Trivia Quiz-Round One

[ned]

Trivia Quiz - Round One.  

We should let the New Zealand players go first.  They are (or should be asleep) while this is being written, so they need time to wake up.

Question 1: What pianist gave the first public performance of the Tchaikovsky First Piano Concerto? Where? When?

Question 2: Who said "guns buried in flowers" about what pieces?

Question 3: Which famous Russian writer studied composition with which famous Russian composer?

Question 4: A piano sonata that is called "L'Aurore" or "Avrora" in Europe is called _______? in the English speaking world?

Question 5: Debussy didn't like being labeled an "impressionist," but he was very knowledgeable about art. He expressed a preference for which well-known painter?

[amee]

1. Hans von Bülow performed it in 1875 in Boston under Tchaikovsky's own conductorship.

2. Schumann said that about all of Chopin's works.

5.  I know Turner was probably the biggest influence on Debussy's music, but I'm not sure if he had a particular preference for Turner.

[rachfan]

On Turner, he was an artist far ahead of his time.  When I think of paintings like "Ship in a Storm", or the one where the ignoble steam-powered tug is towing the majestic tall ship to scrap, the thing that stands out is not so much the gripping subjects per se, but Turner's treatment of light as the true focus.  While the French impressionist painters of 1912 were using soft, diffused light as the lens through which we see their work, and while the American impressionists were making the characteristics of light in art far more edgy and explicit, Turner was experimenting with all of this back in 1850.  What an extraordinary artist!  

Having said that, I think amee has me beat on the quiz.

[ned]

RachFan: Round One of quiz is not over!!! While Amee has nailed three of the questions,  there are still TWO questions waiting to be answered.

Amee's answer on Debussy was really skilfull. In fact,
to a questionnaire asking about his preferences, Debussy answered in 1889 that Botticelli and Moreau were his favourite painters. Then in 1908 he wrote to Durand, describing Turner as "the greatest creator of mystery in art." I think he went further but I can't find it. In my personal opinion, Turner is a monumental genius and somewhat overlooked.

Now who was that Russian writer???

[amee]

For question number four, I think the Waldstein Sonata is known in France as "L'Aurore".  
Just a guess though...

Ned, can you please explain to me how this Trivia Quiz works?  Thanks!

[BuyBuy]

Only question 3 left...

Well, I don't know, but let's get this round over. I'll give a guess.

Tolstoi with Tchaikovsky ?

Or Dostoievsky with Mussorgski ?

You never know...

[ned]

Amee, You are really well-informed! Nobody else has correctly answered any of the questions.
Would you be up for Round II? I didn't think about how the Quiz works. You mean prizes and stuff like that??
The starting time is an issue, since half the world is asleep while the other half is awake. You might want to keep an eye on your screen.

BuyBuy:
Very interesting guesses. Mussorgsky and Dostoevsky. Wow!! That would be really dark. Tolstoy was not musical. In fact Rachmaninoff played for him and Tolstoy's reaction was more or less, "What good is that?" In my view the Rach 3d Concerto is a greater novel than "War and Peace."
In fact, it was Boris Pasternak, author of "Dr. Zhivago," who studied composition with Scriabin until he went full time into writing. When Pasternak died, Svyatoslav Richter played Scriabin's piano music all through the night at Pasternak's home, where the vigil/wake was taking place.

[BuyBuy]

Well, that's interesting ! Pasternak with Scriabin... Well, by the way, who composed the music of the movie Doctor Zhivago ? Not Prokofiev, i know, though he composed a few movie scores (Eisenstein movies, I think...).

Ready for a secound round ?

[amee]

Hi Ned!

I was just wondering how this trivia quiz works, since I've watched my friends participate in some and they all seem to work in a slightly different way, like how the rounds progress and everything.

Pasternak and Scriabin...thats really interesting!    

[chopinetta]

I don't know anything about this! any chopiny questions?

[ned]

Amee and Chopinetta:
This is quite impromptu. I have some  fun bits of trivia (some of it not at all trivial)  to share.  Some of these could be very useful to stump your own teachers and profs.

Chopinetta, since you asked, here are two Chopin questions to start warming up.  

Question 1. Which of the following women did not receive the honor of having Chopin dedicate a piece to her? Any idea why not?
a. Delphine Potocka
b. George Sand
c. Jane Stirling
d. Marie d'Agoult

Question 2.  A commentator/critic wrote the following about one of Chopin's pieces. What was the piece? The name of the critic?  

"Small souled men, no matter how agile their fingers, should avoid it."

ROUND TWO is coming.

Ned

[chopinetta]

Okay, i've got my answers!!!


Question 1. Which of the following women did not receive the honor of having Chopin dedicate a piece to her? Any idea why not?  
a. Delphine Potocka
b. George Sand   ---no dedicated piece!
c. Jane Stirling
d. Marie d'Agoult


the doggy valse (valse 6 [opus 64 no.1]) was dedicated to delphine potocka

nocturnes opus 55 were dedicated to jane stirling

and etudes opus 25 were dedicated to marie d'agoult!!!

i don't know exactly why he didn't dedicate any piaces to george sand... why???



question 2:

Question 2.  A commentator/critic wrote the following about one of Chopin's pieces. What was the piece? The name of the critic?  

"Small souled men, no matter how agile their fingers, should avoid it."
 
answer: Huneker   was the critic and the piece was the Winter Wind Etude!!!  

It takes prodigious power and endurance to play this work, prodigious power, passion and no little poetry.  It is open air music, storm music, and at times moves in processional splendor.  Small souled men, no matter how agile their fingers, should avoid it." --Huneker

[ned]

Fabulous answers!!!!

But what about no dedication to George Sand?
How could that be? We know that Chopin did not like Schumann's music at all but he dedicated  to him the second Ballade?  

George Sand loved him, practically kept him alive? But no dedication!!! Like what was his problem? Any opinions?

[ned]

BuyBuy
The soupy score to the movie Dr Zhivago was by Maurice Jarre. Gaaah!!

[rachfan]

On George Sand, I wonder if Sand ever dedicated any literary work to Chopin?  If not, then perhaps a mutual withholding of dedications in that respect?

On Pasternak and Scriabin (Jarre aside!), what work is any more at the pinnacle of romance than Dr. Zhivago?  And what melodies are more romantically soaring than Scriabin's earlier works before Op. 50?  I can easily see that there would be an affinity there.

[Helen]

what was george sands real name?  i knew once but then i forgot.

[amee]

George Sands' real name was Aurora Dupin, but she wrote novels under the pen name of George Sand.

[chopinetta]

george sand's real name is Amandine Auror Lucille Dupin.

Sand was born in Paris on July 1, 1804, the daughter of a French army officer named Dupin who was descended from King Augustus II of Poland.  

so so, she's also got polish blood like chopin! birds of a feather... (are the same birds! lol   )

[lea]

um....well....how do u know all the answers?

hehe im in nz give me time to wake up