Music Appreciation: Romantic Period (Practice)

Romanticism as a stylistic period in western art music, encompassed the years…
A) 1600-1750
B) 1750-1820
C) 1820-1900
D) 1900-1950

Which of the following is not characteristic of romanticism?
A)A fascination with fantasy
B)An emphasis on balance and clarity of structures
C)An enthusiasm for the culture of the Middle Ages
D)An interest in exoticism and the past

Of all the inspirations for romantic art, none was more important than…
A)the aristocracy.
B)ancient Greek art and culture.

C)nature.
D)the church.

Which of the following composers is not associated with the romantic period?
A)Giuseppe Verdi
B)Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
C)Robert Schumann
D)Frédéric Chopin

Drawing creative inspiration from cultures of lands foreign to the composer is known as
A)exoticism.
B)nationalism.
C)program music.
D)verismo.

Fascination with national identity also led composers to draw on colorful materials from foreign lands, a trend known as musical
A)nationalism.
B)exoticism.
C)collectivism.
D)individualism.

Program music is
A)music that depicts aspects of nature.
B)vocal music that tells a story.
C)instrumental music associated with a story, poem, idea, or scene.
D)All answers are correct.

The deliberate intent to draw creative inspiration from the composer’s own homeland is known as
A)exoticism.
B)individualism.
C)nationalism.
D)verismo.

Composers expressed musical nationalism in their music by
A)using the rhythms of the dances of their homelands.
B)using their national legends as subject matter.

C)basing their music on the folk songs of their country.
D)All answers are correct.

An orchestra toward the end of the romantic period might include close to ______ musicians.
A)24
B)40
C)60
D)100

The orchestra in the romantic period
A)was basically the same as in the classical period.
B)ranged from twenty to sixty players.
C)was larger and more varied in tone color than the classical orchestra.
D)had a limited dynamic range due to the primitive nature of the brass instruments.

The 1844 Treatise on Modern Instrumentation and Orchestration that signaled the recognition of orchestration as an art in itself was written by
A)Franz Liszt.
B)Robert Schumann.
C)Hector Berlioz.
D)Bedřich Smetana.

A slight holding back or pressing forward of tempo in music is known as
A)ritardando.
B)rubato.
C)accelerando.
D)fermata.

A slight slowing down or speeding up of the tempo, characteristically employed in the performance of much romantic music, is
A)ostinato.
B)chromatic.
C)syncopation.
D)rubato.

Altering the character of a melody by changes in dynamics, orchestration, or rhythm is a romantic technique known as
A)thematic transformation.
B)melodic evolution.
C)rubato.
D)development.

Because of the French Revolution and the __________________, many aristocrats could no longer afford to maintain private opera houses, orchestras, and “composers in residence”.
A)American Revolution
B)Napoleonic Wars
C)French and Indian War
D)wages of skilled performers

The composer whose career was a model for many romantic composers was
A)Ludwig van Beethoven.
B)Joseph Haydn.
C)Johann Sebastian Bach.
D)Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

All of the following romantic composers were also virtuoso instrumentalists giving solo recitals except
A)Clara Wieck Schumann.
B)Franz Liszt.
C)Niccolò Paganini.
D)Hector Berlioz.

A romantic composer who earned his living as a touring virtuoso was
A)Franz Liszt.
B)Hector Berlioz.
C)Frédéric Chopin.
D)Franz Schubert.

A composer who earned his/her living as a violin virtuoso was
A)Clara Schumann.
B)Niccolò Paganini.
C)Robert Schumann.
D)Frédéric Chopin.

The rise of the urban middle class led to the
A)piano becoming a fixture in every middle-class home.
B)formation of many orchestras and opera groups.
C)development of regular subscription concerts.
D)All answers are correct.

When music conservatories were founded, women
A)were admitted only as vocalists or pianists.
B)were at first accepted only as students of performance, but by the late 1800s could study musical composition.
C)could only study musical composition, since performance was considered undignified.
D)were not admitted.

