Deck 22: Modernism between the Wars

Question 1

What is heard at the beginning of Prelude for Piano No.6 in the high register?

A) rolling chords
B) an ostinato
C) a yearning chromatic melody
D) consonant harmonies

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Who composed Music for Strings,Percussion,and Celesta?

A) Béla Bartók
B) Maurice Ravel
C) Sergei Prokofiev
D) Aaron Copland

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Who composed the Piano Concerto in G?

A) Claude Debussy
B) Maurice Ravel
C) Sergei Prokofiev
D) Aaron Copland

Answer 3

B

Question 4

The second movement of Music for Strings,Percussion,and Celesta is in ________ form.

A) rondo
B) through-composed
C) arch
D) sonata

Question 5

Music for Strings,Percussion,and Celesta was composed in the:

A) 1910s.
B) 1930s.
C) 1950s.
D) 1970s.

Question 6

The development of the second movement of Music for Strings,Percussion,and Celesta is introduced by the:

A) strings.
B) timpani.
C) piano.
D) celesta.

Question 7

The Piano Concerto in G was composed in the:

A) 1910s.
B) 1920s.
C) 1930s.
D) 1940s.

Question 8

The first movement of the Piano Concerto in G opens with a:

A) lively, folklike tune played by the piccolo.
B) dreamy chord progression in the string section.
C) romantic torch song played by a solo trumpet.
D) blues melody played by the piano.

Question 9

Who composed Afro-American Symphony?

A) Maurice Ravel
B) Aaron Copland
C) Béla Bartók
D) William Grant Still

Question 10

The B theme in the fourth movement of Afro-American Symphony is first presented by:

A) the low strings.
B) woodwinds alternating with horns and trumpets.
C) the high strings.
D) a tenor banjo.

Question 11

Who composed Prelude for Piano No.6?

A) Béla Bartók
B) William Grant Still
C) Aaron Copland
D) Ruth Crawford

Question 12

The texture of Prelude for Piano No.6 is:

A) monophonic.
B) homophonic.
C) heterophonic.
D) contrapuntal, in three layers.

Question 13

The melodies and harmonies in Afro-American Symphony tend to be derived from:

A) the diatonic scale used in European classical music.
B) tone rows.
C) the scale used by blues and jazz musicians.
D) the whole-tone scale.

Question 14

The main A theme in the fourth movement of Afro-American Symphony is a(n):

A) ostinato.
B) series of parallel chords.
C) melody of staccato eighth notes.
D) blues-derived hymn theme.

Question 15

The second and third themes heard in the first movement of the Piano Concerto in G are reminiscent of:

A) patriotic marches.
B) blues and jazz.
C) atonal music.
D) Classical techniques.

Question 16

The fourth movement of Afro-American Symphony comes closest to:

A) sonata form.
B) rondo form.
C) variation form.
D) double-exposition form.

Question 17

Prelude for Piano No.6 was composed in the:

A) 1910s.
B) 1920s.
C) 1930s.
D) 1940s.

Question 18

The second movement of Music for Strings,Percussion,and Celesta opens with:

A) pizzicato strings.
B) bowed strings.
C) the piano articulating octaves.
D) a triple-meter dance tune.

Question 19

Prelude for Piano No.6 is a:

A) piano miniature.
B) song cycle.
C) symphony.
D) concerto.

Question 20

The end of the first movement of the Piano Concerto in G is:

A) in a waltz tempo.
B) a dreamlike sequence in the clarinet.
C) signaled by an oboe and flute duet.
D) a long series of parallel chords.

Question 21

Section 2 of Appalachian Spring evokes the sound of a:

A) waltz.
B) gospel chorus.
C) square dance.
D) jazz tune.

Question 22

Alexander Nevsky was composed in the:

A) 1910s.
B) 1920s.
C) 1930s.
D) 1940s.

Question 23

Who was the first important African American composer in the concert music tradition?

A) William Grant Still
B) Samuel Barber
C) William Schuman
D) Charles Griffes

Question 24

Who composed the opera Der Rosenkavalier?

A) Igor Stravinsky
B) Richard Strauss
C) Johann Strauss
D) Giacomo Puccini

Question 25

Which statement about Richard Strauss is false?

