Ancient Music Composers

Description: Ancient Music Composers Quiz
Number of Questions: 15
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Tags: ancient music music history composers
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Which ancient Greek composer is known for his dithyrambs, a type of choral hymn?

  1. Sappho

  2. Pindar

  3. Alcman

  4. Terpander


Correct Option: C
Explanation:

Alcman was an ancient Greek poet and musician who lived in the 7th century BC. He is known for his dithyrambs, which were choral hymns performed at festivals.

Who is considered the father of Western music?

  1. Pythagoras

  2. Plato

  3. Aristotle

  4. Euclid


Correct Option: A
Explanation:

Pythagoras was an ancient Greek philosopher and mathematician who lived in the 6th century BC. He is credited with discovering the mathematical relationships between musical notes, which laid the foundation for Western music theory.

Which ancient Chinese composer is known for his piece "Flowing Water"?

  1. Confucius

  2. Laozi

  3. Zhuangzi

  4. Yu Boya


Correct Option: D
Explanation:

Yu Boya was an ancient Chinese musician who lived during the Spring and Autumn period (771-476 BC). He is known for his piece "Flowing Water", which is considered one of the earliest known pieces of Chinese classical music.

Who was the first composer to use polyphony, or the simultaneous use of multiple melodies?

  1. Guido d'Arezzo

  2. Hildegard von Bingen

  3. Perotin

  4. Leonin


Correct Option: C
Explanation:

Perotin was a French composer who lived in the 12th and 13th centuries. He is considered one of the most important composers of the Notre Dame school of polyphony, and is credited with developing many of the techniques that would later become standard in Western music.

Which ancient Indian composer is known for his treatise on music, the "Natya Shastra"?

  1. Bharata Muni

  2. Kalidasa

  3. Bhavabhuti

  4. Asvaghosha


Correct Option: A
Explanation:

Bharata Muni was an ancient Indian sage and musicologist who lived in the 2nd century BC. He is known for his treatise on music, the "Natya Shastra", which is considered one of the most important works on Indian classical music and dance.

Who is considered the father of opera?

  1. Claudio Monteverdi

  2. Jacopo Peri

  3. Emilio de' Cavalieri

  4. Giulio Caccini


Correct Option: B
Explanation:

Jacopo Peri was an Italian composer and singer who lived in the 16th and 17th centuries. He is considered the father of opera, as he was the first composer to write a work that combined music, drama, and spectacle in a single unified form.

Which ancient Egyptian composer is known for his piece "The Hymn to Aton"?

  1. Imhotep

  2. Amenhotep III

  3. Akhenaten

  4. Tutankhamun


Correct Option: C
Explanation:

Akhenaten was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh who ruled in the 14th century BC. He is known for his religious reforms, which included the worship of a single god, Aten. He is also credited with composing the "Hymn to Aton", which is considered one of the earliest known pieces of monotheistic music.

Who was the first composer to use the term "sonata"?

  1. Giovanni Gabrieli

  2. Claudio Monteverdi

  3. Girolamo Frescobaldi

  4. Alessandro Scarlatti


Correct Option: A
Explanation:

Giovanni Gabrieli was an Italian composer and organist who lived in the 16th and 17th centuries. He is credited with being the first composer to use the term "sonata" to refer to a piece of instrumental music in several movements.

Which ancient Greek composer is known for his piece "The Lament for Icarus"?

  1. Sappho

  2. Pindar

  3. Alcman

  4. Terpander


Correct Option: A
Explanation:

Sappho was an ancient Greek poet and musician who lived in the 6th century BC. She is known for her lyric poetry, which often expressed themes of love, loss, and longing. Her piece "The Lament for Icarus" is one of the earliest known examples of a musical setting of a Greek myth.

Who is considered the father of the symphony?

  1. Joseph Haydn

  2. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

  3. Ludwig van Beethoven

  4. Franz Schubert


Correct Option: A
Explanation:

Joseph Haydn was an Austrian composer who lived in the 18th century. He is considered the father of the symphony, as he was the first composer to develop the form and structure of the symphony as we know it today.

Which ancient Chinese composer is known for his piece "The Nine Songs"?

  1. Confucius

  2. Laozi

  3. Zhuangzi

  4. Qu Yuan


Correct Option: D
Explanation:

Qu Yuan was an ancient Chinese poet and statesman who lived in the 3rd century BC. He is known for his piece "The Nine Songs", which is a collection of nine poems set to music. These poems are considered some of the earliest examples of Chinese classical poetry.

Who was the first composer to use the term "concerto"?

  1. Antonio Vivaldi

  2. Arcangelo Corelli

  3. Giuseppe Torelli

  4. Tomaso Albinoni


Correct Option: C
Explanation:

Giuseppe Torelli was an Italian composer and violinist who lived in the 17th and 18th centuries. He is credited with being the first composer to use the term "concerto" to refer to a piece of music for a solo instrument and orchestra.

Which ancient Indian composer is known for his piece "The Ramayana"?

  1. Valmiki

  2. Vyasa

  3. Kalidasa

  4. Bhavabhuti


Correct Option: A
Explanation:

Valmiki was an ancient Indian sage and poet who lived in the 3rd century BC. He is known for his epic poem "The Ramayana", which tells the story of the prince Rama and his wife Sita. The Ramayana is considered one of the greatest works of Indian literature and has been adapted into many different forms of art, including music.

Who is considered the father of the oratorio?

  1. Giacomo Carissimi

  2. Alessandro Scarlatti

  3. George Frideric Handel

  4. Johann Sebastian Bach


Correct Option: A
Explanation:

Giacomo Carissimi was an Italian composer and priest who lived in the 17th century. He is considered the father of the oratorio, as he was the first composer to develop the form and structure of the oratorio as we know it today.

Which ancient Egyptian composer is known for his piece "The Song of the Harper"?

  1. Imhotep

  2. Amenhotep III

  3. Akhenaten

  4. Tutankhamun


Correct Option: B
Explanation:

Amenhotep III was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh who ruled in the 14th century BC. He is known for his patronage of the arts, and is credited with commissioning the construction of many temples and monuments. He is also believed to have been a skilled musician, and is said to have composed the "Song of the Harper", which is one of the earliest known pieces of Egyptian music.

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