Music Appreciation: Quiz Two

In the European tradition, opera is a staged work of music theater that features:

All of the above (costumes, sets, dramatic plots, props)

The composer of the music for Star Wars had been a session musician, so he:

Already had a deep understanding of how music can shape the viewer's experience of drama

Richard Wagner (1813-1883) was a world-famous performer by the time he was 17 years old.

False

The barroom music in the "cantina scene" in Star Wars relies heavily upon the unstable and irregular rhythms characteristic of ragtime music.

False

The theme that represents Darth Vader (the "Imperial March") displays many of the same characteristics as the Main Theme, but it is in the major mode and used simple harmonies.

False

Wagner reduced the size of the orchestra for "The Ring of the Nibelungs" in order to highlight characters with single instruments.

False

The composer who wrote the scores for the original Star Wars trilogy (among the best-known musical works created for the big screen) is ____________.

John Williams

The technique of assigning a unique theme to each character, object, place, and idea in a drama is the use of ___________.

Leitmotif

Stravinsky's Introduction to Part II of "The Rite of Spring" made heavy use of:

None of the above (major tonality, duple meter, conjunct melody lines, predictable dynamic changes)

In a musical technique called "underscoring":

None of the above (the characters can hear the music, the music is played by musicians in the scene, the characters understand that the music is meant to warn them, the music is there to change the scene)

Wagner's The Ring of the Nibelungs derives from ___________ mythology.

Norse

Holst's "Mars" march was extremely unusual because it was in:

Quintuple meter

In Star Wars, the musical themes are effective because they:

Represent specific characters or ideas

The theme that represents "Loge as fire" uses the following to represent fire:

Rising and falling dynamic levels and pitches to represent the unpredictable nature of fire spreading across the ground.

Ragtime is a style of music originally popularized by pianists and that features steady rhythms in the left hand and _____________ in the right.

Syncopated rhythms

"Wotan's Farewell" features one of the most significant powers of the leitmotif:

The ability to foreshadow events yet to come

Holst's work "The Planets" is an example of program music (instrumental music that tells a story or paints a picture), but he reversed the order of the movements "Mars" and "Mercury" because:

The music he composed for "Mars" made a better opener for the work

Some of the musical characteristics of the Star Wars "Main Theme" that tell us Luke Skywalker is a hero are:

the use of brass instruments, duple meter, steady tempo, major mode, and leaps to the upper tonic

Which characteristic of sound did Holst manipulate by utilizing women's voices in "Neptune"?

Timbre

"Black and White Rag" was a work that manipulated repetition and contrast by giving listeners familiar music each time the A section returned but preventing them from being bored by including contrasting material.

True

"Mars" served as a model for John William's "Imperial March" theme in the Star Wars soundtrack.

True

"The Rite of Spring" does not tell a coherent story

True

In Dixieland jazz, it is difficult to tell which instrument has the "main" melody, because all seem of equal importance.

True

In film, music that the characters can hear is called "source music", because the source of the sound is usually visible on screen.

True

Like Star Wars, Wagner's The Ring of the Nibelungs make heavy use of themes that represent specific character or ideas.

True

Some critics of Wagner's operas argue that we should no longer produce or listen to his operas because the composer's antisemitism is so repugnant that his art should be erased.

True

The "Rite of Spring depicts pagan rituals and caused consternation among audience members at its 1913 premiere in Paris.

True

The 12-bar blues form provides the structure for most blues compositions.

True

Wagner used leitmotifs to communicate information to an audience that is not included in the libretto or onstage action.

True

The final scene (Act III, Scene 3) of The Valkyrie contains __________.

All of the above (The appearance of Loge, Wotan's spear, a ring of fire, and Brunnhilde's sleep)

The "Sacrificial Dance" in Part II of "The Rite of Spring" is in rondo form, best represented by:

A B A' C A'' C A'''

The Rite of Spring was:

A ballet

Just as ragtime was becoming passé, a new style called _________ burst onto the scene.

Dixieland Jazz

At its premiere, "The Rite of Spring" was the sole ballet on the program and audience members loved the dancing and the costumes.

False

Even Adolf Hitler believed that Wagner's operas should not be produced.

False

Holst became wealthy as a trombone performer in the middle part of his career.

False

Holst had a sincere interest in and passion for astrology, and this led to his creation of The Solar System Cycle.

False

In "polyphonic jazz" all of the musicians play the same melody at the same time.

False

John Williams was influenced by specific historical compositions, not by style more generally.

False

Like the composer of the musical scores for Star Wars, Wagner randomly paired themes with objects and ideas.

False