cbf@allegra.UUCP (12/16/83)
Happy Birthday, Ludwig Van Beethoven. He would have been 213 today.
Here are my answers to the quiz. Each answer is preceded by a few
numbers of the form NN. WW-PP%. Think of it this way. Answer number
NN is worth a maximum of WW points, and contestants on the average
scored PP% of that maximum. The answers are ordered according to PP%
and are therefore in increasing order of difficulty. (The number of
the question in the original quiz follows the colon after the "name").
Note that PP% has nothing to do with how well individual pieces were
known, but with overall familiarity with all the works answering to a
"name", i.e. the difficulty of the particular "name". It would have
been interesting to compute every work's familiarity index, but I
didn't feel like writing the extra code. So there.
A couple of the answers are followed by comments in []. I've tried to
keep those to a minimum (really!). There were a couple of proposed
answers that I'd never heard of, but couldn't check on. I include those
in {} and decline all responsibility for their accuracy.
1. 2-92% "From the New World":27 DVORAK, Symphony #9 in E min., Op. 95
[Everyone's favorite. *Every* contestant got part of this right,
at least the DVORAK part. By the way, his symphonies were
re-numbered in the sixties and this is the old #5. If you
ever get tired of it, you should look into the new #5 or 8.]
2. 2-81% "Unfinished":11 SCHUBERT, Symphony #8 in B min., D.759
[Yes, quite a few works have been left unfinished over the
course of music history, but as far as I know, this is the
only one to have that "official" nickname. Other famous
ones include Mahler's 10th and the Mozart Requiem.]
3. 2-74% "Trout":7 SCHUBERT, Piano Quintet in A, D.667
[This is indeed based on a song (Die Fiorelle), but the song
itself does not count. Neat piece.]
4. 4-65% "Pathetique":2 BEETHOVEN, Piano Sonata #8 in C min., Op. 13
[Of all the works with names their composers didn't give them,
this is probably the most notorious. Apparently the publisher
thought that would help it sell better. He was right.]
TCHAIKOVSKY, Symphony #6 in B min., Op. 74
[Ah, the Passion! Ah, the Hand Wringing! Ah, the Handkerchiefs!]
5. 2-64% "Kreutzer":9 BEETHOVEN, Violin Sonata #9 in A, Op. 47
[One of the great ones. Dedicated to virtuoso Rodolphe Kreutzer.]
6. 2-61% "Prague":28 MOZART, Symphony #38 in D, K.504
7. 2-58% "Waldstein":12 BEETHOVEN, Piano Sonata #21 in C, Op. 53
8. 4-55% "Emperor":1 BEETHOVEN, Piano Concerto #5 in Eb, Op. 73
[One of the very few classical concerti with a name. Can anyone
name the others?]
HAYDN, String Quartet #77 in C, Op. 76/3
[Includes a variations movement on the Austrian national anthem.]
9. 2-53% "Scottish":20 MENDELSSOHN, Symphony #3 in A min., Op. 56
10. 2-50% "Hammerklavier":25 BEETHOVEN, Piano Sonata #29 in Bb, Op. 106
[Apparently, several of the last sonatas share that name. Here's
to piano bashing! This is a most horrifying piano score to behold.
All those notes...]
11. 3-50% "Haffner":6 MOZART, Serenade #7 in D, K.250
Symphony #35 in D, K.385
[There's a funny story about how Mozart re-discovered the score
of the serenade after he'd completely forgotten about it, just
when he needed to deliver a new symphony. The rest is history.]
12. 2-43% "Titan":8 MAHLER, Symphony #1 in D
[Yes, him again.]
13. 5-42% "Pastoral":10 BEETHOVEN, Symphony #6 in F, Op. 68
Piano Sonata #15 in D, Op. 28
*VAUGHAN WILLIAMS, A Pastoral symphony (#3)
[See note under "Spring" below.]
14. 2-42% "Winter Dreams":14 TCHAIKOVSKY, Symphony #1 in G min., Op. 13
[The relative obscurity of this piece never ceases to amaze me.
This is irresistible music, one of the most likeable things
Tchaikovsky ever wrote. Even *he* liked it, and with him that's
saying an awful lot.]
15. 5-41% "London":17 HAYDN, Symphonies Nos. 93-104
Symphony #104 in D
[Can you imagine? 104 symphonies. Add all the string quartets and
the piano trios to that, and you have one heck of a busy man.]
*VAUGHAN WILLIAMS, A London symphony (#2)
[See note under "Spring" below. If the name Vaughan Williams rings
a bell, it may be because Sting has been singing his praises lately
as his favorite composer. His 5th symphony and his Fantasia on a
theme of Tallis are stunningly beautiful. Great melodic gift.]
