Final Examination

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Question #1

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

A a tone cluster.

B polytonality.

C atonality.

D ostinato.

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 Bessie Smith.

B Louis Armstrong.

C William C. Handy.

D King Oliver.

Question #3

The backbone of a jazz ensemble is its

A rhythm section.

B director.

C brass section.

D clarinet 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 calling the beat.

C polyphonic texture.

D call and response.

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 New York, New York.

B Anatevka, Russia.

C Paris, France.

D Charleston, South Carolina.

Question #8

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

A concert pianist.

B conductor.

C singer.

D impresario.

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 symphonic

B concert

C absolute

D pure

Question #11

Program music is

A vocal music that tells a story.

B music that depicts aspects of nature.

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

D All answers are correct.

Question #12

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

A Budapest

B Rome

C Weimar

D Paris

Question #13

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

A ein lied.

B a nocturne.

C a polonaise.

D an etude.

Question #14

Most of Chopin’s pieces

A have literary programs or titles.

B are for a wide range of media.

C are exquisite miniatures.

D have a limited variety of moods.

Question #15

Chopin expressed his love of Poland by composing polonaises and

A waltzes.

B folk songs.

C mazurkas.

D polkas.

Question #16

Schubert

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

B produced his greatest works after the age of forty.

C was widely acknowledged as a composer in his lifetime.

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

Question #17

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

A lied

B chanson

C ballade

D durchkomponiert

Question #18

An art song is a musical composition for

A solo voice and piano.

B multiple voices.

C solo voice and orchestra.

D All answers are correct.

Question #19

When music conservatories were founded, women

A were admitted only as vocalists.

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

C were not admitted.

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

Question #20

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 All answers are correct.

D development of regular subscription concerts.

Question #21

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

A Frédéric Chopin.

B Franz Schubert.

C Franz Liszt.

D Hector Berlioz.

Question #22

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

A Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

B Johann Sebastian Bach.

C Ludwig van Beethoven.

D Joseph Haydn.

Question #23

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

A his family lineage.

B nineteenth-century society and culture.

C the Renaissance.

D the colonisation of Africa.

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 speech-song.

C leitmotif.

D unending melody.

Question #25

The librettos to The Ring of the Nibelung were written by

A King Ludwig of Bavaria.

B Arrigo Boito.

C Hans von Bülow.

D Richard Wagner

Question #26

During Wagner’s time in Paris, he

A built an opera house according to his specifications.

B conducted the famous premiere of his opera, Rienzi.

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

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

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 Johann Sebastian Bach.

C Hector Berlioz.

D Johannes Brahms.

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 Madame Butterfly and Turandot.

C Tosca 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 choral works.

B chamber music.

C art songs.

D operas.

Question #32

Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet is

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

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 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 Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

C Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky

D César Cu

Question #34

Tchaikovsky’s Sixth Symphony

A ends with a slow, despairing finale.

B has five movements.

C is in the usual four-movement form.

D was left unfinished by the composer.

Question #35

Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky

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

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

C studied music theory and violin as a teenager.

D preferred his government position to music.

Question #36

Composers expressed musical nationalism in their music by

A All answers are correct.

B using the rhythms of the dances of their homelands.

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

D using their national legends as subject matter.

Question #37

The favored solo instrument in the classical concerto was the

A clarinet.

B cello.

C harpsichord.

D piano.

Question #38

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

A symphonic orchestra.

B an instrumental soloist.

C any combination of instruments.

D an instrumental soloist and orchestra.

Question #39

The last movement of a classical symphony

A All answers are correct.

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

C is always in the tonic key of the symphony.

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

Question #40

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

A ABA

B minuet

C sonata

D rondo

Question #41

The scherzo differs from the minuet in that it

A All answers are correct.

B moves more quickly.

C has a different form.

D has a different meter.

Question #42

The minuet is in _______ meter.

A quadruple

B duple

C common

D triple

Question #43

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

A second.

B fourth.

C first.

D third.

Question #44

Each successive variation in a theme with variations

A is usually in the same key.

B retains some elements of the theme.

C presents a new melodic idea.

D is usually in a new key.

Question #45

Sonata form should be viewed as

A a set of variations on a theme.

B a rigid mold into which musical ideas are poured.

C another term for the symphony.

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

Question #46

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

A codas.

B rides.

C motives.

D melodies.

Question #47

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

A retaining the same tonality for both themes.

B the conflict of tonalities between the first and second 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 were based on the Old Testament.

B were in Latin.

C ridiculed the aristocracy.

D All answers are correct.

Question #49

Haydn’s contract of employment shows that he was considered

A an equal by his employer.

B a visiting guest composer.

C a freelance musician.

D a skilled servant.

Question #50

Social mobility during the classical period was

A a limited sociological factor.

B ruthlessly stamped out by the aristocracy.

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

D promoted and encouraged by the church.

Question #51

A symphony is a

A work for piano solo.

B sonata for orchestra.

C work for chorus and orchestra.

D work for solo instrument.

Question #52

Beethoven’s only opera is entitled

A Fidelio.

B Don Giovanni.

C The Magic Flute.

D Madame Butterfly.

Question #53

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

A Fugal counterpoint

B Basso continuo

C Operatic form

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 told his troubles to his biographer.

C described his struggles in letters to friends.

D keept a diary.

Question #55

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

A the legendary Spanish lover.

B a despotic Italian nobleman.

C Sir John Falstaff.

D the servant to Leporello.

Question #56

Mozart was born in

A Rohrau, Austria.

B Bonn, Germany.

C Eisenach, Germany.

D Salzburg, Austria.

Question #57

The typical orchestra of the classical period consisted of

A woodwinds, trombones, drums, and strings.

B strings with harpsichord continuo.

C a loose ensemble of available instruments.

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

Question #58

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

A 1750-1820.

B 1820-1900.

C 1450-1600.

D 1600-1750.

Question #59

Homophonic texture consists of

A one main melody accompanied by chords.

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

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

D a single melodic line without accompaniment.

Question #60

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

A tonic.

B dominant.

C scale.

D modulation.

Question #61

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

A dominant chord.

B resolution.

C progression.

D tonic chord.

Question #62

A sequence may be defined as

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

B the emotional focal point of a melody.

C a part of a melody.

D a resting place at the end of a phrase.

Question #63

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

A vibrato.

B staccato.

C legato.

D glissando.

Question #64

Staccato refers to playing or singing a melody

A in a short, detached manner.

B in a smooth, connected manner.

C in small steps.

D at a higher or lower pitch.

Question #65

In musical notation, silence is indicated by

A notes.

B rests.

C clefs.

D beams.

Question #66

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

A adagio

B vivace

C allegro

D andante

Question #67

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

A Syncopation

B A ritardando

C Expiation

D A metronome

Question #68

The frequency of vibrations is measured in

A dynamic levels.

B noiselike sounds.

C cycles per second.

D cycles per minute.

Question #69

Pizzicato is an indication to the performer to

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

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

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

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

Question #70

The relative highness or lowness of a sound is called

A pitch.

B dynamics.

C octave.

D timbre.

Question #71

The range of a singer’s voice depends on

A physical makeup.

B training and musical style.

C training and physical makeup.

D which microphone the singer uses.

Question #72

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

A pianissimo.

B crescendo.

C blooper.

D dynamic accent.

Question #73

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

A dynamic accent.

B pitch range.

C an octave.

D timbre.

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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