Classical Music quiz

More questions about Classical Music

These visible examples show the question style. LearnClash turns the full topic into ranked duels and spaced repetition.

1. 1 Easy

   Which keyboard instrument produces the bell-like Sugar Plum Fairy theme in The Nutcracker?

   Answer: Celesta

   Why: He had the Mustel celesta shipped from Paris in secret, fearing Rimsky-Korsakov and Glazunov would use its new tone before him.

2. 2 Medium

   How many complete movements did Franz Schubert finish for his Unfinished Symphony?

   Answer: Two

   Why: The two completed movements sat hidden in a friend's desk drawer for over forty years before ever being performed.

3. 3 Hard

   What condition inspired Bach's Goldberg Variations?

   Answer: Insomnia

   Why: The variations were named after the Count's young harpsichordist who performed them in an adjoining bedroom.

4. 4 Easy

   According to legend, why did Haydn add a crash to the Surprise Symphony?

   Answer: To wake dozing concertgoers

   Why: Haydn denied the sleeper story: he told his biographer he wanted to surprise London with something new and not be outdone by his pupil Pleyel.

5. 5 Medium

   Which movement of The Carnival of the Animals did Saint-Saëns permit during his lifetime?

   Answer: The Swan

   Why: Only The Swan appeared in print in his lifetime, in 1887; the full suite, with its Offenbach and Rossini parodies, waited until 1922.

6. 6 Hard

   Which pet walking across a harpsichord supposedly inspired the motif for a famous Scarlatti fugue?

   Answer: His pet cat

   Why: Scarlatti never called it the Cat's Fugue: the nickname appeared only in the early 1800s, and no 18th century source names a cat Pulcinella.