Deck 23: The Late Twentieth Century

Question 1

The performing forces in Music for 18 Musicians include,among others:

A) vibraphone, two clarinets, and four singers.
B) recorded nature sounds and strings.
C) piccolo and viola.
D) musique concrète, flutes, and piccolo.

Answer 1

A

Question 2

The performing forces in Lux aeterna consist of:

A) organ and several vocal soloists.
B) solo voices and chorus.
C) voices and synthesizers.
D) voices and musique concrète.

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Which sounds in Poème électronique are evidence of the use of musique concrète?

A) the electronic effects
B) the short vocal hum and snare drum
C) the highly irregular rhythms
D) the sustained chords

Answer 3

B

Question 4

In section 1 of Music for 18 Musicians,changes in the theme's pitch level are cued by the:

A) voices.
B) clarinets.
C) vibraphone.
D) cello.

Question 5

What are the performing forces in "The House of the Rising Sun"?

A) soprano voice and percussion
B) percussion, brass, and woodwinds
C) soprano voice, percussion, and woodwinds
D) soprano voice, percussion, and brass

Question 6

What are the performing forces in Indígena?

A) voice, piano, and percussion
B) strings, woodwinds, brass, piano, and percussion
C) brass, piano, and percussion
D) voice, woodwinds, and percussion

Question 7

During the first stanza of "Hallelujah,I'm a Bum," the piano plays:

A) a slow, yearning melody.
B) a three-note motive.
C) an ostinato.
D) dissonant chords.

Question 8

Who composed Music for 18 Musicians?

A) John Adams
B) Edgard Varèse
C) John Cage
D) Steve Reich

Question 9

The form of "Hallelujah,I'm a Bum" is:

A) through-composed.
B) strophic.
C) a round.
D) rondo.

Question 10

Who composed Indígena?

A) George Crumb
B) Steve Reich
C) John Adams
D) Tania León

Question 11

Which is fairly clear in Lux aeterna?

A) tone color
B) form
C) the text
D) rhythm

Question 12

Who composed Lux aeterna?

A) Arnold Schoenberg
B) Anton Webern
C) Alban Berg
D) György Ligeti

Question 13

What is heard at the end of the first stanza of "The House of the Rising Sun"?

A) vibraphone and gongs
B) bongo drums
C) maracas
D) loud cymbal crashes

Question 14

The fourth of Webern's Five Orchestral Pieces might be described as a very ________ time segment of very ________ intensity.

A) long; low
B) long; high
C) short; low
D) short; high

Question 15

Which is true of the fourth of Webern's Five Orchestral Pieces?

A) It uses a large orchestra to produce masses of sound.
B) It is in sonata form.
C) It is concise and atonal.
D) It is predictable and repetitive.

Question 16

What are the performing forces in "Hallelujah,I'm a Bum"?

A) voice, piano, and percussion
B) voice and percussion
C) voice, piano, woodwinds, and percussion
D) voice and piano

Question 17

In section 1 of Music for 18 Musicians,a melodic theme is built up first by the ________,then by the ________.

A) vibraphone; bass clarinet
B) violin; cello
C) xylophone; violin
D) clarinets; voices

Question 18

Who composed Poème électronique?

A) György Ligeti
B) Edgard Varèse
C) Anton Webern
D) John Cage

Question 19

The introduction of Music for 18 Musicians features:

A) a canon between the four voices.
B) lingering harmonies over a regular, repeating pulse.
C) a pizzicato duet between the violinist and cellist.
D) musique concrète sounds.

Question 20

Lux aeterna begins with:

A) men's voices.
B) a mixed chorus of male and female voices.
C) women's voices.
D) electronic sounds.

Question 21

In contrast to constructivist composers,chance composers wanted to:

A) relinquish control over some elements of musical construction.
B) increase the complexity of musical materials.
C) attempt to "serialize" rhythm, dynamics, and tone color.
D) turn back to Classical styles.

Question 22

The devastating events of World War II prompted composers of the 1950s and 1960s to:

A) begin a new phase of experimental modernism.
B) turn back to Classical styles.
C) turn back to Romantic styles.
D) turn back to Baroque styles.

Question 23

Electronically produced sound can be generated by a:

A) synthesizer.
B) speaker.
C) voice.
D) piano.

Question 24

Webern's Five Orchestral Pieces and Terry Riley's In C demonstrate the postwar avant-garde's efforts to explore:

A) electronic music.
B) contrasting perceptions of time and rhythm.
C) the serialization of rhythm, dynamics, and tone color.
D) chance music.