A very important musical part of every middle-class home during the romantic period was the
A)resident composer/performer.
B)piano.
C)violin.
D)flute.

Music criticism was a source of income for both Hector Berlioz and
A)Robert Schumann.
B)Franz Liszt.
C)Niccolò Paganini.
D)Giuseppe Verdi.

An art song is a musical composition for
A)solo voice and piano.
B)solo voice and orchestra.
C)multiple voices.
D)All answers are correct.

The word ___________ is commonly used for a romantic art song with a German text.
A)lied
B)durchkomponiert
C)chanson
D)ballade

The mood of an art song is often set by a brief piano introduction and summed up at the end by a piano section called a
A)conclusion.
B)postlude.
C)song cycle.
D)finale.

When the same music is repeated for each stanza of a poem, the form is known as
A)song form.
B)strophic.
C)through-composed.
D)repetitious.

When a composer writes new music for each stanza of a poem, the form is known as
A)song form.
B)strophic.
C)through-composed.
D)unending.

Schubert’s primary source of income came from his
A)position as music director to a noble court.
B)touring as a virtuoso performer.
C)performing as church organist.
D)musical compositions.

Schubert wrote a number of symphonies and chamber works that are comparable in power and emotional intensity to those of his idol,
A)Beethoven.
B)Berlioz.
C)Mozart.
D)Haydn.

Schubert
A)was widely acknowledged as a composer in his lifetime.
B)was very self-critical, which accounts for his meager output.
C)produced his greatest works after the age of forty.
D)was the first great master of the romantic art song.

Schubert’s songs number more than
A)5
B)10
C)25
D)60

Schubert wrote compositions in every musical genre except
A)string quartets.
B)piano concertos.
C)symphonies.
D)operas.

Schubert was eighteen years old when he composed the song Erlkönig, set to a poem by
A)Schubert himself.
B)Heinrich Heine.
C)Victor Hugo.
D)Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

The form of The Erlking is
A)strophic.
B)modified strophic.
C)through-composed.
D)None of these.

The Erlking, in Schubert’s song of that name, is a romantic personification of
A)ghosts.
B)death.
C)a galloping horse.
D)nature.

The piano’s relentless rhythm in Erlkönig (The Erlking) unifies the episodes of the song and suggests the
A)galloping horse.
B)joy of the child.
C)steadiness of the father.
D)approach of death.

Which of the following is not typical of Robert Schumann’s works?
A)They are intensely autobiographical.
B)They are usually linked with descriptive titles, texts, or programs.
C)They are essentially lyrical in nature.
D)They are all written for the piano.

During the first ten years of his creative life, Schumann published only
A)songs.
B)piano pieces.
C)symphonies.
D)musical criticism.

Robert Schumann’s Carnaval is a(n)
A)etude for piano students.
B)song cycle.
C)composition for orchestra.
D)cycle of piano pieces.

Johannes Brahms
A)was an admirer of Robert Schumann, but never met him.
B)was a violinist who performed Clara Schumann’s compositions.
C)was a close friend of Clara and Robert Schumann.
D)married Clara Schumann after her husband died.

In the 1830s, Paris was
A)a center of romanticism.
B)the artistic capital of Europe.
C)the home of Victor Hugo, Honoré de Balzac, and Heinrich Heine.
D)All answers are correct.

Chopin expressed his love of Poland by composing polonaises and
A)polkas.
B)folk songs.
C)waltzes.
D)mazurkas.

While in Paris, Chopin
A)married the famous writer Aurore Dudevant.
B)earned a good living by teaching piano to the daughters of the rich.
C)gave a great number of successful public concerts.
D)All answers are correct.

Most of Chopin’s pieces
A)are exquisite miniatures.
B)are for a wide range of media.
C)have a limited variety of moods.
D)have literary programs or titles.

A slow, lyrical, intimate composition for piano, associated with evening and night time, is the
A)etude.
B)mazurka.
C)waltz.
D)nocturne.

Chopin’s Revolutionary Étude develops the pianist’s left hand because
A)the left hand must play rapid passages throughout.
B)it is played only by the left hand.
C)it takes nearly an hour to perform.
D)the left hand plays the main melody.

