Classical Music Quiz
Behind the most famous concert music are practical problems, stubborn employers and some very long journeys.
A classical music quiz with answers about composers, instruments and concert life, from Baroque Venice to the modern orchestra. You don't need to read music, only some curiosity about how this music came to be.
Did you know?
- An orchestra usually tunes to an A played by the oboe. Its clear, penetrating tone is easy to hear across the ensemble, and its pitch is harder to adjust quickly than that of string instruments, so the other players match the oboe rather than the other way round.
- Antonio Stradivari made instruments in Cremona, Italy, and around 650 of his violins, violas and cellos are believed to survive. Scientists have studied their wood, varnish and shape for decades, yet blind tests have found that many professional players cannot reliably tell them apart from fine modern violins.
- Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, first performed in Vienna in 1824, was one of the first major symphonies to include singers. Its final movement sets Friedrich Schiller's poem 'Ode to Joy', and its main melody has become one of the most widely recognised tunes in the world.
How classical music took shape
The term classical music is used loosely for several centuries of Western art music, but historians divide it into eras. The Baroque period, roughly 1600 to 1750, includes Vivaldi and Bach. The Classical era, about 1750 to 1820, belongs to Haydn, Mozart and the young Beethoven, and the Romantic era runs through most of the 1800s. Each period brought new instruments, forms and ways of paying composers, and these changes shaped the music itself.
Composers and their employers
For centuries most composers were employees. Churches, city councils and noble courts paid them to supply music for services, dinners and celebrations, often demanding new pieces every week. Haydn worked for the Esterházy family for nearly thirty years, writing symphonies, operas and chamber music for the prince's orchestra. Public concerts and music publishing grew in the late 1700s, and by the 1800s composers could earn a living by selling tickets and printed scores to a wider audience.
Birth of the modern orchestra
Early orchestras were small, usually strings with a harpsichord filling in the harmonies. Over the 1700s, composers added pairs of oboes, horns, flutes and bassoons, and by the time of Beethoven's later symphonies, trombones and extra percussion had appeared. Valves, invented in the early 1800s, let horns and trumpets play every note of the scale. A large Romantic orchestra could include more than ninety players, several times the size of Bach's ensembles.
Keeping everyone together
Before conductors became standard, the leader was often the first violinist or the keyboard player, who kept time with nods and gestures. As orchestras grew, a dedicated conductor became necessary. Composers such as Carl Maria von Weber and Felix Mendelssohn helped popularise the slim baton in the early 1800s. Agreed tuning standards mattered too: touring musicians and instrument makers needed the same pitch so that players from different cities could perform together.