Question 25

The father of chance music is:

A) John Cage.
B) Philip Glass.
C) John Adams.
D) Steve Reich.

Question 26

Which family of the orchestra underwent the most growth and innovation in the post-World War II era?

A) strings
B) woodwinds
C) percussion
D) brass

Question 27

Highly intellectual,constructive tendencies led some composers of the postwar avant-garde to:

A) leave some elements of music to chance.
B) simplify musical materials.
C) attempt to "serialize" rhythm, dynamics, and tone color.
D) turn back to Classical styles.

Question 28

Which of these sound techniques existed before the post-World War II era?

A) multiphonics for woodwind players
B) the use of "nonmusical" noises
C) electronically produced sound
D) plucking stringed instruments instead of bowing them

Question 29

Varèse was known as an innovative composer in the area(s)of:

A) bebop and blues.
B) rhythm and electronic music.
C) vocal techniques such as Sprechstimme.
D) orchestral tone color and melody.

Question 30

An example of chance music is:

A) instructing the performer to place his or her hands inside the piano to strum or strike the strings.
B) throwing dice to determine the order of sections to be performed in a composition.
C) using a synthesizer to produce sounds.
D) using the twelve tones of the chromatic scale in a fixed order.

Question 31

Indígena sounds like a musical depiction of:

A) a Fourth of July parade.
B) visitors strolling through a world's fair pavilion.
C) a pioneer wedding celebration.
D) a Latin American Carnival celebration.

Question 32

The use of recorded sounds from life is called:

A) symbolism.
B) serialism.
C) musique concrète.
D) synthesizing.

Question 33

Concert music composition today is dominated by:

A) avant-garde modernism.
B) styles that arose in reaction to the avant-garde modernism of the 1950s and 1960s.
C) a return to Classical styles.
D) film music.

Question 34

György Ligeti is considered a:

A) composer of chance music.
B) part of the postwar avant-garde.
C) strict serialist.
D) modernist nationalist.

Question 35

Which cannot generate sound?

A) the human voice
B) an electronic sound synthesizer
C) an electric guitar
D) electronic recording equipment

Question 36

The first performance of Poème électronique included:

A) piano, seven wind instruments, and voice.
B) a tape player and one speaker.
C) a tape player, 425 loudspeakers, and the projection of colored lights and images in a pavilion.
D) a tape player and an orchestra.

Question 37

Music in which composers leave certain elements unspecified,allowing them to be determined by the performers or other circumstances,is called:

A) musique concrète.
B) computer music.
C) chance music.
D) minimalist music.

Question 38

About six minutes into Indígena,the trumpet emerges to play:

A) fragments of a famous Carnival melody.
B) fragments of a hymn.
C) a regular, repeating pulse.
D) complex polyrhythms.

Question 39

In Lux aeterna,Ligeti's use of pitches results in:

A) a chantlike texture.
B) imitative polyphony.
C) pulsing harmonies.
D) slowly moving sound complexes.

Question 40

Post-World War II composers were intent on:

A) exploring the modernist music techniques of Debussy.
B) searching for new sound materials.
C) developing more possibilities with the standard Romantic orchestra.
D) discarding serialism in favor of Neoclassicism.

Question 41

Perhaps the most striking and individual feature of Tania León's music is her treatment of ________,which merges African and Latin styles with modernist styles.

A) melody
B) harmony
C) rhythm
D) tone color

Question 42

George Crumb's American Songbook consists of:

A) musical explorations of the poetry of Federico García Lorca.
B) two volumes of piano miniatures.
C) an evocation of humpback whale songs.
D) collections of transformed and reimagined traditional American songs.

Question 43

New music that refers to styles older than modernism is sometimes called:

A) post-avant-garde.
B) postmodern.
C) chance music.
D) millennial.

Question 44

The aria "Batter my heart" evokes the manner of a Baroque da capo aria through its use of:

A) repeating sections marked off by orchestral ritornellos.
B) words taken from a poem.
C) static, almost unchanging harmonies.
D) three quatrains and a final couplet.

Question 45

Composers reacting to the complexities of the avant-garde experiments of the 1950s and 1960s sought:

A) even more complexity in their music.
B) a return to the first wave of avant-garde music.
C) a return to established eighteenth- and nineteenth-century styles.
D) greater accessibility and more direct emotional expression in their music.

Question 46

The style of music in which simple melodies,motives,and harmonies are repeated many times and change gradually is called:

A) chance music.
B) expressionism.
C) minimalism.
D) serialism.

