Q 01/05

The 'Waltz of the Flowers', which begins with a famous harp cadenza, comes from which ballet?

A) Swan Lake

B) The Sleeping Beauty

C) Coppélia

D) The Nutcracker

Answer · why

D) The Nutcracker

The Nutcracker. Tchaikovsky thought the ballet 'infinitely worse than Sleeping Beauty' and its first staging disappointed; the concert suite that ends...

Q 02/05

Which electronic musician made the laser harp a concert trademark?

A) Vangelis

B) Jean-Michel Jarre

C) Giorgio Moroder

D) Mike Oldfield

Answer · why

B) Jean-Michel Jarre

Jean-Michel Jarre. He has played one at most of his concerts since 1981, but the harp he made famous was built by another Frenchman, Bernard Szajner.

Q 03/05

Which composer's String Quartet No. 10 is nicknamed the 'Harp'?

A) Haydn

B) Schubert

C) Brahms

D) Beethoven

Answer · why

D) Beethoven

Beethoven. No harp plays in it: the nickname comes from the first movement, where the players pass plucked notes back and forth in imitation of one.

Q 04/05

On a pedal harp, what colour are the C strings?

A) Yellow

B) Red

C) Green

D) Purple

Answer · why

B) Red

Red. A harp has no keyboard or frets to guide the hand, so the coloured strings are landmarks from which the player finds every other note.

Q 05/05

Roughly what total tension do the strings exert on a pedal harp's soundboard?

A) About a tenth of a ton

B) About a ton

C) About five tons

D) About twenty tons

Answer · why

B) About a ton

About a ton. All of that pull bears on a soundboard usually made of spruce, a wood chosen because it is light yet strong and pliable.