Q 01/05

Which rock 'n' roll pioneer wrote and first recorded 'Roll Over Beethoven'?

A) Little Richard

B) Chuck Berry

C) Buddy Holly

D) Bo Diddley

Answer · why

B) Chuck Berry

Chuck Berry: he wrote it as a dig at his sister Lucy, who kept the family piano busy with classical music when he wanted to play.

Q 02/05

In which country do rubbish trucks play Beethoven's 'Für Elise' to call residents out with their trash?

A) Vietnam

B) South Korea

C) Taiwan

D) Singapore

Answer · why

C) Taiwan

Taiwan: the tune tells people to bring their rubbish out to the truck, part of the clean-up of a place once nicknamed 'Garbage Island'.

Q 03/05

When Leonard Bernstein conducted Beethoven's Ninth to celebrate the fall of the Berlin Wall, which word replaced 'Joy'?

A) Peace

B) Unity

C) Brotherhood

D) Freedom

Answer · why

D) Freedom

Freedom: Bernstein leaned on an old, unproven theory that the poem's 'joy' was really code for freedom.

Q 04/05

Which composer met the young Beethoven in Bonn, then took him on as a pupil in Vienna?

A) Antonio Salieri

B) Muzio Clementi

C) Christoph Willibald Gluck

D) Joseph Haydn

Answer · why

D) Joseph Haydn

Joseph Haydn: when Haydn set off for England again in 1794, Beethoven chose to stay in Vienna and never returned to Bonn.

Q 05/05

In which Stanley Kubrick film is the violent young Alex devoted to 'Ludwig van'?

A) The Shining

B) A Clockwork Orange

C) Full Metal Jacket

D) Barry Lyndon

Answer · why

B) A Clockwork Orange

A Clockwork Orange: the aversion therapy meant to cure Alex's violence also leaves him sickened by the Beethoven he loves.