Question 47

Concert music composition since the 1970s has been marked by:

A) eclecticism and stylistic variety that make individual works difficult to categorize.
B) similarities of style that make individual works easy to categorize.
C) a turn away from emotional expression and toward machinelike repetition.
D) a turn away from any styles that preceded modernism.

Question 48

Contemporary composers such as Ellen Taaffe Zwilich who compose in styles reminiscent of late Romantic music may be called:

A) post-avant-garde.
B) postmodern.
C) expressionist.
D) millennial.

Question 49

Many of John Adams's works,such as Nixon in China and The Death of Klinghoffer,may be described as:

A) chance music.
B) expressionist.
C) minimalist.
D) late Romantic.

Question 50

John Adams's On the Transmigration of Souls was written as:

A) an opera about the first explosion of an atomic bomb.
B) a memorial for the events of September 11, 2001.
C) a song cycle about J. Robert Oppenheimer.
D) an opera about Richard Nixon.

Question 51

The words of the aria "Batter my heart" are taken from:

A) the Bible.
B) a letter written by J. Robert Oppenheimer.
C) a sonnet by John Donne.
D) a traditional Latin American song.

Question 52

The sound of Music for 18 Musicians is reminiscent of:

A) a concerto grosso.
B) the gamelans of Indonesia.
C) chamber music.
D) Chinese opera.

Question 53

George Crumb's song cycle exploring the surreal poetry of Federico García Lorca is called:

A) American Songbook.
B) Music for 18 Musicians.
C) Ancient Voices of Children.
D) Black Angels.

Question 54

Which composer wrote the famous essay "Who Cares If You Listen?"

A) Edgard Varèse
B) John Cage
C) György Ligeti
D) Milton Babbitt

Question 55

John Cage's 4' 33'' consists of:

A) an atonal fugue based on a twelve-tone row.
B) any sounds occurring inside or outside the performance hall.
C) a combination of several different styles of jazz into one "serious" work.
D) chance music played by stringed instruments.

Question 56

In the 1950s,the most popular works in concert halls and opera houses were:

A) chance music.
B) postwar avant-garde compositions.
C) established eighteenth- and nineteenth-century works.
D) electronic music.

Question 57

The aria "Batter my heart" is from John Adams's opera:

A) Nixon in China.
B) The Death of Klinghoffer.
C) El Niño.
D) Doctor Atomic.

Question 58

Tania León immigrated to the United States from:

A) Spain.
B) Mexico.
C) France.
D) Cuba.

Question 59

With which musical style is Steve Reich associated?

A) serialism
B) minimalism
C) tonal music
D) chance music

Question 60

Which aspect of modernist experimentation did minimalists continue?

A) the presentation of long, slowly changing blocks of musical time
B) the inclusion of quotations from past musical repertoires
C) the use of musique concrète
D) the serializing of elements such as rhythm and dynamics

Question 61

Briefly explain the approach Edgard Varèse took to rhythm and sonority.What was his reaction to the introduction of electronic composition equipment?

Question 62

Compare and contrast the way Anton Webern uses the time elements of music with the way Terry Riley uses them.

Question 63

Name two musical trends that composers followed after World War II.Briefly explain them.

Question 64

Briefly discuss the state of current compositional practice,including three common tendencies among composers.

Question 65

Briefly explain the new sound sources discovered and used by composers in the post-World War II era.

Question 66

Define chance music.Describe an example of this style of composition.

Question 67

Define minimalism and describe at least two characteristics of this style.

Question 68

Briefly describe Tania León's compositional style.

Question 69

Describe George Crumb's American Songbook,including the kinds of songs it includes and the performing forces it uses.

Question 70

Briefly explain Ligeti's innovative approach to pitch in Lux aeterna.

Question 71

Define musique concrète.Contrast musique concrète with electronically generated sounds in music.

Question 72

Briefly describe the musical philosophy of John Cage.Name two nonmusical influences on this philosophy.

Question 73

Broadly speaking,when were the two phases of avant-garde modernism in the twentieth century? How did the second phase differ from the first?

Question 74

Is it important that the text be clearly understood in Lux aeterna? Why or why not? What is the source of the text?

Question 75

How does Reich's Music for 18 Musicians demonstrate characteristics of minimalism?

Question 76

Briefly explain why John Cage's 4' 33'' is considered music.

Question 77

Briefly describe how Ligeti has contributed new sonorities and new ways of dealing with time in twentieth-century music.

Question 78

Describe three stages of evolution in electronic music in the post-World War II era.

Question 79

What are some of the musical capabilities of the synthesizer?

Question 80

Define multiphonics.