Q 01/05

The word "baroque" is usually traced to the Portuguese barroco, a term for an irregularly shaped what?

A) Pearl

B) Shell

C) Coin

D) Stone

Answer · why

A) Pearl

An irregular pearl gave the era its name because eighteenth-century critics used "baroque" as an insult for music they found overloaded and lacking cl...

Q 02/05

What reportedly saved Handel's life by turning aside a sword during his 1704 duel with composer Johann Mattheson?

A) A snuff box

B) A pocket watch

C) A large button

D) A belt buckle

Answer · why

C) A large button

A large button on Handel's coat deflected the blade after the two friends quarrelled during a performance of Mattheson's opera about Cleopatra. They m...

Q 03/05

Bach's comic cantata of the 1730s pokes fun at a young woman's addiction to which fashionable drink?

A) Tea

B) Cocoa

C) Brandy

D) Coffee

Answer · why

D) Coffee

Coffee is what the daughter, Lieschen, refuses to give up, however much her father grumbles. The piece was probably first performed in Zimmermann's co...

Q 04/05

Which Baroque set of violin concertos was published with sonnets describing birdsong, storms and a barking dog?

A) Water Music

B) The Four Seasons

C) Brandenburg Concertos

D) Royal Fireworks Music

Answer · why

B) The Four Seasons

The Four Seasons paired each concerto with a sonnet, possibly by Vivaldi himself, and in Spring the violas imitate the sleeping goatherd's dog.

Q 05/05

Handel's coronation anthem Zadok the Priest was adapted in 1992 into the anthem of which football competition?

A) FIFA World Cup

B) English Premier League

C) UEFA European Championship

D) UEFA Champions League

Answer · why

D) UEFA Champions League

The UEFA Champions League anthem lifts its rising string phrase from Handel, as its composer Tony Britten cheerfully admitted. The original has been s...