A study piece, designed to help a performer master specific technical difficulties, is known as
A)a nocturne.
B)an etude.
C)a polonaise.
D)ein lied.

Which of the following statements is not true?
A)In the 1830s Paris was a center of romanticism and the artistic capital of Europe.
B)Chopin was a shy, reserved man who disliked crowds and preferred to play in salons rather than in public concert halls.
C)Many of Chopin’s most poetic effects come from the sensitive exploitation of the piano’s pedals.
D)Chopin’s piano études, compositions designed to help a performer master specific technical difficulties, are primarily technical exercises without much musical value.

The ___________ is a dance in triple meter that originated as a stately processional for the Polish nobility.
A)polka
B)mazurka
C)waltz
D)polonaise

Which of the following statements is not true?
A)To display his incomparable piano mastery, Liszt composed his Transcendental Etudes and made piano transcriptions of Paganini’s violin pieces.
B)During the last years of his life, Liszt settled in Rome and devoted himself solely to his religious duties.
C)As a stupendous performer, innovative composer, and charismatic personality, Franz Liszt typified the romantic movement.
D)The literary works of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe were among Franz Liszt’s favorite inspirations.

As a youth, Franz Liszt was influenced by the performances of
A)Richard Wagner.
B)Hector Berlioz.
C)Robert Schumann.
D)Niccolò Paganini.

During his teens and twenties, Franz Liszt lived in
A)Rome.
B)Weimar.
C)Paris.
D)Budapest.

Until the age of thirty-six, Franz Liszt toured Europe as a virtuoso
A)pianist.
B)conductor.
C)cellist.
D)All answers are correct.

Liszt’s piano works are characterized by
A)an unprecedented range of dynamics.
B)rapid octaves and daring leaps.
C)arpeggios.
D)All answers are correct.

The writer whose literary works greatly inspired Romantic composers was
A)William Shakespeare.
B)Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
C)Robert Schumann.
D)Marie d’Agoult.

Liszt typified the romantic movement because he
A)had a charismatic personality.
B)was a stupendous performer.
C)was an innovative composer.
D)All answers are correct.

Liszt created the ______________, a one-movement orchestral composition based to some extent on a literary or pictorial idea.
A)concert overture
B)symphonic poem
C)piano concerto
D)sonata

By the age of thirteen, Mendelssohn had written ____________ of astounding quality.
A)vocal works.
B)sonatas
C)symphonies and concertos
D)All answers are correct.

Mendelssohn is known as the man who rekindled an interest in the music of
A)Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina.
B)Johann Sebastian Bach.
C)George Frideric Handel.
D)Franz Schubert.

Mendelssohn earned an international reputation, and rekindled an interest in the earlier composer’s music, by conducting the first performance since the composer’s death of
A)Josquin’s Ave Maria.
B)Bach’s St. Matthew Passion.
C)Handel’s Messiah.
D)Schubert’s Mass in C.

Mendelssohn wrote in all musical forms except
A)symphonies.
B)operas.
C)string quartets.
D)oratorios.

Mendelssohn’s Concerto for Violin in E Minor opens with a(n)
A)orchestral exposition typical in concertos.
B)soloist, who presents the main theme.
C)slow introduction by the orchestra.
D)single bassoon tone.

The opening of Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor is unusual in that
A)there is a trumpet fanfare introduction.
B)the main theme is presented by the soloist.
C)there is a slow introduction by the orchestra.
D)the orchestra presents the main theme without the soloist.

In the first movement of Mendelssohn’s Concerto for Violin, the cadenza
A)is left to the performer to improvise.
B)appears at the end of the recapitulation, as is common in classical concertos.
C)is frequently omitted in performance.
D)appears at the end of the development section as a transition to the recapitulation.

The second movement of Mendelssohn’s Concerto for Violin is in _____ form.
A)ABA’
B)theme and variations
C)rondo
D)sonata

Instrumental music associated with a story, poem, idea, or scene, popular during the romantic period, is called
A)absolute music.
B)opera.
C)program music.
D)symphony.

