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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What pianist wrote music that took "remarkable stretch" and "peculiar hand formation" to reach his left-hand extensions?

2. Who was Liszt's favorite female student?

3. What Irish pianist, composer, and teacher was born in Dublin in 1782?

4. Who was the first great pianist who made a clear break with classicism to set romantic pianism on its course?

5. When was Frédéric Chopin born?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the early life and career of Mozart. How old was he when he first performed musically?

2. How did Chopin feel about his contemporaries? Who did he consider the only two great composers?

3. Who held the first solo concerts of the romantic period? What were they like?

4. What does the author write about the style of early musical composition on the piano in the Preface? How did advancements take place?

5. What was Thalsberg's career like? When did he retire?

6. Who were the salonists described in Chapter XII, More Salonists, and the Revolutionary in Octaves?

7. What was the nickname of Sigismond Thalberg? Why?

8. How does the author describe changes in playing techniques in Chapter VI, In the Interim? Who initiated these adaptations?

9. What eccentricities does the author describe of the salonists in Chapter XII, More Salonists, and the Revolutionary in Octaves?

10. Who were the great models of piano and composition teaching in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries? How was their style defined?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Describe the biography and works of Ludwig van Beethoven. What advancements was Beethoven responsible for in the style and technique of piano and composition?

Essay Topic 2

Describe the style and works of Sigismond Thalberg. What was Thalberg's nickname and why? Who was his greatest rival?

Essay Topic 3

How did the salon to the concert hall impact musicians, pianists, and composers? What differences are there between the two types of playing venues?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 841 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample