BM or BMus Bachelor of Music Western Music History 4 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which compositional technique, developed by Arnold Schoenberg around 1921, organizes pitch material using all twelve chromatic tones in a fixed series?
- Twelve-tone serialism (Correct answer)
- Pandiatonicism
- Polytonality
- Spectral composition
Correct answer: Twelve-tone serialism
Schoenberg's twelve-tone method uses a tone row of all twelve chromatic pitches as the basis for melodic and harmonic organization.
Question 2: The 'Mannheim school' of the mid-18th century was noted for contributing which orchestral technique?
- Orchestral crescendo and controlled dynamic nuance (Correct answer)
- Use of the fortepiano as a concerto soloist
- Standardization of the four-movement symphony structure
- Introduction of the clarinet into the standard orchestra
Correct answer: Orchestral crescendo and controlled dynamic nuance
The Mannheim orchestra under Johann Stamitz pioneered the orchestral crescendo and precise ensemble dynamics that influenced Classical symphonic style.
Question 3: Béla Bartók's use of 'Bulgarian rhythm' or 'aksak' refers to which rhythmic characteristic?
- Additive meters with asymmetric beat groupings such as 5+3+3+2+3 (Correct answer)
- Constant metric modulation between duple and triple meters
- The systematic use of hemiola across barlines
- Free rhythm without a fixed pulse, imitating folk speech patterns
Correct answer: Additive meters with asymmetric beat groupings such as 5+3+3+2+3
Bartók systematically collected and employed asymmetric folk rhythms from Bulgaria in works like his 'Mikrokosmos' and string quartets.
Question 4: The term 'musique concrète' refers to the practice of:
- Composing with recorded and manipulated real-world sounds (Correct answer)
- Writing music for concrete structures such as buildings and bridges
- Notating exact rhythmic durations without interpretive freedom
- Combining electronic synthesis with live acoustic performance
Correct answer: Composing with recorded and manipulated real-world sounds
Pierre Schaeffer coined 'musique concrète' in 1948 for music assembled from recorded sounds of the physical world, manipulated on tape.
Question 5: In the context of Renaissance counterpoint, 'fauxbourdon' (or faburden) refers to:
- A technique of adding parallel sixths and octaves below a chant melody (Correct answer)
- A free improvisatory style over a bass ostinato
- The English practice of singing in parallel thirds
- The use of accidentals to avoid the tritone interval
Correct answer: A technique of adding parallel sixths and octaves below a chant melody
Fauxbourdon is an early 15th-century technique where a chant melody appears in the top voice, harmonized with parallel sixths and octaves below, implying 6-3 chords.
Question 6: The Second Viennese School is comprised of which three composers?
- Schoenberg, Berg, and Webern (Correct answer)
- Mahler, Schoenberg, and Zemlinsky
- Webern, Hindemith, and Berg
- Schoenberg, Krenek, and Eisler
Correct answer: Schoenberg, Berg, and Webern
The Second Viennese School refers specifically to Arnold Schoenberg and his two most influential pupils, Alban Berg and Anton Webern.
Question 7: Claude Debussy's harmonic language is often described as 'impressionistic' due to his use of which harmonic device?
- Unresolved ninth chords, whole-tone scales, and parallel chord motion (Correct answer)
- Chromatic voice leading derived from Wagnerian harmony
- Strict avoidance of the leading tone in cadential progressions
- Modal scales borrowed directly from medieval plainchant
Correct answer: Unresolved ninth chords, whole-tone scales, and parallel chord motion
Debussy's use of parallel, unresolved chords, whole-tone and pentatonic scales, and avoidance of functional harmonic resolution created a floating, coloristic harmonic language.
BM or BMus Bachelor of Music Western Music History 4
Which compositional technique, developed by Arnold Schoenberg around 1921, organizes pitch material using all twelve chromatic tones in a fixed series?