Final Examination

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Question #1

The absence of key or tonality in a musical composition is known as

A polytonality.

B ostinato.

C a tone cluster.

D atonality.

Question #2

The poetic and musical form of the blues was popularized in the early years of the twentieth century through the publication of Memphis Blues and St. Louis Blues, composed by

A King Oliver.

B Bessie Smith.

C Louis Armstrong.

D William C. Handy.

Question #3

The backbone of a jazz ensemble is its

A rhythm section.

B director.

C clarinet section.

D brass section.

Question #4

When a voice is answered by an instrument, or when one instrument (or group of instruments) is answered by a chorus, the pattern is referred to as

A jazz.

B call and response.

C polyphonic texture.

D calling the beat.

Question #5

Minimalist music is characterized by

A a steady pulse, clear tonality, and insistent repetition of short melodic patterns.

B the development of musical materials through random methods.

C rapidly changing dynamics and textures.

D the use of twelve-tone techniques to organize the dimensions of music.

Question #6

Twelve-tone compositional techniques used to organize rhythm, dynamics, tone color, and other dimensions of music to produce totally controlled and organized music are called

A serialism.

B chance music.

C minimalism.

D Klangfarbenmelodie.

Question #7

George Gershwin grew up in

A Charleston, South Carolina.

B Paris, France.

C Anatevka, Russia.

D New York, New York.

Question #8

Outside France, Berlioz enjoyed a great career as a(n)

A impresario.

B conductor.

C concert pianist.

D singer.

Question #9

A ____________ is an instrumental composition in several movements based to some extent on a literary or pictorial idea.

A nocturne

B polonaise

C program symphony

D concert overture

Question #10

Nonprogram music is also known as _____________ music.

A absolute

B symphonic

C concert

D pure

Question #11

Program music is

A instrumental music associated with a story, poem, idea, or scene.

B music that depicts aspects of nature.

C All answers are correct.

D vocal music that tells a story.

Question #12

Liszt abandoned his career as a traveling virtuoso to become court conductor at __________, where he championed works by contemporary composers.

A Paris

B Weimar

C Budapest

D Rome

Question #13

A study piece, designed to help a performer master specific technical difficulties, is known as

A an etude.

B ein lied.

C a polonaise.

D a nocturne.

Question #14

Most of Chopin’s pieces

A have a limited variety of moods.

B have literary programs or titles.

C are for a wide range of media.

D are exquisite miniatures.

Question #15

Chopin expressed his love of Poland by composing polonaises and

A waltzes.

B polkas.

C mazurkas.

D folk songs.

Question #16

Schubert

A was the first great master of the romantic art song.

B was very self-critical, which accounts for his meager output.

C produced his greatest works after the age of forty.

D was widely acknowledged as a composer in his lifetime.

Question #17

The word ___________ is commonly used for a romantic art song with a German text.

A ballade

B durchkomponiert

C chanson

D lied

Question #18

An art song is a musical composition for

A multiple voices.

B solo voice and piano.

C All answers are correct.

D solo voice and orchestra.

Question #19

When music conservatories were founded, women

A were admitted only as vocalists.

B were at first accepted only as students of performance, but by the late 1800s could study musical composition.

C were not admitted.

D could only study musical composition, since performance was considered undignified.

Question #20

The rise of the urban middle class led to the

A development of regular subscription concerts.

B All answers are correct.

C formation of many orchestras and opera groups.

D piano becoming a fixture in every middle-class home.

Question #21

A romantic composer who earned his living as a touring virtuoso was

A Franz Schubert.

B Hector Berlioz.

C Franz Liszt.

D Frédéric Chopin.

Question #22

The composer whose career was a model for many romantic composers was

A Joseph Haydn.

B Johann Sebastian Bach.

C Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

D Ludwig van Beethoven.

Question #23

While Wagner’s Ring cycle features fantastical elements such as gods, giants, and magic, the opera is really about

A nineteenth-century society and culture.

B the colonisation of Africa.

C the Renaissance.

D his family lineage.

Question #24

A short musical idea associated with a person, object, or thought, used by Richard Wagner in his operas, is called

A lied.

B leitmotif.

C unending melody.