16. 2-36% "Archduke":16 BEETHOVEN, Piano Trio #6 in Bb, Op. 97
[I was surprised at the poor showing of this piece. Outside of the
string quartets, this is one of his greatest chamber works.]
17. 2-33% "Death & the Maiden":15 SCHUBERT, String Quartet #14 in D min, D.810
[This one was based on a song, too. Great name, huh?]
18. 2-28% "Inextinguishable":3 NIELSEN (Carl), Symphony #4, Op. 29
[I've never actually heard it. His #3 ("Espansiva") is very nice.]
19. 4-26% "Great":5 MOZART, Mass #18 in C min., K.427
[The recent Karajan recording is another classic. An unfinished
masterpiece, somewhere between the Bach B minor and the Beethoven
Missa Solemnis.]
SCHUBERT, Symphony #9 in C, D.944
[This one's being played a lot lately. Tedious after a while.]
{ BRUCKNER, Mass #3 }
[A contestant noted, "Also just about everything Bach ever wrote
is named Great." True, but none that applies here.
By the way, anyone ever heard the joke about the Holy Trinity being
God, Bach and Karajan? Well, the punch line is, "Not necessarily
in that order..."]
20. 4-24% "Romantic":22 BRUCKNER, Symphony #4 in Eb
[Yawn.]
HANSON (Howard), Symphony #2
[It's supposed to be good. Never heard it.]
21. 8-24% "Spring":21 SCHUMANN, Symphony #1 in Bb, Op. 38
[The "Rhenish" is nice, but I'll stick to his piano music.]
BEETHOVEN, Violin Sonata #5 in F, Op. 24
[Usually paired with "Kreutzer".]
VIVALDI, Violin Concerto, Op. 8/1
[You know, from "The Four Seasons". Surprisingly few people thought
of that one.]
*BRITTEN, Spring symphony, Op. 44
[As I said earlier, I was looking more for nicknames. While the
Vaughan Williams symphonies do have numbers, the Britten sym-
phony doesn't, and all three names are intrinsic titles rather
than tacked on. Though they don't perfectly meet the requirements,
I was still willing to accept them as answers.]
22. 2-22% "Dumky":4 DVORAK, Piano Trio #4 in E min., Op. 90
[This is really a lot of fun. Highly recommended.]
23. 2-21% "Nelson":30 HAYDN, Mass #9 or #11 in C
[No one agrees on the number. A Grand Affair. Play it loud.]
24. 4-19% "Tragic":29 SCHUBERT, Symphony #4 in C min., D.417
[Somewhat of a misnomer for a harmless little piece.]
MAHLER, Symphony #6 in A min.
[Absolutely *not* a misnomer.]
25. 2-18% "The Age of Anxiety":18 BERNSTEIN (Leonard), Symphony #2
[There's a ballet of the same name set to this music. Based on
a W.H. Auden poem. Apparently one of Lenny's best.]
26. 3-16% "Lenin":13 SHOSTAKOVICH, Symphony #7 in C, Op. 60
"Leningrad"
& Symphony #12
"The Year 1917" [UK]
"1917: In Memory of Lenin" [US]
[Slight explanation needed here. Well, I made up this quiz from
the top of my head and goofed on this one. I confused those two
symphonies and came out with an inexact title. I decided to
accept both answers. Sorry about that, folks. Each movement of
#12 is dedicated to one aspect of the Revolution, including one to
Lenin, hence the subtitle used in the United States.]
27. 2-15% "Song of the Night":19 MAHLER, Symphony #7 in E min.
{ SALZEDO (Carlos), Harp Sonata }
{ SZYMANOWSKI, Symphony #3 }
28. 2-14% "Posthorn":23 MOZART, Serenade #9 in D, K.320
[A mild shock. Is this really that obscure? Pity. George Szell
has a classic recording of it with #13 ("Eine kleine Nachtmusik")
on Columbia.]
29. 2-14% "Arpegionne":26 SCHUBERT, (Cello) Sonata in A min., D.821
[Originally written for a six-stringed instrument known as the
arpegionne, this very wonderful piece is every cellist's favorite.
I urge you to seek it out. It's also been done on the viola, and
most recently on the clarinet by Richard Stoltzman (Yechh!).]
30. 2- 4% "Hymn of Praise":24 MENDELSSOHN, Symphony #2 in Bb, Op. 52
[Not with a bang, but a whimper. This one's a loser. A poor
imitation of (homage to?) Beethoven's Ninth, this is all goo
and mush. Apparently a big favorite with the Victorians. Need I
say more? A special hand to Robert Gardner who was the only one
to know this as a Mendelssohn symphony.]
There may or may not be a (trivia-based) quiz in the future. I need a rest.
Congratulations to Jeff Winslow and Thanks to all.
--
"Yes, but is it art?"
Charles B. Francois (decvax!allegra!cbf)