Pianomania Quiz: Trivia Questions!
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- 1.The name 'piano' is actually a short form of the word 'pianoforte'. The instrument was named this because it was capable of producing:
- A.
...contrasting articulation.
- B.
... contrasting dynamics.
- C.
... contrasting timbres.
- D.
... such a large range of pitches.
- 2.The world's most expensive piano, worth US3.2million, is made from what material?
- A.
Borosilicate glass
- B.
Crystal
- C.
Gold
- D.
Titanium
- 3.Grand pianos usually have three pedals: sustaining pedal on the right, sostenuto pedal in the middle, and which one on the left?
- A.
Janissary pedal
- B.
Una corda pedal
- C.
Crescendo pedal
- D.
Accelerando pedal
- 4.Which piano manufacturer added extra keys to the instrument upon Busoni's suggestion, because he needed more notes for his transcriptions of J.S. Bach's organ works?
- A.
Yamaha
- B.
Kawai
- C.
Steinway
- D.
Bösendorfer
- 5.At present, some manufacturers still make piano keys using ivory.
- A.
True
- B.
False
- 6.What aspects of the harpsichord, the predecessor of the piano, is different from the piano?
- A.
The shape of the instrument.
- B.
The number of keyboards.
- C.
The way the sound is produced.
- D.
The layout of the keys on the keyboard.
- 7.The piano is a stringed musical instrument and belongs to the string family.
- A.
True
- B.
False
- 8.These are all pianists except...
- A.
Martha Argerich
- B.
Maria João Pires
- C.
Anne-Sophie Mutter
- D.
Mitsuko Uchida
- 9.Lang Lang used what kind of fruit to play for fun the Etude Op.10/5 by Chopin, also known as the 'Black Key Study'?
- A.
Tangerine
- B.
Watermelon
- C.
Orange
- D.
Durian
- 10.Which composer dedicated two of his piano works to Baroness Charlotte de Rothschild of the French banking family?
- A.
W.A. Mozart
- B.
Frédéric Chopin
- C.
Claude Debussy
- D.
Sergei Prokofiev
- 11.Which composer included a movement titled 'Pianists' in one of their works, intending to portray pianists - beginners perhaps - practicing scales over and over again?
- A.
Mozart
- B.
Chopin
- C.
Saint-Saëns
- D.
Britten
- 12.Which composer did not write a concerto for two pianos and orchestra?
- A.
Mozart
- B.
Beethoven
- C.
Poulenc
- D.
Lennox Berkeley
- 13.Brahms' Hungarian Dances have been transcribed for many different instruments, but what were they originally written for?
- A.
Solo piano
- B.
One piano, four hands
- C.
String orchestra
- D.
Symphony orchestra
- 14.A contemporary of Liszt, which virtuoso pianist was described by Chopin as someone who pleases the ladies and produces his piano and forte with the pedal rather than the hand?
- A.
Johann Nepomuk Hummel
- B.
Muzio Clementi
- C.
Sigismond Thalberg
- D.
Franz Schubert
- 15.Which of the following composers did not write a composition for piano or piano and orchestra based on Paganini's Caprice No.24 in A minor?
- A.
Brahms
- B.
Liszt
- C.
Rachmaninov
- D.
Tchaikovsky
- 16.Why did Ravel write his Piano Concerto for the Left Hand, composed at the same time as his Piano Concerto in G major?
- A.
It was commissioned by a pianist who lost his right arm in the First World War.
- B.
Ravel wanted to write three piano concertos - one for both hands, one for the right hand, and one for the left hand; but he never completed the concerto for the right hand.
- C.
Ravel was inspired by Czerny's 24 studies for the left hand titled 'Ecole de la main gauche'.
- D.
Ravel wrote it for his pianist friend who was born without a right hand.
- 17.Which pianist and composer wrote a set of 53 arrangements of Chopin's Etudes, making them even more difficult than the original?
- A.
Leopold Godowsky
- B.
Franz Liszt
- C.
Marc-André Hamelin
- D.
Ferruccio Busoni
- 18.Which pianist performed in public for eight decades and gave his last concert at London's Wigmore Hall in 1976, at age 89?
- A.
Daniel Barenboim
- B.
Vladimir Horowitz
- C.
Artur Rubinstein
- D.
Emil Gilels
- 19.The Canadian pianist Glenn Gould was most known for interpreting the works of which composer?
- A.
J.S. Bach
- B.
Beethoven
- C.
Schumann
- D.
Prokofiev
- 20.Which pianist was so admired for his expressiveness and intelligence in his playing that the critic Harold Schoenberg said of his mistakes, "One accepted them, as one accepts scars or defects in paintings by an old master"?
- A.
Dinu Lipatti
- B.
Alfred Cortot
- C.
Evgeny Kissin
- D.
Claudio Arrau
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