Preludes (Chopin) - Quiz
Preludes Chopin
  • 1. What instrument are Chopin's preludes written for?
A) Full orchestra
B) Violin solo
C) Piano solo
D) Cello and piano
  • 2. How many preludes are included in Chopin's Op. 28 collection?
A) 12
B) 24
C) 27
D) 48
  • 3. Which musical keys are covered by Op. 28?
A) Only major keys
B) All major and minor keys
C) Natural keys only
D) Only minor keys
  • 4. How many other preludes did Chopin write outside of Op. 28?
A) Two
B) Four
C) Five
D) Three
  • 5. What is the key of Chopin's prelude designated as Op. 45?
A) C major
B) C♯ minor
C) A♭ major
D) E♭ minor
  • 6. In what year was the piece in A♭ major written?
A) 1838
B) 1839
C) 1834
D) 1835
  • 7. Which of the additional preludes is unfinished?
A) A♭ major
B) C♯ minor
C) E♭ minor
D) C major
  • 8. What number is sometimes used to refer to the prelude in C♯ minor, Op. 45?
A) No. 27
B) No. 24
C) No. 26
D) No. 25
  • 9. What number is sometimes used to refer to the unfinished E♭ minor piece?
A) No. 26
B) No. 25
C) No. 27
D) No. 28
  • 10. In what year were the 24 Preludes, Op. 28, originally published?
A) 1839
B) 1845
C) 1838
D) 1835
  • 11. During which years did Chopin write his Op. 28 preludes?
A) 1825 and 1828
B) 1830 and 1832
C) 1835 and 1839
D) 1840 and 1842
  • 12. In which city were most of the Op. 28 preludes written?
A) Vienna
B) Mallorca
C) Paris
D) Warsaw
  • 13. Where did Chopin spend the winter of 1838–39?
A) Valldemossa, Mallorca
B) Berlin, Germany
C) Rome, Italy
D) Paris, France
  • 14. Why did Chopin, George Sand, and her children go to Mallorca?
A) To meet Johann Sebastian Bach
B) To open a piano factory
C) To escape the damp Paris weather
D) To attend a music festival
  • 15. Whose work did Chopin have a copy of while in Majorca?
A) Mozart
B) Schumann
C) Beethoven
D) Bach
  • 16. What specific work by Bach did Chopin have in Majorca?
A) The Well-Tempered Clavier
B) The Art of Fugue
C) The Goldberg Variations
D) The Brandenburg Concertos
  • 17. To whom did Chopin write about finishing his préludes on a little piano?
A) Busoni
B) Sand
C) Pleyel
D) Kessler
  • 18. Who was the German pianist and composer dedicated in the manuscript prepared for publication?
A) Camille Pleyel
B) Alfred Cortot
C) Ferruccio Busoni
D) Joseph Christoph Kessler
  • 19. Who received the dedication for the French and English editions of Op. 28?
A) Anna Yesipova
B) Camille Pleyel
C) Joseph Christoph Kessler
D) George Sand
  • 20. What was the profession of Camille Pleyel?
A) Composer and violinist
B) Piano-maker and publisher
C) Music critic
D) Concert promoter
  • 21. How much was Camille Pleyel commissioned to pay for the work?
A) 2,000 francs
B) 500 francs
C) 1,000 francs
D) 5,000 francs
  • 22. Which edition of Op. 28 was dedicated to Joseph Christoph Kessler?
A) The Spanish edition
B) The French edition
C) The German edition
D) The English edition
  • 23. How many years before Chopin's German edition did Kessler dedicate his own Op. 31 preludes to Chopin?
A) Fifteen years
B) Five years
C) Ten years
D) Twenty years
  • 24. What was the opus number of Joseph Christoph Kessler's set of preludes dedicated to Chopin?
A) Op. 45
B) Op. 31
C) Op. 10
D) Op. 28
  • 25. Before Chopin, how was the term 'prelude' typically used?
A) As a standalone symphony
B) As a grand finale
C) As a vocal accompaniment
D) To describe an introductory piece
  • 26. How do Chopin's pieces stand as units?
A) As self-contained units
B) As improvisatory warm-ups
C) As orchestral arrangements
D) As unfinished sketches
  • 27. What did Chopin impart new meaning to through his preludes?
A) The standard sonata form
B) The traditional fugue structure
C) A genre title often associated with improvisatory 'preluding'
D) The rules of classical harmony
  • 28. How did Bach arrange his collection of 48 preludes and fugues?
A) According to keys separated by rising semitones
B) By major keys only
C) Using a circle of fifths
D) In random order
  • 29. What key sequence did Chopin choose for his Op. 28 collection?
A) Descending chromatic scale
B) Rising semitones
C) Random key ordering
D) A circle of fifths
  • 30. In Chopin's key sequence, what follows each major key?
A) Its relative minor
B) The dominant key
C) The subdominant key
D) Its parallel major
  • 31. What is the maximum number of preludes Chopin ever played at a single public performance?
A) Twelve
B) Twenty-four
C) Four
D) Two
  • 32. For how many years after Chopin's death was playing all the preludes in a single performance not the practice?
A) 10 years
B) 25 years
C) 50 years
D) 100 years
  • 33. Who was probably the first pianist to program the complete set of preludes in a recital?
