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Ned Rorem - Exam
Contributed by: Ashcroft
  • 1. When was Ned Rorem born?
A) 1945
B) 1973
C) 1960
D) 1923
  • 2. Ned Rorem is best known for being a:
A) Athlete
B) Architect
C) Composer
D) Painter
  • 3. In which city was Ned Rorem born?
A) Detroit, Michigan
B) New York City, New York
C) San Francisco, California
D) Richmond, Indiana
  • 4. Ned Rorem received a Fulbright Scholarship to study in which country?
A) Japan
B) Brazil
C) Russia
D) France
  • 5. In addition to English, Ned Rorem is fluent in which language?
A) French
B) German
C) Spanish
D) Italian
  • 6. Ned Rorem is known for his collaborations with which type of artists?
A) Sculptors
B) Poets
C) Chefs
D) Architects
  • 7. One of Ned Rorem's well-known books is titled:
A) The London Chronicles
B) The New York Cookbook
C) The Tokyo Journal
D) The Paris Diary
  • 8. Which institution bestowed an honorary doctorate upon Ned Rorem?
A) Yale University
B) Oxford University
C) Juilliard School
D) Sorbonne University
  • 9. Which famous conductor championed Ned Rorem's music?
A) Gustavo Dudamel
B) Arturo Toscanini
C) Leonard Bernstein
D) Herbert von Karajan
  • 10. What is Ned Rorem best known for?
A) His symphonies, which have won numerous awards.
B) His film scores, which are critically acclaimed.
C) His art songs, which number over 500.
D) His operas, which are widely performed.
  • 11. Which musical movement is Ned Rorem frequently described as a part of?
A) Expressionist.
B) Modernist.
C) Minimalist.
D) Neoromantic.
  • 12. Who were some of Ned Rorem's early music teachers?
A) Francis Poulenc and Darius Milhaud.
B) Margaret Bonds and Leo Sowerby.
C) Aaron Copland and Virgil Thomson.
D) Nuta Rothschild and Belle Tannenbaum.
  • 13. Which composer's work inspired the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association?
A) Leo Sowerby.
B) Margaret Bonds.
C) Ned Rorem.
D) Clarence Rufus Rorem.
  • 14. What was Ned Rorem's lifelong partner's name?
A) Rosemary.
B) James Holmes.
C) Paul Goodman.
D) Marie-Laure de Noailles.
  • 15. Where did Ned Rorem teach from 1980 onwards?
A) The Curtis Institute.
B) The University of Chicago.
C) The American Conservatory of Music.
D) The Paris Conservatory.
  • 16. What is considered Ned Rorem's magnum opus?
A) Our Town.
B) Seven different commissions for the American Bicentennial.
C) Air Music: Ten Etudes for Orchestra.
D) Evidence of Things Not Seen.
  • 17. Which award did Ned Rorem win for Air Music: Ten Etudes for Orchestra?
A) The Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1976.
B) The Grammy Award for Best Classical Composition.
C) The Academy Award for Best Original Score.
D) The Tony Award for Best Original Score.
  • 18. What was the last major work of Ned Rorem?
A) Evidence of Things Not Seen.
B) Air Music: Ten Etudes for Orchestra.
C) Seven different commissions for the American Bicentennial.
D) The opera Our Town.
  • 19. Which French composers influenced Ned Rorem's enthusiasm for French music?
A) Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel.
B) Claude Debussy and Igor Stravinsky.
C) Francis Poulenc and Darius Milhaud.
D) Igor Stravinsky and Maurice Ravel.
  • 20. What was the cultural background of Ned Rorem's family?
A) Upper-class with a strong Catholic emphasis.
B) Working-class with a strong Jewish emphasis.
C) Upper middle-class, semi-bohemian with a strong Quaker emphasis.
D) Middle-class with a strong Protestant emphasis.
  • 21. What did Ned Rorem's father Clarence Rufus Rorem inspire?
A) The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association.
B) The American Conservatory of Music.
C) The University of Chicago Laboratory Schools.
D) The Curtis Institute.
  • 22. Who was Ned Rorem's first piano teacher who made a lasting impression?
A) Margaret Bonds.
B) Leo Sowerby.
C) Nuta Rothschild.
D) Belle Tannenbaum.
  • 23. Which composer's piano concerto did Ned Rorem perform as a youth?
A) Maurice Ravel.
B) Edvard Grieg.
C) Igor Stravinsky.
D) Claude Debussy.
  • 24. What was the name of the arts patron who hosted Ned Rorem in Paris?