D speech-song.

Question #25

The librettos to The Ring of the Nibelung were written by

A Arrigo Boito.

B Hans von Bülow.

C King Ludwig of Bavaria.

D Richard Wagner

Question #26

During Wagner’s time in Paris, he

A was unable to get an opera performed and was reduced to musical hackwork.

B finished his masterpiece, Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung).

C conducted the famous premiere of his opera, Rienzi.

D built an opera house according to his specifications.

Question #27

A slight holding back or pressing forward of tempo in music is known as

A fermata.

B rubato.

C ritardando.

D accelerando.

Question #28

The composer who had an overwhelming influence on the young Wagner was

A Ludwig van Beethoven.

B Johannes Brahms.

C Hector Berlioz.

D Johann Sebastian Bach.

Question #29

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 La Bohème and Madame Butterfly.

B Tosca and Turandot.

C Madame Butterfly and Turandot.

D Turandot and Manon Lescaut.

Question #30

Brahms’s works, though very personal in style, are rooted in the music of

A Joseph Haydn.

B Ludwig van Beethoven.

C All answers are correct.

D Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Question #31

Brahms wrote masterpieces in many musical forms, but never any

A operas.

B chamber music.

C art songs.

D choral works.

Question #32

Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet is

A a medley of popular melodies taken from his opera of that name.

B a concert overture consisting of a slow introduction and a fast movement in sonata form.

C an early programmatic symphony inspired by the characters in Shakespeare’s play.

D a ballet based on Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet.

Question #33

Which of the following was not a member of the Russian five?

A Modest Mussorgsky

B Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky

C Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

D César Cu

Question #34

Tchaikovsky’s Sixth Symphony

A has five movements.

B was left unfinished by the composer.

C ends with a slow, despairing finale.

D is in the usual four-movement form.

Question #35

Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky

A studied music theory and violin as a teenager.

B was a child prodigy, learning music at an early age.

C began to study music theory at the age of twenty-one.

D preferred his government position to music.

Question #36

Composers expressed musical nationalism in their music by

A basing their music on the folk songs of their country.

B All answers are correct.

C using their national legends as subject matter.

D using the rhythms of the dances of their homelands.

Question #37

The favored solo instrument in the classical concerto was the

A piano.

B harpsichord.

C clarinet.

D cello.

Question #38

A concerto is a large-scale work in several movements for

A any combination of instruments.

B an instrumental soloist.

C an instrumental soloist and orchestra.

D symphonic orchestra.

Question #39

The last movement of a classical symphony

A is most often in sonata or sonata-rondo form.

B is usually fast, lively, and brilliant, but somewhat lighter in mood than the opening movement.

C All answers are correct.

D is always in the tonic key of the symphony.

Question #40

The first movement of a classical symphony is almost always fast, and in _____ form.

A sonata

B rondo

C minuet

D ABA

Question #41

The scherzo differs from the minuet in that it

A All answers are correct.

B has a different form.

C has a different meter.

D moves more quickly.

Question #42

The minuet is in _______ meter.

A triple

B common

C duple

D quadruple

Question #43

The movement of a symphony that is often patterned after a dance is the

A first.

B third.

C second.

D fourth.

Question #44

Each successive variation in a theme with variations

A is usually in the same key.

B is usually in a new key.

C retains some elements of the theme.

D presents a new melodic idea.

Question #45

Sonata form should be viewed as

A a set of variations on a theme.

B a set of principles that serve to shape and unify contrasts of theme and key.

C a rigid mold into which musical ideas are poured.

D another term for the symphony.

Question #46

Short musical ideas or fragments of themes that are developed within a composition are called

A motives.

B melodies.

C codas.

D rides.

Question #47

A feeling of harmonic tension and forward motion is created in the exposition of a sonata form movement by

A the conflict of tonalities between the first and second themes.

B retaining the same tonality for both themes.

C the introduction of a new theme in the bridge.

D changing the meter of the second theme.

Question #48

In the classical period, comic operas sometimes

A All answers are correct.

B were based on the Old Testament.

C ridiculed the aristocracy.

D were in Latin.

Question #49

Haydn’s contract of employment shows that he was considered

A a skilled servant.