Non-program music is also known as _____________ music.
A)pure
B)absolute
C)concert
D)symphonic

Absolute music is also known as
A)program music.
B)non-program music.
C)concert music.
D)chamber music.

A ____________ is an instrumental composition in several movements based to some extent on a literary or pictorial idea.
A)nocturne
B)program symphony
C)polonaise
D)concert overture

A ________________ is a one-movement orchestral composition based to some extent on a literary or pictorial idea.
A)mazurka
B)program symphony
C)symphonic poem
D)nocturne

The composer who developed the symphonic poem was
A)Franz Liszt.
B)Ludwig van Beethoven.
C)Franz Schubert.
D)Richard Strauss.

Music intended to be performed before and during a play to set the mood for scenes or highlight dramatic action is known as
A)music drama.
B)incidental music.
C)absolute music.
D)play music.

Today’s movie scores may be regarded as examples of
A)pure music.
B)incidental music.
C)folk music.
D)absolute music.

The writer whose works had the greatest impact on the young Berlioz was
A)Victor Hugo.
B)William Shakespeare.
C)Honoré de Balzac.
D)Heinrich Heine.

The Fantastic Symphony reflects Berlioz’s
A)intense nationalism.
B)experiences in Rome.
C)love for the actress Harriet Smithson.
D)interest in composing for small, intimate ensembles.

Parisians were startled by Berlioz’s Fantastic Symphony because of its
A)sensationally autobiographical program.
B)amazingly novel orchestration.
C)vivid description of the weird and diabolical.
D)All answers are correct.

Which of the following statements is not true?
A)Berlioz was an extraordinarily imaginative and innovative orchestrator.
B)All of Berlioz’s major works are dramatic in nature and relate either to a literary program or to a text.
C)In 1830 Berlioz won the Paris Conservatory’s Prix de Rome which granted him two years’ subsidized study in Rome.
D)Berlioz’s reputation outside France was even lower than it was in his homeland.

Outside France, Berlioz enjoyed a great career as a(n)
A)conductor.
B)concert pianist.
C)singer.
D)impresario.

As one of the first great ____________, Berlioz influenced a whole generation of musicians.
A)orchestral conductors
B)composition teachers
C)impresarios
D)guitarists

Berlioz was extraordinarily imaginative in treating the orchestra, creating ____________ never before heard.
A)tone colors
B)rhythms
C)harmonies
D)forms

The contrasting episodes of Berlioz’s Fantastic Symphony are unified by the recurrence of a theme known as the
A)subject.
B)Smithson theme.
C)leitmotif.
D)idée fixe.

The fourth movement of Berlioz’s Fantastic Symphony depicts a
A)march to the scaffold.
B)ball.
C)dream of a witches’ Sabbath.
D)scene in the country.

The citizen’s sense of national identify and patriotic feelings were intensified by
A)romanticism, which glorified love for one’s national heritage.
B)common bonds of language, culture, and history.
C)military resistance to Napoleon.
D)All answers are correct.

The strongest impact of musical nationalism was felt in
A)Russia.
B)the Scandinavian countries.
C)Poland and Bohemia.
D)All answers are correct.

Bedřich Smetana
A)was the founder of Czech national music.
B)was a leading composer of symphonies.
C)served as a member of the Austrian provincial government.
D)All answers are correct.

Even though Smetana was deaf at the time, he composed a musical work depicting Bohemia’s main river as it flows through the countryside. The name of the river, and the musical composition, is the
A)Moldau.
B)Seine.
C)Danube.
D)Thames.

The German master _____________ recommended Dvořák’s music to his own publisher, resulting in a rapid spread of Dvořák’s fame.
A)Joseph Haydn
B)Richard Wagner
C)Franz Liszt
D)Johannes Brahms

Antonin Dvořák’s music was first promoted by
A)Hector Berlioz.
B)Richard Wagner.
C)Johannes Brahms.
D)Franz Liszt.