A) Margaret Bonds.
B) Belle Tannenbaum.
C) Marie-Laure de Noailles.
D) Nuta Rothschild.
  • 25. Which group influenced Ned Rorem in Paris?
A) The Quakers.
B) Les Six.
C) The Impressionists.
D) The American Bicentennial.
  • 26. How many texts by how many writers did the song cycle Evidence of Things Not Seen include?
A) 24 texts by 36 writers.
B) 30 texts by 50 writers.
C) 50 texts by 30 writers.
D) 36 texts by 24 writers.
  • 27. What was Ned Rorem's self-described religious identity?
A) Quaker atheist.
B) Protestant.
C) Catholic.
D) Jewish.
  • 28. What was the name of the school Ned Rorem attended in Chicago?
A) The American Conservatory of Music.
B) The University of Chicago Laboratory Schools.
C) The Curtis Institute.
D) The Paris Conservatory.
  • 29. Which future writer did Ned Rorem become friends with in his youth?
A) Leo Sowerby.
B) Nuta Rothschild.
C) Margaret Bonds.
D) Paul Goodman.
  • 30. What did Ned Rorem's mother Gladys Miller Rorem actively participate in?
A) Antiwar movements and the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers).
B) The American Bicentennial.
C) The Impressionist movement.
D) The modernist aesthetic.
  • 31. Who were Ned Rorem's composition teachers at Northwestern University?
A) Bernard Wagenaar
B) Rosario Scalero
C) Gian Carlo Menotti
D) Alfred Nolte
  • 32. Under whom did Ned Rorem study piano at Northwestern University?
A) Gian Carlo Menotti
B) Harold Van Horne
C) Alfred Nolte
D) Bernard Wagenaar
  • 33. Which composer did Ned Rorem study orchestration with in New York?
A) Mishel Piastro
B) Aaron Copland
C) Virgil Thomson
D) Leonard Bernstein
  • 34. In what year did Ned Rorem transfer to the Curtis Institute of Music?
A) 1943
B) 1946
C) 1942
D) 1940
  • 35. Who did Ned Rorem study counterpoint under at Curtis Institute of Music?
A) Gian Carlo Menotti
B) Rosario Scalero
C) Bernard Wagenaar
D) Alfred Nolte
  • 36. What was the title of one of Ned Rorem's compositions premiered in 1943?
A) The Lordly Hudson
B) Overture in C
C) The 70th Psalm
D) Piano Sonata for Four Hands
  • 37. Why did Ned Rorem leave the Curtis Institute of Music?
A) He lost his allowance
B) He moved to New York
C) He wanted to study at Juilliard
D) He considered Rosario Scalero unprogressive
  • 38. Who was Ned Rorem's composition teacher at Juilliard School?
A) Gian Carlo Menotti
B) Alfred Nolte
C) Rosario Scalero
D) Bernard Wagenaar
  • 39. Which famous dancer did Ned Rorem work as a piano accompanist for?
A) Martha Graham
B) Isadora Duncan
C) Éva Gauthier
D) Anna Pavlova
  • 40. Which orchestra premiered Ned Rorem's 'Overture in C' in May 1948?
A) Cleveland Orchestra
B) Philadelphia Orchestra
C) New York Philharmonic
D) Boston Symphony Orchestra
  • 41. Who conducted the premiere of 'Overture in C'?
A) Leonard Bernstein
B) Aaron Copland
C) Mishel Piastro
D) Virgil Thomson
  • 42. In which year did Ned Rorem leave for France?
A) 1952
B) 1951
C) 1949
D) 1950
  • 43. Where did Ned Rorem spend much of his time after leaving for France in early 1949?
A) Morocco
B) Italy
C) Spain
D) Germany
  • 44. What did Ned Rorem say was the best influence for a composer?
A) Nature
B) Four walls
C) City life
D) Travel
  • 45. Which ballet by Ned Rorem won the Prix de Biarritz in 1951?
A) A Childhood Miracle
B) Ballet for Jerry
C) Dorian Gray
D) Melos
  • 46. Who premiered Ned Rorem's Symphony No. 1 in Vienna?
A) Nadia Boulanger
B) Arthur Honegger
C) Jonathan Sternberg
D) Julius Katchen
  • 47. In what year was Ned Rorem's first opera, A Childhood Miracle, premiered?
A) 1954
B) 1953
C) 1951
D) 1955
  • 48. Which award did Ned Rorem receive in 1950?
