Chapter 37: Personal Soundtracks: Berlioz and the Program Symphony
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. Instrumental music endowed with literary, philosophical, or pictorial associations is called:
a. absolute music. c. background music.
b. program music. d. pure music.
2. Which of the following compositions is LEAST likely to be an example of program music?
a. Don Juan c. The Sorcerer’s Apprentice
b. Romeo and Juliet d. String Quartet in B-flat Major
3. A multimovement, programmatic work for orchestra is called a:
a. symphonic poem. c. concert overture.
b. program symphony. d. sonata.
4. Which of the following composers is considered the first great proponent of musical Romanticism
in France?
a. Schubert c. Liszt
b. Berlioz d. Chopin
5. Hector Berlioz was born and spent most of his career in:
a. Italy. c. Germany.
b. France. d. Hungary.
6. Characteristics of Berlioz’s music include:
a. brilliant orchestration.
b. programmatic implications.
c. use of huge orchestral and choral forces.
d. all of the answers shown here
7. Which literary figure had a particular influence on the work of Berlioz?
a. Twain c. Dante
b. Shakespeare d. Goethe
8. Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique is an example of a:
a. tone poem. c. program symphony.
b. symphonic poem. d. concert overture.
9. How many movements are in Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique?
a. one c. three
b. four d. five
10. Which of the following is true of Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique?
a. The program deals entirely with nature.
b. The program was inspired by the composer’s infatuation with a model.
c. The program presents a lighthearted artist in love.
d. The program is thought to be autobiographical.
11. In Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique, the idée fixe:
a. symbolizes the beloved.
b. recurs as required by the literary program.
c. unifies the five movements, which are diverse in character and mood.
d. all of the answers shown here
12. In Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique, what is the idée fixe?
a. a chant from the Mass for the Dead appearing in the finale
b. a shepherd song in the third movement
c. the basic theme of the symphony, heard in every movement
d. a theme and variations, heard in the march movement
13. The Dies irae is:
a. the idée fixe in Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique.
b. a Lied by Schubert.
c. a chant from the Mass for the Dead.
d. an opera by Berlioz.
14. The opposite of program music is:
a. absolute music. c. thematic transformation.
b. a program symphony. d. sonata form.
15. The musical expansion of a theme by varying its melodic outline, harmony, or rhythm is called:
a. idée fixe. c. program music.
b. thematic transformation d. absolute music.
16. “He dreams that he has killed his beloved . . .” precedes which movement of Symphonie
fantastique?
a. Dream of a Witches’ Sabbath c. Scene in the Fields
b. March to the Scaffold d. Reveries, Passions
TRUE/FALSE
1. Music endowed with literary or pictorial associations is called absolute music.
2. Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 is a good example of a program symphony.
3. Berlioz’s music is intense, bold, and passionate.
4. Berlioz was awarded the Prix de Rome in the year that he wrote his Symphonie fantastique.
5. Berlioz, who excelled in composing orchestral works, wrote no operas.
6. In his Symphonie fantastique, Berlioz used a recurrent theme that he called the idée fixe,
symbolizing the beloved.
7. In Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique, the idée fixe melody appears only at the very end of the fourth
movement, March to the Scaffold.
8. The finale to the Symphonie fantastique projects a satanic character.
9. Symphonie fantastique is unified through thematic transformation.
ESSAY
1. Describe the difference between program and absolute music, citing examples of each.
ANS:
Answers will vary.
PTS: 1 DIF: 1 REF: Essentials: pp. 204–205
TOP: Program Music MSC: Applied
2. What is Romantic about the program and music of Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique?
ANS:
Answers will vary.
PTS: 1 DIF: 2 REF: Essentials: pp. 204–207
TOP: Berlioz MSC: Conceptual