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