B a visiting guest composer.

C a freelance musician.

D an equal by his employer.

Question #50

Social mobility during the classical period was

A a limited sociological factor.

B promoted and encouraged by the church.

C an important factor in the rise of the middle class.

D ruthlessly stamped out by the aristocracy.

Question #51

A symphony is a

A work for solo instrument.

B work for chorus and orchestra.

C work for piano solo.

D sonata for orchestra.

Question #52

Beethoven’s only opera is entitled

A The Magic Flute.

B Madame Butterfly.

C Fidelio.

D Don Giovanni.

Question #53

What following technique did Beethoven use more extensively in his late works?

A Operatic form

B Basso continuo

C Fugal counterpoint

D Monophony

Question #54

We have a record of Beethoven’s struggle with his musical material because he

A showed his workflow in musical sketchbooks.

B keept a diary.

C described his struggles in letters to friends.

D told his troubles to his biographer.

Question #55

Don Giovanni, in Mozart’s opera of that name, is

A the servant to Leporello.

B the legendary Spanish lover.

C Sir John Falstaff.

D a despotic Italian nobleman.

Question #56

Mozart was born in

A Salzburg, Austria.

B Eisenach, Germany.

C Bonn, Germany.

D Rohrau, Austria.

Question #57

The typical orchestra of the classical period consisted of

A a loose ensemble of available instruments.

B strings with harpsichord continuo.

C strings, woodwinds, horns, trumpets, and timpani.

D woodwinds, trombones, drums, and strings.

Question #58

Classicism, as a stylistic period in western music, roughly encompassed the years

A 1450-1600.

B 1600-1750.

C 1820-1900.

D 1750-1820.

Question #59

Homophonic texture consists of

A a single melodic line without accompaniment.

B two or more melodies of relatively equal interest performed simultaneously.

C one main melody accompanied by chords.

D two or more different versions of the same basic melody performed simultaneously.

Question #60

The central tone around which a musical composition is organized is called the

A modulation.

B tonic.

C scale.

D dominant.

Question #61

The triad built on the fifth step of the scale is called the

A resolution.

B progression.

C tonic chord.

D dominant chord.

Question #62

A sequence may be defined as

A a resting place at the end of a phrase.

B the emotional focal point of a melody.

C a part of a melody.

D the repetition of a melodic pattern at a higher or lower pitch.

Question #63

A smooth, connected style of playing a melody is known as

A staccato.

B glissando.

C vibrato.

D legato.

Question #64

Staccato refers to playing or singing a melody

A at a higher or lower pitch.

B in a short, detached manner.

C in a smooth, connected manner.

D in small steps.

Question #65

In musical notation, silence is indicated by

A notes.

B clefs.

C beams.

D rests.

Question #66

The Italian term _____________ is a tempo marking to indicate a lively pace.

A vivace

B adagio

C allegro

D andante

Question #67

Which of the following is a characteristic feature of jazz music?

A Expiation

B A metronome

C A ritardando

D Syncopation

Question #68

The frequency of vibrations is measured in

A noiselike sounds.

B dynamic levels.

C cycles per minute.

D cycles per second.

Question #69

Pizzicato is an indication to the performer to

A draw the bow across two strings at the same time.

B repeat tones by quick up-and-down strokes of the bow.

C veil or muffle the tone by fitting a clamp onto the bridge.

D pluck the string with the finger instead of using the bow.

Question #70

The relative highness or lowness of a sound is called

A dynamics.

B octave.

C pitch.

D timbre.

Question #71

The range of a singer’s voice depends on

A training and musical style.

B which microphone the singer uses.

C physical makeup.

D training and physical makeup.

Question #72

When a performer emphasizes a tone by playing it more loudly than the tones around it, it is called a

A crescendo.

B pianissimo.

C blooper.

D dynamic accent.

Question #73

The distance between the lowest and highest tones a voice or instrument can produce is called

A timbre.

B an octave.

C pitch range.

D dynamic accent.

Question #74

Music can be defined as

A a system of symbols that performers learn to read.

B sounds produced by musical instruments.

C sounds that are pleasing, as opposed to noise.

D an art based on the organization of sounds in time.

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