Test Item File
Part 5: The Nineteenth Century: 1800–1900
1. For the Romantic artist,
a. music was considered a lesser art form.
b. one lover was never enough.
c. dreams were as important as the intellect.
d. rules and form were the things that governed composition.
2. In the nineteenth century, music was considered the “most Romantic of all the arts”
because it
a. produced the most effective love songs.
b. was essential to the new forms of opera being developed.
c. was the most popular of the arts among youth.
d. provided access to unknown realms, separate from the outer world.
3. By the middle of the nineteenth century, pianos were
a. becoming obsolete.
b. produced in mass quantities and had become more affordable.
c. only found in the homes of the most wealthy.
d. becoming an instrument used almost exclusively in the concert hall.
4. Writing ________ was one way Chopin showed his political sympathies.
a. programmatic tone poems
b. Polonaises
c. operas
d. Allemandes
5. The opening motive in Beethoven’s Symphony no. 5 can be characterized as
a. short-short-short-short.
b. LONG-short-LONG-short.
c. LONG-LONG-short.
d. none of the above.
6. In the first movement of Symphony no. 5, Beethoven transforms the opening motif by
a. changing the instruments.
b. changing the mode.
c. placing it in a polyphonic texture
d. all of the above.
7. The dynamics in Beethoven’s Symphony no. 5
a. repeatedly shift drastically and unexpectedly from extreme dynamic levels.
b. stay extremely soft for a long period of time.
c. were unprecedented in orchestral music.
d. all of the above.
8. How did Beethoven give an unprecedented sense of breadth in the relatively small space
of the orchestra?
a. inserting an intermission between the third and fourth movements
b. adding new instruments such as piccolo and contrabassoon
c. writing a program that explains the expansive landscapes evoked in the music
d. all of the above
9. What makes Beethoven’s Symphony no. 5 cyclic?
a. It includes a series of connected repeats.
b. It includes one motif nonstop in the piano throughout the first movement.
c. The opening motif recurs in various permutations in all four movements.
d. none of the above
10. What meaning did Beethoven supposedly provide for Symphony no. 5’s opening idea?
a. birds singing in the morning
b. fate knocking on the door
c. the footsteps of revolutionaries
d. the fall of the guillotine
11. Beethoven wrote _____ symphonies.
a. 4
b. 41
c. 9
d. 18
12. During his lifetime, Beethoven was
a. widely recognized as the greatest living composer of instrumental music.
b. shunned by society because of his rough demeanor.
c. never able to perform his own music.
d. happily married with six children.
13. During Schubert’s lifetime, Lieder were meant to be performed
a. on the concert stage.
b. in the home, frequently at a salon gathering.
c. in the church.
d. at the marketplace.
14. The “Erlkönig” uses modified strophic structure, which is formally similar to
a. a fugue.
b. a set of variations.
c. a trio sonata.
d. Wagner’s unending melody.
15. In Schubert’s “Erlkönig,” one singer depicts a narrator and
a. three characters: the father, son, and Erlkönig (death ghost).
b. four characters: the father, mother, prince, and queen of the night.
c. two characters: the horse and the doctor.
d. no other characters; the narrator tells the entire story because there is only one
singer.
16. At the end of “Erlkönig,” the
a. pair arrive safely and calmly at the doctor’s house and all is well.
b. horse falls into the river and both father and son drown.
c. boy is seized by the Erlkönig and dies in the father’s arms just as they arrive at
the doctor’s house.
d. mystical priest banishes the Erlkönig to the depths of hell.
17. The text of Schubert’s “Erlkönig” is a poem written in the 1780s by
a. Shakespeare.
b. Goethe.
c. Schubert’s mother.
d. Schiller.
18. Schubert was ___ years old when he died.
a. 87
b. 55
c. 31
d. 40
19. In addition to art songs, Schubert also wrote
a. symphonies, piano sonatas, and dozens of works for chamber ensemble.
b. children’s theater, collections of etudes, and music critiques.
c. operas, oratorios, and morality plays.
d. nothing; he only composed art songs.
20. Like Mozart and Beethoven, Schubert did much of his work in
a. Bonn.
b. Amsterdam.
c. Venice.
d. Vienna.
21. Which type of composition became more important in the nineteenth century as
composers sought to integrate purely instrumental music with outside ideas?
a. trio sonatas
b. recitative
c. program music
d. opera
22. In Mendelssohn’s Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which instruments play
Theme 2, suggesting the kingdom of the fairies?
a. strings
b. clarinets
c. flutes
d. percussion
23. Which instruments are used in the opening measures of Overture to A Midsummer
Night’s Dream to draw the listener into the realm of the enchanted forest?
a. strings
b. winds
c. brass
d. percussion
24. Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream follows the basic conventions of which form?
a. recitative
b. aria
c. ritornello
d. sonata
25. Felix Mendelssohn was perhaps the most cosmopolitan composer, and he
a. traveled to every continent known to man.
b. spoke fluent English, French, and Italian as well as his native German.
c. gave concerts tours all over America with his sister Fanny.
d. didn’t even have to leave Germany.
26. One of the most important things that Felix Mendelssohn did was
a. translate the entire “Messiah” into Greek.
b. devise new musical forms for his piano works.
c. lead a hugely successful performance of J.S. Bach’s Saint Matthew Passion,
which had been forgotten.
d. all of the above.