A) He evolved from Neoclassical to modernist in his style.
B) He evolved from modernist in his operas to a more Romantic style.
C) He created a furor with his opera Salome.
D) He started out as a composer of symphonic poems.

Question 26

Which composer wrote Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini?

A) William Grant Still
B) Dmitri Shostakovich
C) Sergei Rachmaninov
D) Richard Strauss

Question 27

Béla Bartók was a(n)________ as well as a composer.

A) painter
B) journalist
C) economist
D) director of the Budapest Academy of Music

Question 28

Appalachian Spring is a(n):

A) opera about colonial days in America.
B) ballet about a pioneer celebration in Pennsylvania.
C) piano concerto including jazz themes.
D) religious work for chorus and orchestra.

Question 29

Which style did Bartók embrace?

A) expressionism
B) nationalism
C) serialism
D) impressionism

Question 30

Which is true of the musical climate in the early twentieth century?

A) All the major composers were avant-garde.
B) All the major composers adopted serialism.
C) Many major composers never joined the avant-garde.
D) All the major composers experimented with avant-garde innovation, then turned back to traditional styles.

Question 31

Maurice Ravel's Piano Concerto in G is a tribute to:

A) American jazz.
B) his mother's Basque roots.
C) southern France.
D) city life in Paris.

Question 32

Maurice Ravel's harmonic language is reminiscent of the music of:

A) Richard Wagner.
B) Claude Debussy.
C) Giacomo Puccini.
D) Johann Strauss.

Question 33

Who composed Appalachian Spring?

A) Charles Ives
B) Claude Debussy
C) Maurice Ravel
D) Aaron Copland

Question 34

Who composed Alexander Nevsky?

A) Dmitri Shostakovich
B) Sergei Prokofiev
C) Igor Stravinsky
D) Sergei Rachmaninov

Question 35

In the period between World War I and World War II,most radical,avant-garde music was:

A) widely popular with concertgoing audiences.
B) appreciated by only a small, esoteric audience.
C) banned for being too radical.
D) reminiscent of late Romantic music.

Question 36

What breaks the ominous mood in the opening of "The Battle on Ice" in Alexander Nevsky?

A) drumrolls by the timpani
B) scraping noises by the violas
C) a battle call played by a muted trombone backstage
D) a rising motive in the cellos

Question 37

Section 5 of Appalachian Spring ("Simple Gifts")is in ________ form.

A) sonata
B) rondo
C) theme and variations
D) through-composed

Question 38

What is heard just before the armies meet at the climax of "The Battle on Ice" in Alexander Nevsky?

A) a chorus singing a homophonic phrase
B) a three-note motive from the trumpet and tuba
C) a melody of staccato eighth notes
D) a series of ominous drumrolls

Question 39

The tendency for Romanticism in music can be found in:

A) the music of Charles Griffes.
B) the song cycles of Arnold Schoenberg.
C) the orchestral music of Carl Ruggles.
D) early film music.

Question 40

Many of Ravel's works exhibit:

A) musical nationalism.
B) bel canto singing.
C) musical exoticism.
D) serialism.

Question 41

In the Soviet Union,the most famous composer to suffer state oppression was:

A) Dmitri Shostakovich.
B) Béla Bartók.
C) Igor Stravinsky.
D) Alexander Borodin.

Question 42

Bartók is known for his large-scale investigation of:

A) the history of Budapest.
B) World War I.
C) folk music.
D) music theory.

Question 43

Compare and contrast the musical contributions and significance of Maurice Ravel and Claude Debussy (see Chapter 21).

Question 44

Two important American composers who contributed to film music are:

A) Max Steiner and Nino Rota.
B) Charles Ives and Max Steiner.
C) Kurt Weill and Sergei Eisenstein.
D) Aaron Copland and Leonard Bernstein.

Question 45

The most prevalent style of film music is:

A) avant-garde modernism.
B) minimalism.
C) jazz.
D) late Romantic.

Question 46

Matching music to onscreen action or situations is similar to:

A) word painting techniques.
B) program music.
C) the use of isorhythms.
D) Wagner's use of leitmotivs.

Question 47

In Nazi Germany,the musical works of ________ and ________ were promoted.

A) Bartók; Weill
B) Schoenberg; Berg
C) Berlioz; Mahler
D) Beethoven; Wagner

Question 48

List and briefly describe the various ways composers embraced or reacted against modernism in the early twentieth century.

