CHAPTER 61 Classic Rethinking: Bartók and the Neo-Classical
Turn
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. The early twentieth-century style that sought to revive certain principles and forms of earlier music was
a. neo-Classicism. c. Impressionism.
b. post-Romanticism. d. Expressionism.
2. Which of the following composers would have been emulated during the neo-Classical era?
a. Vivaldi, Bach, Handel c. Wagner, Vivaldi, Handel
b. Bach, Beethoven, Brahms d. Handel, Mozart, Haydn
3. Which genre was favored by the neo-Classicists of the early twentieth century?
a. the symphonic poem c. the program symphony
b. the symphony d. lieder
4. How did twentieth-century nationalism differ from its nineteenth-century counterpart?
a. It approached music more scientifically.
b. It shunned music’s melodic content and exploited its rhythmic implications.
c. It incorporated original instrumentation rather than orchestral settings.
d. all of the answers shown here.
5. The comparative study of music of the world is called
a. musicology. c. ornithology.
b. ethnomusicology. d. iconography.
6. Which of the following was a critical new technology that aided the study of folk music in the early twentieth century?
a. music notation c. radio
b. the phonograph d. electricity
7. Which of the following composers represents the modern English nationalist school of composition?
a. Herman Melville c. Benjamin Britten
b. Edward Elgar d. Ralph Vaughan Williams
8. Prokofiev and Shostakovich were prominent composers from
a. Hungary. c. the Soviet Union.
b. Germany. d. England.
9. Which Hungarian composer combined native folk music characteristics with main currents of European music?
a. Bartók c. Sibelius
b. Bloch d. Albeniz
10. Béla Bartók traveled around Hungary collecting peasant songs with the composer
a. Zoltán Kodály. c. Jean Sibelius.
b. Ernest Bloch. d. Erik Satie.
11. Bartók immigrated to ________ during the Second World War and remained there for the last few years of his life.
a. Paris c. New York City
b. Zurich d. Los Angeles
12. Bartók found that eastern European folk music was based on
a. ancient modes. c. nonsymmetrical rhythms.
b. unfamiliar scales. d. All answers shown here.
13. Bartók’s compositions show the influence of eastern European folk music in
a. reintroducing the major-minor system.
b. new concepts of melody, harmony, and rhythm.
c. the continued influence of Wagner’s music dramas.
d. all of the answers shown here.
14. The model for Bartók’s melodies can be found in
a. Wagnerian operas. c. Hungarian folk songs.
b. the works of Beethoven. d. Elizabethan dances.
15. Which instrument is the featured performer for Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra?
a. violin c. flute
b. piano d. orchestra
16. Bartók’s use of rhythm was
a. particularly innovative. c. symmetrical and balanced.
b. neo-Classical in concept. d. unimportant to his compositional style.
17. Which of Bartók’s works is regarded by many as his masterpiece?
a. Blue Beard’s Castle
b. Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta
c. Concerto for Orchestra
d. Mikrokosmos
18. Why did Bartók name his last work Concerto for Orchestra?
a. because of the prominent violin solo
b. because it had three movements
c. because he treated single instruments in a soloistic manner
d. All of the answers shown here.
19. Which of the following characterizes the Interrupted Intermezzo from Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra?
a. a broad lyric melody c. quotation of a theme by Shostakovich
b. folklike melodies d. All answers shown here.
20. The “interruption” section in Bartók’s Interrupted Intermezzo represents
a. a peasant dance. c. his happy state of mind at the time.
b. a puppet act in a carnival. d. the Nazis.
21. Composers associated with the neo-Classical era preferred
a. absolute music. c. opera.
b. program music. d. symphonic poems.
22. Bartók was a native of
a. Germany. c. the Soviet Union.
b. Hungary. d. Greece.
23. Which composer is known for his work Peter and the Wolf?
a. Sergei Prokofiev c. Benjamin Britten
b. Dmitri Shostakovich d. Béla Bartók
24. Which composer is known for his work Peter Grimes?
a. Sergei Prokofiev c. Benjamin Britten
b. Dmitri Shostakovich d. Béla Bartók
25. ________ took recording equipment into the field to preserve songs exactly as the village folk sang them.
a. Musicologists c. Scientists
b. Ethnomusicologists d. Biologists
26. How did Bartók create an entirely personal musical language?
a. by blending traditional songs of his native Hungary with the main currents of European music
b. by using traditional Hungarian folks songs in his work
c. by mimicking the main trends of European music
d. by eschewing traditional songs of his native Hungary for the main currents of European music
1. Neo-Classical composers preferred absolute music and forms to program music.
2. Sergei Prokofiev composed the popular Peter and the Wolf.
3. Although Hungarian, Bartók composed in the prevailing international style.
4. Bartók collected Hungarian folk music.
5. Bartók’s six-string quartets rank among the finest achievements of twentieth-century chamber music.
6. Bartók generally avoided Classical structures.
7. Bartók attempted to imitate the vocal styles and rhythms of certain eastern European traditional music.
8. Bartók composed his Concerto for Orchestra while he was terminally ill.
9. Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra is set in the standard symphonic format of four movements.
10. Few Hungarian folk elements are heard in Interrupted Intermezzo, from Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra.
11. Neo-Classical composers preferred Beethoven’s music to Bach’s.
12. Neo-Classical composers revived forms such as toccata, fugue, concerto grosso, and suite.
13. Herman Melville was an English nationalist composer.
14. Ethnomusicology is the study of music in its cultural and global context.
15. Bartók was a Russian-born composer who worked in Hungary.
16. Bartók created an entirely personal musical language by blending traditional songs of his native Hungary with the main currents of
European music.
1. Describe the neo-Classical elements found in Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra.
2. Describe twentieth-century musical nationalism, citing examples from your text.
3. Describe the neo-Classical movement. To whom did neo-Classical composers look for inspiration?
4. Describe how recording technology and the work of ethnomusicologists influenced early twentieth-century musical nationalism.