Antonin Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9
A)is his most famous work.
B)is subtitled From the New World.
C)glorifies both the Czech and the American folk spirit.
D)All answers are correct.

In the first movement of the New World Symphony, Dvořák
A)used the form of the scherzo.
B)quoted the black spiritual Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.
C)composed a theme that resembles Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.
D)began the symphony with an allegro first theme.

Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky…..
A)was a child prodigy, learning music at an early age.
B)preferred his government position to music.
C)studied music theory and violin as a teenager.
D)began to study music theory at the age of twenty-one.

Tchaikovsky’s Sixth Symphony
A)is in the usual four-movement form.
B)was left unfinished by the composer.
C)has five movements.
D)ends with a slow, despairing finale.

Which of the following was not composed by Tchaikovsky?
A)Romeo and Juliet
B)Pictures at an Exhibition
C)Swan Lake
D)Symphony No. 6 (Pathétique)

Which of the following is not a ballet by Tchaikovsky?
A)Swan Lake
B)The Sleeping Beauty
C)The Nutcracker
D)Coppelia

Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet is
A)a ballet based on Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet.
B)a medley of popular melodies taken from his opera of that name.
C)an early programmatic symphony inspired by the characters in Shakespeare’s play.
D)a concert overture consisting of a slow introduction and a fast movement in sonata form.

The course of Brahms’s artistic and personal life was shaped by the influence of the composer
A)Antonin Dvořák.
B)Robert Schumann and his wife Clara.
C)Franz Liszt.
D)Richard Wagner.

Brahms wrote masterpieces in many musical forms, but never any
A)art songs.
B)operas.
C)choral works.
D)chamber music.

Brahms’s works, though very personal in style, are rooted in the music of…
A) Joseph Haydn
B) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
C) Ludwig van Beethoven
D) All of the above

Verdi studied music in _________, the city where Italy’s most important opera house, La Scala, is located.
A)Rome
B)Florence
C)Venice
D)Milan

Verdi’s first great success, an opera with strong political overtones, was
A)Oberto.
B)Aïda.
C)Nabucco.
D)La Traviata.

Which of the following operas is not by Verdi?
A)La Traviata
B)The Marriage of Figaro
C)Il Trovatore
D)Otello

Which of the following statements is not true?
A)Giuseppe Verdi, the most popular of all opera composers, was born to a poor family in a tiny Italian village.
B)The soul of a Verdi opera is its expressive vocal melody.
C)Verdi composed primarily for the Italian musical elite, those who would best appreciate his talents.
D)In the course of his long life, Verdi’s style became less conventional, more subtle and flexible, with more imaginative orchestrations and richer accompaniments.

The soul of a Verdi opera is
A)extensive thematic development.
B)expressive vocal melody.
C)the situation comedy.
D)atmospheric orchestral parts.

The famous aria La donna è mobile is taken from Verdi’s opera
A)Rigoletto.
B)Aïda.
C)Falstaff.
D)Il Trovatore.

Which of the following operas was not composed by Giacomo Puccini?
A)Madame Butterfly
B)Tosca
C)Turandot
D)Don Giovanni

An artistic trend of the 1890s, in which operas dealt with ordinary people and true-to-life situations, was known as
A)opera seria.
B)verismo.
C)exoticism.
D)Cavalleria rusticana.

The movement in opera known as verismo is best exemplified by
A)Claudio Monteverdi.
B)Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
C)Giacomo Puccini.
D)Richard Wagner.

Some of Puccini’s operas feature exoticism, as in his use of melodic and rhythmic elements derived from Japanese and Chinese music in his operas
A)Turandot and Manon Lescaut.
B)La Bohème and Madame Butterfly.
C)Madame Butterfly and Turandot.
D)Tosca and Turandot.

Wagner’s preeminence was such that an opera house of his own design was built in _________________, solely for performances of his music dramas.
A)Paris, France
B)Geneva, Switzerland
C)Leipzig, Germany
D)Bayreuth, Bavaria

Wagner had an opera house built to his own specifications in
A)Munich.
B)Weimar.
C)Dresden.
D)Bayreuth

The composer who had an overwhelming influence on the young Wagner was
A)Johann Sebastian Bach.
B)Ludwig van Beethoven.
C)Johannes Brahms.
D)Hector Berlioz.

