Classical Quiz

Posted by: John Schmidt on 17 October 2000

Woodface is onto a good idea with his music quiz. As that thread is getting a bit long, and leaning mostly towards rock and popular music, perhaps we can start a more classical thread. Judging from the threads on Mahler and Schubert, there's no lack of knowledge. As with the other quiz, if you answer correctly, you can pose the next question. Here's a starter:

In the 1950's Emil Gilels was first allowed out of the Soviet Union to tour. This was the first opportunity for many in the West to hear a performer of the "Russian Piano School", and he played to universal acclaim. Gilels was somewhat overwhelmed, and was heard to say "If you think I'm good, wait until you hear __________" To which other Russian pianist was he referring?

John Schmidt
"95% of everything is crud" - Theodore Sturgeon

Posted on: 01 November 2000 by Phil Barry

Todd, When I asked the question I knew there was something that I wasn't thinking of that would answer the question but was not the answer I wanted, and Bartok was exactly who I was thinking of.

However, I'd like another opinion on your answer. My (dim) memory is that Bartok wrote the piece while they were still involved, so it doesn't really fit the criteria. But if he actually wrote it to reconcile with her, it's a valid answer.

What I was thinking of involved a divorce case. And it's not the triangle of von Bulow, Wagner, and that proto-nazi hag, Cosima Liszt.

So, does anyone reading this know more about the circumstances than I do? (I guess this means, Todd, that if you had simply said 'Bartok!' with great confidence, I would have been snowed!)

Thanks.

Phil

[This message was edited by Phil Barry on WEDNESDAY 01 November 2000 at 16:27.]

[This message was edited by Phil Barry on WEDNESDAY 01 November 2000 at 16:31.]

Posted on: 02 November 2000 by Igor Zamberlan

but the response to my Cage question was correct. (I had some PC problems)

Regards
Igor

Posted on: 02 November 2000 by Phil Barry

The answer I was looking fro was Brahm's Double Concerto. A letter Brahms wrote was apparently used against Joachim in Joachim's divorce case. This broke the relationship with Brahms. The cellist of teh Joachim Quartet asked for a cello concerto; Brahms offered a double concerto. Joachim accepted, and the relationship started again.

Regards.

Phil

Posted on: 02 November 2000 by Former member

Phil, looks like you stumped the panel with this one.

How about an easier one?

Ross

Posted on: 03 November 2000 by Phil Barry

Hmmm...ok. Name 3 resources for getting information of Furtwangler's discography.

I've got the answer for this one. I'd be delighted if we got a top 3 resources for Toscanini, Stoky, Erich Kleiber, Weingartner, Koussevitsky, Mengleberg, etc. I'd like to ignore Karajan, but some may be interested....I guess I'm just too lazy to look this stuff up myself.

Regards.

Posted on: 06 November 2000 by Todd A

1.) The internet
2.) The library
3.) The bookstore

But seriously, it looks like no one knows. So let's move this topic along rather than let it die. I got an easy question: to whom did Prokofiev dedicate his ninth piano sonata?

Posted on: 06 November 2000 by Phil Barry

Todd is absolutely correct. Let's move on.

But here are some better answers to my question:
1) http://www.fornax.hu/wfsh/disco.html
2) The Furtwangler Record, John Ardoin
3) Wilhem Furtwangler-a Discography, Rene Tremine

Posted on: 06 November 2000 by Former member

Richter ?

Gilels ?

Omer ?

Posted on: 06 November 2000 by Todd A

Richter. Your question Omer.

Posted on: 06 November 2000 by Former member

OK, as before, try a wild guess, it's likely to work.

How did composer and conductor Jean Baptist Lully die ?

(hint : look closely at the question)

Posted on: 06 November 2000 by Former member

Was he the guy who died from an infected foot after banging it with his conducting stick?

Ross

Posted on: 07 November 2000 by Nigel Cavendish

Was he electrocuted because he was a bad conductor?

cheers

Nigel

Posted on: 07 November 2000 by Former member

quote:

Was he the guy who died from an infected foot after banging it with his conducting stick?

Yup, Ross's turn.

Posted on: 07 November 2000 by Former member

Which musical work was described by Clara Schumann as "gruesome", as making her feel "quite ill", and as "just empty noise, not a single wholesome idea, everything in confusion, impossible to find any clear harmonic sequence in it"? Contemporaneous critic Eduard Hanslick described it as "empty raving, such a bloody struggle against everything musical"?

Ross

[This message was edited by Ross Blackman on TUESDAY 07 November 2000 at 22:52.]

Posted on: 08 November 2000 by John Schmidt

quote:
Which musical work was described by Clara Schumann as "gruesome", as making her feel "quite ill", and as "just empty noise, not a single wholesome idea, everything in confusion, impossible to find any clear harmonic sequence in it"?

An educated guess: Wagner's Tristan and Isolde

For what it's worth, here's my reasoning. Clara Schumann, along with her husband Robert and Johannes Brahm's, represented the classical influence in romantic music, and emphasized the importance of order and clear structure in harmonic progression and phrasing. The Liszt-Wagner school explored ever more use of chromaticism, and looser forms. Tristan was a new milestone in this kind of writing, being filled with harmonic structures and phrases without clear resolution.

Cheers,

John Schmidt
"95% of everything is crud" - Theodore Sturgeon

Posted on: 08 November 2000 by Former member

A good guess, John, but incorrect.

Incidentally, I understand that all of the harmonic complexities of Tristan are resolved in the final few bars.

Ross

Posted on: 11 November 2000 by John Schmidt

OK, not Wagner (or, at least, not Tristan), but I assume part of the so-called Wagnerian rather than Brahmsian camp. So here's two more educated guesses:

Hector Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique
Franz Liszt: Les Preludes

Cheers,

John Schmidt
"95% of everything is crud" - Theodore Sturgeon

Posted on: 11 November 2000 by Former member

John,

You're definitely getting warmer, but still not correct.

The answer was Liszt's B Minor Sonata.

To get the momentum going again, how about a much easier one: which operatic couple would have grounds for divorce if one of them (the husband) disclosed his name?

Ross

Posted on: 15 November 2000 by Former member

quote:
which operatic couple would have grounds for divorce if one of them (the husband) disclosed his name?

Siegfried Wagner and Winifred Williams Klindworth?

Vuk.

Posted on: 15 November 2000 by Former member

No. Perhaps the question wasn't clear enough. The couple are characters in an opera.

Ross

Posted on: 15 November 2000 by Former member

OK, now I've got it: Siegfried and his aunt Brünnhilde.

Vuk.

Posted on: 15 November 2000 by Paul B

Lohengrin & Elsa

New question: Name two Canadian tenors and the three identical roles that they performed that brought them international fame.

[This message was edited by Paul Byron on THURSDAY 16 November 2000 at 04:03.]

Posted on: 15 November 2000 by Former member

Vuk, Siegfried and Brunnhilde? The question was about non-disclosure, not incest.

Bravo, Paul.

There are two Canadian tenors?

Ross

Posted on: 15 November 2000 by Former member

One of them has got to be Ben Heppner. I'm guessing the roles were Siegfried, Walther and Lohengrin.

Ross

Posted on: 16 November 2000 by John Schmidt

My guess:

Tenors: Jon Vickers and Ben Heppner
Roles: Tristan, Meistersinger, Peter Grimes

quote:
There are two Canadian tenors?

Ross,
Yes. And don't forget Louis Quillico, also of international stature in his day.

Cheers,

John Schmidt
"95% of everything is crud" - Theodore Sturgeon