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Classical Music from A-Z #4

A-Z without the X!
Quiz by marjobro
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Last updated: September 17, 2023
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First submittedAugust 3, 2020
Times taken231
Average score47.8%
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Hint
Answer
A
To stress a particular note or notes
accent
B
A composition suggesting a "boat song" of Venietian gondoliers
barcarolle
C
Avant-garde American composer who wrote works for "prepared piano"
Cage
D
The low pipes of a bagpipe
drone
E
Term for how the mouth is used to produce sound on a wind or brass instrument
embouchure
F
A composition which employs imitative counterpoint, mastered by Bach
fugue
G
Romantic Spanish composer Granados' most well-known work, a piano suite
Goyescas
H
Considered by many to have been the 20th century's most outstanding concert pianist, this Russian artist made his American debut in 1928.
Vladimir Horowitz
I
Letters addressed to this unknown woman were found after Beethoven's death.
Immortal Beloved
K
Another name for timpani
kettle drum
L
Italian term indicating to play very slowly
largo
M
A device which clicks regular beats at chosen tempos
metronome
 
Hint
Answer
N
A romantic style composition, usually written for piano, with an expressive melody over a broken chord accompaniment
nocturne
O
Term for a melodic phrase which is repeated "obstinately" throughout a composition, often, but not always, in the bass
ostinato
P
Another term for contrapuntal music, meaning 'many voices'
polyphony
Q
General term that can be applied to an opening phrase which ends on a note other than tonic
question
R
To play with some freedom from a strict steady pulse
rubato
S
A "small" sonata
sonatina
T
Rapid alternation of a given note with its diatonic upper neighbor
trill
U
The left foot pedal on a piano, usually called the soft pedal
una corda
V
Full name of Texas pianist who won the Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition in Moscow in 1957, during the cold war
Van Cliburn
W
A dance in moderate triple meter
waltz
Z
F.irst name of Czech composer Fibich
Zdenko
+1
Level 95
Aug 3, 2020
Great quiz. Allow Zdeněk for Fibich as that was the proper form of his first name. Maybe allow Lento for L as well?
+1
Level 66
Aug 4, 2020
Thank you! Yes, I will add your suggestions to type-ins. Hope you will look up my other quizzes as well. They're fun to make, and I really appreciate comments such as yours.
+1
Level 76
Aug 16, 2020
So technically Wagner's first two (rarely played) operas can be called grand operas. But his well known, later operas are definitely not grand operas (a term more specific than the hint implies), so I wouldn't connect that term with Wagner. I think Meyerbeer is a much better representative.
+1
Level 66
Aug 17, 2020
Yes, the very specific defining of a grand opera narrows the field! But how many people will know Meyerbeer? Or, for that matter, Verdi's Don Carlo? In a general sense, grand opera can be defined as a musical drama that deals with serious and/or tragic themes and has no spoken text. Perhaps I should just change the hint to a definition rather than citing a composer?
+1
Level 48
Jul 1, 2022
What if you also accepted the term "Gesamtkunstwerk", which is what Wagner had in mind when composing his massive operas?
+1
Level 55
Jan 23, 2023
I second this, gesamtkunstwerk is the actual correct term for Wagnerian operas, and the English translation just happens to also start with G.
+1
Level 66
Jan 26, 2023
Thanks...I added your suggestion to the type-ins....Guessing you two may be the only ones on the planet who know it! Still thinking I probably just need to redo the question. Hope you will take more of my quizzes and tell me what you think.