Music Quiz! - Composers & Conductors

[MaestroX]

For some fun and interest i'm starting a collection of quizes. These are intended to test your knowledge on all things classical music. There is no prize, but the enjoyment of researching and trying to answer these difficult questions.

You can work together and i'll reveal the answers when someone says the right, or close to the right answer

The first 10 questions are:

• Who was appointed conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1912 and retained the post until 1937?

• Which famous 19th-century composer was the son of a village butcher?

• Towards the end of the 19th century there was an important group of five Russian composers known as ‘the might handful’. Four of them were Balakirev, Borodin, Moussorgsky and Cesar Cui. Who was the fifth?

• Who was the first permanent conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra?

• How old was Mendelssohn when he composed the overture to A midsummer Night’s Dream?

• Which member of the Strauss family was a talented architect for the city of Vienna and had to be coerced into the family music business when his brother fell ill?

• Brahms was a great admirer of Johann Strauss II, and one day when he was asked to autograph a fan belonging to Strauss’s wife, he wrote the first notes of a waltz by Strauss on the fan and added the comment underneath: ‘Unfortunately not by Johnannes Brahms.’ What was the waltz?

• Johann Strauss I had a rival in the same line of business. Each of them had his own orchestra and fashionable Vienna was divided into opposing groups of admirers. Who was the elder Strauss’s rival?

• Which British conductor was known to orchestral players as ‘Old Timber’?

• In 1929 an orchestral arrangement of Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor was introduced at the Proms. It was attributed to Paul Klenovsky, but who really made the arrangement?

Have Fun"

[ttw]

Without looking anything up, I'll give it a shot.

• Who was appointed conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1912 and retained the post until 1937?

Leopold Stochowski

• Which famous 19th-century composer was the son of a village butcher?

Liszt? (total guess)

• Towards the end of the 19th century there was an important group of five Russian composers known as ‘the might handful’. Four of them were Balakirev, Borodin, Moussorgsky and Cesar Cui. Who was the fifth?

Rimski-Korsikov

• Who was the first permanent conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra?

Not a clue.

• How old was Mendelssohn when he composed the overture to A midsummer Night’s Dream?

Eighteen.

• Which member of the Strauss family was a talented architect for the city of Vienna and had to be coerced into the family music business when his brother fell ill?

Josef Strauss

• Brahms was a great admirer of Johann Strauss II, and one day when he was asked to autograph a fan belonging to Strauss’s wife, he wrote the first notes of a waltz by Strauss on the fan and added the comment underneath: ‘Unfortunately not by Johnannes Brahms.’ What was the waltz?

The Blue Danube

• Johann Strauss I had a rival in the same line of business. Each of them had his own orchestra and fashionable Vienna was divided into opposing groups of admirers. Who was the elder Strauss’s rival?

Lanner (or however it's spelled)

• Which British conductor was known to orchestral players as ‘Old Timber’?

Thomas Beecham (guess again)

• In 1929 an orchestral arrangement of Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor was introduced at the Proms. It was attributed to Paul Klenovsky, but who really made the arrangement?

Stochowski (guess)

[MaestroX]

A very great attempt. I'll tell you which ones are correct

• Who was appointed conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1912 and retained the post until 1937?

Leopold Stochowski

Correct!

• Towards the end of the 19th century there was an important group of five Russian composers known as ‘the might handful’. Four of them were Balakirev, Borodin, Moussorgsky and Cesar Cui. Who was the fifth?

Rimski-Korsikov

Correct!

• Which member of the Strauss family was a talented architect for the city of Vienna and had to be coerced into the family music business when his brother fell ill?

Josef Strauss

Correct!

• Brahms was a great admirer of Johann Strauss II, and one day when he was asked to autograph a fan belonging to Strauss’s wife, he wrote the first notes of a waltz by Strauss on the fan and added the comment underneath: ‘Unfortunately not by Johnannes Brahms.’ What was the waltz?

The Blue Danube

Correct!

• Johann Strauss I had a rival in the same line of business. Each of them had his own orchestra and fashionable Vienna was divided into opposing groups of admirers. Who was the elder Strauss’s rival?

Lanner (or however it's spelled)

Correct!

[Joshua Yu]

• Who was the first permanent conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra?

Sir Colin Davis?

• Which British conductor was known to orchestral players as ‘Old Timber’?

Sir Yehudi Menuhin?

[Will Kirk]

Originally Posted by Joshua Yu

• Which British conductor was known to orchestral players as ‘Old Timber’?

Sir Yehudi Menuhin?

Yehudi Menuhin was a violin virtuoso, I don't think he ever conducted

[reith]

Originally Posted by Will Kirk

Yehudi Menuhin was a violin virtuoso, I don't think he ever conducted

I think he did, and made a few recordings. If I remember he conducted at one of the Vienna New Year concerts standing on his head - being he was a yoga aspirant! I doubt he could play the fiddle like that, though!

Sorry to sidetrack... this quizz is far too intelligent for me...over to the experts...

[Thorolf]

Originally Posted by MaestroX

Towards the end of the 19th century there was an important group of five Russian composers known as ‘the might handful’. Four of them were Balakirev, Borodin, Moussorgsky and Cesar Cui. Who was the fifth?

It’s already been revealed that the fifth was Rimsky-Korsakov. But of “The Five” it was only one “professional” composer. The rest had other professions.

A corollary question: Who was “the composer” amongst “the five”?



Regards

[MaestroX]

Some interesting answers but not the right ones yet

[michael renardy]

Which famous 19th-century composer was the son of a village butcher?

Dvorak.

[MaestroX]

Originally Posted by michael renardy

Which famous 19th-century composer was the son of a village butcher?

Dvorak.

Correct!