27. The Symphonie fantastique captures Romanticism’s fascination with
a. the grandeur and mystery of nature.
b. the world of the gothic and the grotesque.
c. Classical Greek poetry.
d. the gnomes and faeries of pagan traditions.
28. In the fourth movement of Symphonie fantastique, which sections of the orchestra did
Berlioz make unusually prominent?
a. flute and clarinet
b. strings and keyboard
c. lower strings and woodwinds
d. brass and percussion
29. Which recurring musical image is heard just before the guillotine falls in Symphonie
fantastique?
a. the hand of fate knocking on the door
b. the unending melody
c. the idée fixe
d. the witches’ theme
30. How do we know that the loud crash in the fourth movement of Symphonie fantastique
represents the fall of the guillotine?
a. The music evokes the image without question.
b. Berlioz arranged for a guillotine on stage during the first performance.
c. Guillotines were an important part of popular culture in nineteenth-century Paris.
d. Berlioz wrote it in the program.
31. Berlioz was obsessed with
a. a Shakespearian actress named Harriet Smithson.
b. a soprano named Lilly Leighthart.
c. a student named Josephine Steinmart.
d. his own talent and good looks.
32. As Handel’s father wanted him to be a lawyer and Vivaldi’s father trained him for the
priesthood, Berlioz’s father wanted his son to follow in his footsteps and become a
a. carpenter.
b. politician.
c. doctor.
d. musician.
33. At the beginning of his career as a composer, Berlioz’s music was
a. immediately embraced and loved by everyone.
b. not understood.
c. receiving high honors and bringing him much profit.
d. made into operas due to its programmatic nature.
34. Which sound has approximately the same decibel level as a large orchestra at full volume?
a. a jackhammer
b. a rock concert
c. a noisy kitchen
d. ordinary conversation, from 3 feet away
35. Many of Berlioz’s contemporaries criticized him for his music being
a. too loud.
b. too simple.
c. plagiarized from their work.
d. without any dynamics.
36. Many musicians and listeners of the nineteenth century heard the symphonies of Haydn,
Mozart, and Beethoven performed more often in the
a. ducal palace, played by the best hired musicians.
b. church, arranged for organ.
c. streets, played by traveling bands of musicians.
d. home, played as arrangements for piano trio.
37. Fanny Mendelssohn faced two major obstacles, which were
a. growing up in poverty and having very little talent.
b. the immense fame of her younger brother and being a female.
c. blindness and the lack of patron support for her work.
d. being married to an abusive artist and substance abuse.
38. When Fanny was 15, her father Abraham wrote to her that
a. she would always remain but an ornament, and should not try to have a career as a
composer.
b. she should ignore the way that society kept women hidden, and should follow her
dreams.
c. she would do well just to get married and have children, and could perhaps have a
performing career like Clara Schumann.
d. he was disowning her, but would continue to fully support her younger brother.
39. Which is a reason we can consider the second movement of Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel’s
Piano Trio op.11 to be “a song without words”?
a. It uses a poetic meter.
b. It uses a modified strophic form.
c. Mendelssohn Hensel wrote the German word for “song” at the top of the page.
d. all of the above
40. Which poetic meter consists of lines with four repetitions of a “LONG–short”
rhythmic unit?
a. iambic pentameter
b. trochaic tetrameter
c. dactylic pentameter
d. pentambic tetrameter
41. Augusta Holmes’s Triumphant Ode was commissioned as the musical centerpiece of the
a. French Revolution.
b. 1889 World’s Fair, which gave us the Eiffel Tower.
c. New York World’s Fair.
d. opening of the “Big Ben” clock tower.
42. Amy Marcy Cheney Beach
a. was an American pianist and composer.
b. wrote in many genres, from chamber music to orchestral and choral works.
c. was the first American woman to write a symphony.
d. all of the above.
43. What was a chief goal of revolutionaries who fought in the streets in Germany in 1848
and 1849?
a. anarchist unrest
b. socialization of public funds
c. overthrow of the theocratic regime
d. unification of Germany
44. An “a capella” chorus
a. can have “mixed” voices of men and women.
b. is always performed in a chapel.
c. uses organ accompaniment.
d. all of the above.
45. In German-speaking lands of the nineteenth century, communal singing became
a. the traditional way to welcome spring.
b. an important means of fostering solidarity among a diverse population.
c. a way of teaching music theory.
d. a way to form small music communities that shared a common interest.
46. Clara Wieck Schumann’s “Forward!” reaches its registral high point (highest pitch) on
the word
a. “strength.”
b. “forward.”
c. “apex.”
d. “heaven.”
47. Clara Wieck Schumann emphasizes the first appearance of song’s title
“Forward!” through
a. polyphonic elaboration.
b. trumpet-like unison.
c. drawn-out homophony.
d. staccato emphasis in the string section.
48. Clara Wieck Schumann’s song “Forward!” was
a. written as a birthday present for her husband.
b. a setting of a poem that supported the political unification of Germany.
c. a way of telling her husband to move aside so that she could go forward with her
career.
d. both A and B.
49. Which of the following is true of Clara Wieck’s father, Friedrich Wieck?
a. He was opposed to his daughter marrying Robert.
b. He was overjoyed that Clara wanted to marry his student Robert.
c. He begrudgingly gave Clara and Robert a piano as a wedding gift.
d. He hoped that his daughter could become famous by marrying Robert.