When he was fifteen, Wagner was overwhelmed by the power of the music of
A)Franz Liszt.
B)Ludwig van Beethoven.
C)Robert Schumann.
D)Giuseppe Verdi.

Wagner was appointed conductor of the Dresden opera mainly because of the success of his first opera
A)The Ring of the Nibelung.
B)Die Götterdämmerung.
C)Parsifal.
D)Rienzi.

Richard Wagner’s first successful opera was
A)Tannhäuser.
B)Rienzi.
C)The Twilight of the Gods.
D)Die Walküre.

Which of the following operas was not composed by Richard Wagner?
A)Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
B)Tristan and Isolde
C)Fidelio
D)Parsifal

The librettos to The Ring of the Nibelung were written by
A)Arrigo Boito.
B)Wagner himself.
C)King Ludwig of Bavaria.
D)Hans von Bülow.

A short musical idea associated with a person, object, or thought, used by Richard Wagner in his operas, is called
A)leitmotif.
B)lied.
C)unending melody.
D)speech-song.

Impressionist painting and symbolist poetry as artistic movements originated in
A)Bohemia.
B)England.
C)France.
D)Austria.

The most important impressionist composer was
A)Richard Wagner.
B)Béla Bartók.
C)Arnold Schoenberg.
D)Claude Debussy.

The term impressionist derived from a critic’s derogatory reaction to Impression: Sunrise, a painting by
A)Claude Debussy.
B)Camille Pissarro.
C)Claude Monet.
D)Auguste Renoir.

When viewed closely, impressionist paintings are made up of
A)fine lines.
B)large bands of color.
C)tiny black dots.
D)tiny colored patches.

Impressionist painters were primarily concerned with the effect of light, color, and
A)rhythm.
B)atmosphere.
C)detail.
D)clarity

The impressionist painters were particularly obsessed with portraying
A)water.
B)religious scenes.
C)scenes of ancient glories.
D)battle scenes.

Which of the following statements is not true?
A)Both impressionist painting and symbolist poetry were catalysts for many developments during the twentieth century.
B)Symbolist writers emphasized the purely musical, or sonorous, effects of words.
C)When viewed closely, impressionist paintings are made up of tiny colored patches.
D)The impressionist painters were particularly obsessed with portraying scenes of ancient French glories.

Many of Debussy’s songs are set to poems by the symbolist poet
A)Stéphane Mallarmé.
B)Paul Verlaine.
C)Jean Paul Sartre.
D)Arthur Rimbaud.

A dramatic turning point in Debussy’s career came in 1902 when
A)his opera Pelléas et Mélisande was premiered.
B)he undertook a series of concert tours.
C)he went to Italy to study.
D)he went to Bayreuth to hear Wagner’s music.

Which of the following characteristics is not usually associated with impressionism?
A)Fleeting mood
B)Clearly delineated forms
C)Misty atmosphere
D)Symbolism

Debussy’s music tends to
A)sound free and almost improvisational.
B)have a strong sense of tonality.
C)affirm the key very noticeably.
D)use the full orchestra for massive effects.

Impressionism in music is characterized by
A)the recurrence of strong accents on the downbeat.
B)a stress on tone color, atmosphere, and fluidity.
C)an adherence to traditional harmonic chord progressions.
D)All answers are correct.

In which of the following areas did Debussy not create masterpieces?
A)Symphonies
B)Art songs
C)Chamber music
D)Piano music

The poem that inspired the Prelude to “The Afternoon of a Faun” was written by
A)Paul Verlaine.
B)Arthur Rimbaud.
C)Maurice Maeterlinck.
D)Stéphane Mallarmé.

The faun evoked in Debussy’s famous composition is a
A)baby deer.
B)creature who is half man, half goat.
C)beautiful young maiden.
D)sensitive musician.