Question 49

Composers who devoted their careers to film music include:

A) Sergei Eisenstein and Francis Ford Coppola.
B) Nino Rota and John Williams.
C) Igor Stravinsky and Maurice Ravel.
D) Richard Strauss and Giacomo Puccini.

Question 50

Which statement about William Grant Still is false?

A) He was the first black composer to have a symphony performed by a major orchestra and an opera staged by a major company.
B) His family discouraged his musical interests.
C) He worked as an arranger of music for dance bands, musicals, radio shows, Hollywood films, and the blues bandleader W. C. Handy.
D) His compositions include orchestral music, choral works, chamber works, operas, and ballets.

Question 51

Much of Prokofiev's music can be characterized as:

A) being a modernist exploration of atonality.
B) having clear tonality and using Russian folk themes.
C) relying on frequently changing meters.
D) having an elegant style influenced by his years in Vienna.

Question 52

After she stopped composing in the 1930s,Ruth Crawford worked on government-sponsored projects to:

A) suppress modernist music.
B) develop music education programs.
C) collect, transcribe, arrange, and publish American folk music.
D) arrange music for dance bands, musicals, and radio shows.

Question 53

Tan Dun's score for Crouching Tiger,Hidden Dragon is notable for the way he:

A) mixes instruments from the Western orchestra and the Beijing opera orchestra.
B) mixes avant-garde and Romantic styles.
C) uses music styled after traditional American folk melodies.
D) recalls the styles of Prokofiev and Shostakovich.

Question 54

Which composer created the New Music Society of San Francisco?

A) Aaron Copland
B) William Grant Still
C) Ruth Crawford
D) Henry Cowell

Question 55

Each movement of Afro-American Symphony is associated with verses by which poet?

A) Emily Dickinson
B) Paul Laurence Dunbar
C) Robert Frost
D) Langston Hughes

Question 56

Which composition by Aaron Copland is an opera?

A) Twelve Poems of Emily Dickinson
B) The Tender Land
C) Appalachian Spring
D) El salón México

Question 57

Which statement about Aaron Copland is false?

A) He was greatly influenced by Igor Stravinsky.
B) His works include orchestral pieces, ballets, and operas.
C) He was a great avant-garde innovator and was not interested in writing music for the people.
D) His style is eclectic; he sought inspiration from American music of all kinds.

Question 58

The soundtrack of Alexander Nevsky was refashioned by Prokofiev as a(n)________ for concert performances.

A) opera
B) ballet
C) piano concerto
D) cantata

Question 59

Pianists' or organists' improvisations for silent films of the 1910s and 1920s were often based on:

A) folk music.
B) published catalogues of Romantic musical repertoire.
C) opera music from the Baroque era.
D) the avant-garde, modernist composers of the day.

Question 60

Which composer took part in the cultural movement known as the Harlem Renaissance?

A) William Grant Still
B) Ruth Crawford
C) Henry Cowell
D) Maurice Ravel

Question 61

Briefly analyze the oppression that modernist composers suffered under totalitarian regimes during the first half of the twentieth century.List three composers who were affected.

Question 62

Name three different facets of Béla Bartók's career.

Question 63

Discuss Prokofiev's compositional style in relation to those of composers during the first phase of modernism.

Question 64

Describe three elements of Afro-American Symphony that reflect William Grant Still's use of African American styles.

Question 65

Describe the compositional style of Ruth Crawford.

Question 66

Briefly discuss the musical contributions and significance of William Grant Still.

Question 67

Briefly describe the setting and events of Copland's Appalachian Spring.

Question 68

Discuss the influence of Romantic-era music on film music.

Question 69

Briefly describe Aaron Copland's philosophy of the purpose of music in general and American music in particular.

Question 70

Name three composers for film and one film score composed by each.

Question 71

Name two composers who incorporated jazz or blues elements into their works,and name one composition by each that shows the use of these elements.

Question 72

Describe the musical climate in America in the 1920s.How did American composers react to European modernism?

Question 73

Name three genres in which Aaron Copland composed and one of his compositions in each genre.

Question 74

What was Bartók's opinion of the Nazis? What did this mean for him in terms of performing and publishing his music?

Question 75

What makes Bartók's Music for Strings,Percussion,and Celesta resemble a Classical-style symphony? Describe the second movement to support your answer.