A) Grammy Award
B) Fulbright Scholarship
C) Pulitzer Prize
D) Lili Boulanger Memorial Fund Award
  • 49. Who did Ned Rorem study with in Paris?
A) Arthur Honegger
B) Elliott Stein
C) Nadia Boulanger
D) Marie-Laure de Noailles
  • 50. Which song cycle by Ned Rorem was dedicated to medieval French poems?
A) To a Young Girl
B) Cycle of Holy Songs
C) Flight for Heaven
D) Poémes pour la paix
  • 51. What year did a Paris concert feature solely Ned Rorem's compositions?
A) 1955
B) 1950
C) 1953
D) 1951
  • 52. Which of Ned Rorem's compositions premiered in 1954?
A) Piano Concerto No. 2
B) Symphony No. 1
C) A Childhood Miracle
D) Poémes pour la paix
  • 53. Who premiered Ned Rorem's Piano Concerto No. 2?
A) Julius Katchen
B) Jonathan Sternberg
C) Nadia Boulanger
D) Arthur Honegger
  • 54. Which composer from Les Six did Ned Rorem meet through Marie-Laure de Noailles?
A) Ludwig van Beethoven
B) Johann Sebastian Bach
C) Francis Poulenc
D) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
  • 55. What was the source of the text for Ned Rorem's song cycle 'To a Young Girl'?
A) Nathaniel Hawthorne
B) George Darley
C) W. B. Yeats
D) Robert Herrick
  • 56. Which of the following was not a composition by Ned Rorem during his time in Paris?
A) The Poet's Requiem
B) Symphony No. 3
C) Piano Sonata No. 2
D) Ballet for Jerry
  • 57. In which year did Rorem return to the US to further pursue composition?
A) 1957 or 1958
B) 1955
C) 1965
D) 1960
  • 58. Which orchestra premiered Rorem's 'Eagles' in 1959?
A) New York Philharmonic
B) Philadelphia Orchestra
C) Chicago Symphony Orchestra
D) Boston Symphony Orchestra
  • 59. Which opera by Rorem was not well received at its premiere in 1965?
A) Eagles
B) Miss Julie
C) Poems of Love and Rain
D) Symphony No. 3
  • 60. Which foundation did NOT commission Rorem?
A) Koussevitzky Foundation
B) Ford Foundation
C) Guggenheim Foundation
D) Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Foundation
  • 61. How long did Rorem teach at the University of Buffalo?
A) 1960 to 1962
B) 1965 to 1967
C) 1959 to 1960
D) 1957 to 1958
  • 62. What did Rorem believe about teaching assignments lasting more than two years?
A) They are essential for growth
B) They enhance creativity
C) They are unnecessary
D) They lead to sterility
  • 63. When was 'Poems of Love and Rain' premiered?
A) April 12, 1965
B) April 12, 1964
C) April 12, 1966
D) April 12, 1963
  • 64. What was Rorem's struggle throughout the 1950s and 60s?
A) Depression
B) Addiction to drugs
C) Financial difficulties
D) Alcoholism
  • 65. What did Rorem say happened when a drop of wine touched his lips?
A) He felt a sense of guilt
B) He became more creative
C) He felt a sense of peace
D) An infantile regression takes place
  • 66. Which organization did Rorem attend meetings for?
A) Narcotics Anonymous
B) Alcoholics Anonymous
C) Gamblers Anonymous
D) Overeaters Anonymous
  • 67. What medication did Rorem use to help with his alcoholism?
A) Naltrexone
B) Acamprosate
C) Disulfiram
D) Antabuse
  • 68. What did Rorem's relationship with Holmes provide him?
A) Inspiration for new compositions
B) Financial support
C) Stability to abandon alcohol
D) A teaching position
  • 69. Where did Ned Rorem and Holmes buy a summer house in 1974?
A) Provincetown, Massachusetts
B) Nantucket, Massachusetts
C) Boston, Massachusetts
D) Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts
  • 70. Which work by Wallace Stevens inspired Ned Rorem's 1977 orchestral suite?
A) The Emperor of Ice-Cream
B) The Idea of Order at Key West
C) Sunday Morning
D) Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird
  • 71. In which year did Ned Rorem start teaching at the Curtis Institute?
A) 1974
B) 1993
C) 1980
D) 1985
  • 72. Who was one of Ned Rorem's students at the Curtis Institute?
A) Philip Glass
B) Steve Reich
C) John Adams
D) Daron Hagen
  • 73. For whom did Ned Rorem write the Piano Concerto No. 4 for Left Hand and Orchestra?