A) Joseph Christoph Kessler
B) Anna Yesipova
C) Ferruccio Busoni
D) Alfred Cortot
  • 34. In what year did Anna Yesipova perform the complete set in a recital?
A) 1926
B) 1876
C) 1839
D) 1915
  • 35. Who was the first pianist to record the entire set of preludes?
A) Ferruccio Busoni
B) Alfred Cortot
C) Anna Yesipova
D) Camille Pleyel
  • 36. In what year did Ferruccio Busoni record the entire set of preludes?
A) 1926
B) 1876
C) 1839
D) 1915
  • 37. What format was used when Ferruccio Busoni recorded the preludes in 1915?
A) Digital compact discs
B) Magnetic audio tape
C) Piano rolls for the Duo-Art label
D) Vinyl LP records
  • 38. Which pianist recorded the complete preludes immediately after Ferruccio Busoni?
A) George Sand
B) Anna Yesipova
C) Alfred Cortot
D) Joseph Christoph Kessler
  • 39. In what year did Alfred Cortot record the complete preludes?
A) 1926
B) 1915
C) 1939
D) 1876
  • 40. Did Chopin attach names or descriptions to any of the Op. 28 preludes?
A) No
B) Yes, to half of them
C) Yes, to all of them
D) Only to the minor keys
  • 41. Which other composers frequently attached names or descriptions to their pieces in contrast to Chopin?
A) Johannes Brahms and Felix Mendelssohn
B) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Joseph Haydn
C) Robert Schumann and Franz Liszt
D) Johann Sebastian Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven
  • 42. What is the maximum length in bars of any Chopin prelude?
A) 90 bars
B) 45 bars
C) 24 bars
D) 12 bars
  • 43. Which prelude is the shortest in terms of bars?
A) Number 28
B) Number 17
C) Number 7
D) Number 9
  • 44. Approximately how long does Prelude No. 7 take to play?
A) 45 seconds
B) 12 seconds
C) 1 minute 25 seconds
D) 90 seconds
  • 45. Who stated that if all piano music were destroyed except one collection, their vote would be for Chopin's Preludes?
A) Jeffrey Kresky
B) Henry Finck
C) Jeremy Nicholas
D) Anatole Leikin
  • 46. What sequence did musicologist Anatole Leikin highlight as a hidden theme in the Preludes?
A) Opus 28
B) Eagle pinions
C) Dies irae
D) Golden dreams
  • 47. What medieval mass does the dies irae sequence belong to, according to the text?
A) Wedding mass
B) Christmas mass
C) Easter mass
D) Requiem mass
  • 48. How does Anatole Leikin view the conceptual organization of the collection?
A) As a single uninterrupted 90-bar piece
B) As twenty-four completely random pieces
C) As individual eagle pinions
D) Conceived in pairs
  • 49. What overarching theme does Anatole Leikin associate with the collection?
A) Joy
B) Romance
C) Nature
D) Death
  • 50. What is notably lacking from the structural design of the Preludes?
A) Pairs of preludes
B) Formal thematic structure
C) Connected motifs
D) Hidden quotes
  • 51. How are Bach's pieces arranged in each volume of The Well-Tempered Clavier?
A) Ascending chromatic order
B) Circle of fifths
C) Descending diatonic scale
D) Random key sequence
  • 52. Who wrote a set of twenty-four preludes in 1815 starting with C major, mentioned by Harold C. Schonberg?
A) Mozart
B) Schubert
C) Hummel
D) Beethoven
  • 53. In what year was Prelude No. 25 (Op. 45) in C♯ minor composed?
A) 2002
B) 1815
C) 1834
D) 1841
  • 54. What is the title or tempo indication of Prelude No. 26?
A) Allegro maestoso
B) Devil's Trill
C) Andante spianato
D) Presto con leggierezza
  • 55. In what year was Prelude No. 26 published in Geneva?
A) 1834
B) 1918
C) 2002
D) 1841
  • 56. Who was the recipient of the gift of Prelude No. 26?
A) Jeffrey Kallberg
B) Alain Jacquon
C) Pierre Wolff
D) Joseph Christoph Kessler
  • 57. Who gave the uncompleted E♭ minor prelude the subtitle "Devil's Trill"?
A) Alain Jacquon
B) Harold C. Schonberg
C) Pierre Wolff
D) Jeffrey Kallberg
  • 58. Which violinist's sonata inspired the nickname "Devil's Trill" for Chopin's uncompleted prelude?
A) Giuseppe Tartini
B) Johann Sebastian Bach
C) Joseph Christoph Kessler
D) Hummel
  • 59. Where was Chopin staying when he worked on the uncompleted E♭ minor prelude?
A) Paris
B) Geneva
C) Newport
D) Majorca
  • 60. How is the original signature of the uncompleted E♭ minor prelude described?
A) Completely missing
B) Written in gold ink
C) Hastily scrawled
D) Neat and precise
  • 61. When did the uncompleted E♭ minor prelude have its first public performance?
A) 1918
B) July 2002
C) 1841
D) 1834
  • 62. Which pianist performed the first public performance of the uncompleted E♭ minor prelude?
A) Alain Jacquon
B) Jeffrey Kallberg
C) Pierre Wolff
D) Harold C. Schonberg
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