

Schoenberg’s third period, in which he developed the twelve-tone system, began around
– 1874
– 1908
– 1921
– 1933

1921

Schoenberg developed an unusual style of vocal performance, alway between speaking and singing, called

Sprechstimme

When he was nineteen, Alban Berg began to study music privately with
– Anton Webern
– Igor Stravinsky
– Paul Hindemith
– Arnold Schoenberg

Arnold Schoenberg

Which of the following is not a composition by Alban Berg?
– Gurrelieder
– Lulu
– Lyric Suite
– Wozzeck

Gurrelieder

The vocal lines in Wozzeck include
– distorted folk songs
– speaking
– Sprechtimme
– all answers are correct

All answers are correct

Anton Webern
– had little formal musical training
– taught himself piano and cello
– earned a doctorate in music history from the University of Vienna
– enjoyed frequent performances of his own music

earned a doctorate in music history from the University of Vienna

Webern’s melodic lines are

"atomized" into two or three note fragments

Anton Webern’s twelve tone works contain many examples of

strict polyphonic imitation

Webern’s Five Pieces for Orchestra are scored for

a chamber orchestra of eighteen soloists

Bela Bartok’s principle performing medium was

the piano

Bela Bartok was a leading authority on
– peasant music
– twelve tone music
– jazz
– the music of ancient Greece

peasant music

Bela Bartok evolved a completely individual style that fused folk elements with
– changes of meter and a powerful beat
– twentieth century sounds
– classical forms
– All are correct

All are correct

The melodies Bela Bartok used in most of his works are

original themes that have a folk flavor

Bela Bartok’s ____ are widely thought to be the finest since those of Ludwig van Beethoven.

string quartets

Bela Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra

All the above

Charles Ive’s father was a

bandmaster

During most of his lifetime, Charles Ive’s musical compositions
– were enthusiastically received in public performances
– were quickly published by a major firm
– accumulated in the barn of his Connecticut farm
– were sough after by musicians eager to perform them in public

accumulated in the barn

Charles Ive’s music contains elements of
– revival hymns and ragtime
– patriotic songs and barn dances
– villages bands and church choirs
– all the answers

all the answers

Which of the following compositions is not by Charles Ives?
– Three Places in New England
– An American in Paris
– Concord Sonata
– 114 Songs

An American in Paris

Charles Ive’s large and varied output includes works in many genres, but not

opera

George Gershwin grew up in
– New York, New York
– Charleston, SC
– Anatevka, Russia
– Paris, France

New York

Gershwin’s first piano teacher was

himself

Which of the following musicals is not by George Gershwin?
– Funny Face and The Desert Song
– Funny Girl
– Of thee I sing
– Lady, Be Good

Funny Girl and the Desert Song

The Gershwin song that became a tremendous hit in 1920 was
– La, La, Lucille
– I got Rhythm
– Embraceable You
– Swanee

Swanee

Gershwin’s Rhapsody opens with

a solo clarinet

William Grant Still

played the violin in the university string quartet while a college student

As a result of his studies in composition with composers from two opposing musical cams, the conservative George Whitfield Chadwick and the modernist Edgard Varese, Still

turned away from avant-garde styles and wrote compositions with a uniquely African American flavor

William Grant Still’s works in African American style, such as his Afro-American Symphony of 1931, were
– never performed during his lifetime
– severely criticized by audiences and critics
– panned by critics, but popular with audiences
– performed to a critical acclaim in New York

performed to a critical acclaim in New York

As a composer, Still

wrote film scores, concert works, operas and band arrangements

William Grant Still’s Afro-American Symphony

uses a blues theme in the first movement which reappears as a unifying thread in various transformations in the three later movements

William Grant Still’s opera dealing with the Haitian slave rebellion is
– Trouble in Tahiti
– Troubled Island
– Emperor Jones
– Once on this Island

Troubled Island

Each movement of William Still’s Afro-American symphony is prefaced by lines from a poem by

Paul Laurence Dunbar

Aaron Copland was born in
– Brooklyn, New York
– the Appalachian mountains
– Anatevka, Russa
– Paris, France

Brooklyn, New York

In 1921 Copland went to France, where he was the first American to study composition with

Nadia Boulanger

In 1925, after Copland returned from France, American music meant
– the eclecticism of Ives
– the serialism of Schoenberg
– primitivism
– jazz

Jazz

In 1925, and for a few years afterward Copland’s music showed the influence of

jazz

Aaron Copland’s name has become synonymous with American music because of his use of
– revival hymns, cowboy songs, and other folk tunes
– jazz, blues, and ragtime elements
– subjects from american folklore
– all answers are correct

All answers are correct

Which of the following works was not composed by Aaron Copland?

An American in Paris, Concord Sonata

An example of Copland’s use of serialist technique is
– Music for the Theater
– Connotations for Orchestra
– Fanfare for the Common Man
– Appalachian Spring

Connotations for Orchestra

In addition to his compositions, Copland made valuable contributions to music in America by
– directing composer’s groups
– writing books and magazine articles
– organizing concerts of American music
– all the answers are correct

all the answers are correct

Appalachian Spring originated as a ballet score for the great modern dancer and choreographer

Martha Graham

Copland depicted "scenes of daily activity for the Bride and her farmer husband in Appalachian Spring through

five variations n the Shaker melody Simple Gifts

Alberto Ginastera, one of the most prominent Latin-American composers of 20th century was born in

Argentina

One of Ginastera’s early works, Estancia Suite, is

nationalistic and uses Argentinean folk material, including popular dances

Ginastera’s Estancia Suite was originally conceived as a

ballet

Alberto Ginastera’s Estancia Suite uses a large orchestra is in ___ movements

four (AA’B)

In 1945 Ginastera moved to the US where he had the opportunity to work with the well known American composer

Aaron Copland

Composer John Adams believes that today’s composers can draw from
– only their own imaginations
– the music o the Classical period
– a wide variety of styles and periods
– only orchestral instruments

a wide variety of styles and periods

The twelve-tone composer whose style was most imitated in the 1950s and the 1960s was
– Anton Webern
– Arnold Schoenberg
– Milton Babbitt
– Alban Berg

Anton Webern

A major composer associated with the serialist movement is

Milton Babbitt

All of the following are proponents of serialism except

John Cage

An example of aleatoric music is

John Cage’s Imaginary Landscape No. 4 for twelve radios

Ionisation, the first important work for percussion ensemble, was composed by
– John Cage
– Edgard Varese
– Ellen Taaffee Zwilich
– Steve Reich

Edgard Varese

Edgard Varese’s Poeme electronique
– was designed for the 1958 Brussel’s World Fair
– was one of the earliest masterpieces of electronic music created in a tape studio
– was composed in collaboration with the famous architect Le Corbusier
– all the above

all the above

Ellen Taaffee Swilich is a

Pulitzer Prize winning American composer for her symphony no 1

Ellen Taaffee Zqilich’s Concerto Gross is an example of
– total serialism
– quotation music
– minimalism
– chance music

quotation music

John Adam’s Short Ride in Fast Machine is scored for a

large symphonic orchestra and two synthesizers

Leonard Bernstein was a well known
– composer for orchestral and vocal works
– author lecturer
– conductor

composer of orchestral and vocal works

The composer, conductor, and pianist who began his spectacular career as substitute conductor of the New York Philharmonic on only a few hours notice was

Leonard Bernstein

In addition to his famous musicals, Leonard Berstein wrote successful
– ballets
– choral work
– symphones
– all are correct

are all correct

Leonard Bernstein was influenced, particularly in his ballets by
– Delibes and Tchaikovsky
– Stravinsky and Copland
– Bach and Handel
– Verdi and Wagner

Stravinsky and Copland

Which of the following musicals is not by Leonard Bernstein?
– West Side Story
– Wonderful Town
– On the Town
– Cats

On the Town

The musical loosely based on Romeo and Juliet is

West Side Story