A) Mstislav Rostropovich
B) Gary Graffman
C) Leonard Bernstein
D) Yo-Yo Ma
  • 74. Which section of 'Evidence of Things Not Seen' concerns death?
A) Transitions
B) Ends
C) Middles
D) Beginnings
  • 75. Which section of 'Evidence of Things Not Seen' explores coming of age?
A) Transitions
B) Ends
C) Middles
D) Beginnings
  • 76. In which year did Ned Rorem become president of the American Academy of Arts and Letters?
A) 1995
B) 1990
C) 2000
D) 2003
  • 77. Which event inspired Ned Rorem's ten-part song cycle 'Aftermath'?
A) The Vietnam War
B) The end of World War II
C) The fall of the Berlin Wall
D) The September 11 attacks
  • 78. To whom were the 2002 concertos dedicated?
A) Aaron Copland
B) Gustav Mahler
C) Thomas Schippers
D) Leonard Bernstein
  • 79. What was the title of Ned Rorem's final work?
A) Recalling Nadia
B) The Last Waltz
C) End of an Era
D) Final Symphony
  • 80. At what age did Ned Rorem pass away?
A) 110
B) 99
C) 85
D) 75
  • 81. What did Rorem generally reject in his compositions?
A) Strict modernist aesthetics
B) Tonal music
C) Piano accompaniments
D) Song cycles
  • 82. To which poet did Rorem dedicate three song cycles?
A) Theodore Roethke
B) John Ashbery
C) Walt Whitman
D) Paul Goodman
  • 83. What language did Rorem criticize American colleagues for prioritizing over English in song settings?
A) Other languages
B) Italian
C) German
D) French
  • 84. Which of the following is NOT a poet whose works Rorem set to music?
A) Sylvia Plath
B) Wallace Stevens
C) Emily Dickinson
D) Witter Bynner
  • 85. What technique does Rorem sometimes use in his piano accompaniments?
A) Serialism
B) Aleatoric music
C) Renaissance-derived ground bass
D) Minimalism
  • 86. Which composer's songs did Rorem name as a particular favorite?
A) Mozart
B) Bach
C) Stravinsky
D) Schumann
  • 87. Which of the following poets is NOT mentioned as having works set by Rorem?
A) Frank O'Hara
B) Kenneth Koch
C) Robert Frost
D) Alfred, Lord Tennyson
  • 88. In what year was Ned Rorem's full-length opera 'Miss Julie' first written?
A) 1994
B) 1965
C) 2005
D) 1979
  • 89. Who wrote the libretto for 'Miss Julie'?
A) Kenward Elmslie
B) August Strindberg
C) Thornton Wilder
D) Ned Rorem
  • 90. What was unique about the opera 'The Anniversary'?
A) It was based on the serialist tone row.
B) It was performed in 1961.
C) It was based on a Chaucer tale.
D) It was written by Kenneth Koch.
  • 91. What is the title of the opera based on La Fontaine's Fables?
A) Bertha
B) Fables
C) Hearing
D) Three Sisters who are Not Sisters
  • 92. Which librettist collaborated with Rorem on 'Three Sisters who are Not Sisters'?
A) Jascha Kessler
B) Holmes
C) Kenneth Koch
D) Stein
  • 93. Which opera by Rorem was never performed?
A) The Anniversary
B) Our Town
C) The Robbers
D) Miss Julie
  • 94. What is the narrative style of 'Our Town'?
A) Fragmented
B) Condensed
C) Elaborate
D) Extended
  • 95. Which opera by Rorem was based on Chaucer's 'The Pardoner's Tale'?
A) Miss Julie
B) Bertha
C) Our Town
D) The Robbers
  • 96. Which critic noted that 'Our Town' deserves bigger stages?
A) Thornton Wilder
B) Harold C. Schonberg
C) Joshua Barone
D) Kenneth Koch
  • 97. Which opera by Rorem was written in 1968?
A) Fables
B) The Anniversary
C) The Robbers
D) Bertha
  • 98. Which opera by Rorem was based on a libretto by Holmes?
A) The Robbers
B) Hearing
C) The Anniversary
D) Fables
  • 99. During which decade were Ned Rorem's three numbered symphonies composed?
A) 1960s
B) 1950s
C) 1940s
D) 1970s
  • 100. What did David Hurwitz compare the melodies in Rorem's symphonies to?
A) Beethoven's Symphony No. 9
B) Ravel's Daphnis et Chloë
C) Bach's Brandenburg Concertos
D) Mozart's Requiem
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