MiM quiz – Expert level / Education
Remember, this quiz is not about testing your knowledge about contemporary music. It's all about getting to know the four composers - their music, techniques, but also inspirations and private stories. We invite you to take on this challenge - discover the universe of four personalities and dive in into their music.
Creative periods - Louis Andriessen
Which work by the composer is earlier? Which is later?
The earlier one should be indicated.
Louis Andriessen’s music is often divided into pre- and post-De Staat (1972):
- Ittrospezione III (1965) – music that fits in well with the avant-garde of the 1960s.
- Excerpt from De Materie (first part) - its characteristic features include clear pulsation, repetitions, Stravinsky and jazz influences.
Inspirations from outside European classical music were important to each of the four composers
The task is to link the source of inspiration to the right name.
Although elements of Polish folklore found their way into Kazimierz Serocki’s music only for a few years and to some extent were associated with a need for a compromise with the ideology of Stalinist Poland, the artistic results of these inspirations are still worthy of note.
Louis Andriessen’s creative imagination was under the influence of jazz from his early youth.
Although generally Pierre Boulez was far from imitating folk music or music of other cultures, the sound of non-European instruments, like those in the Indonesian gamelan, often attracted him more than the conventional sound of classic European ensembles and orchestras.
The term “tintinnabuli”, which Arvo Pärt uses to describe his own style and technique denotes “little bells” (Lat.).
Which ones among the four composers wrote music for the youngest performers?
Match each statement with a composer.
Pierre Boulez was once asked to write a piece for an album of modern compositions for piano learners. He did comply with the request and the piece was published on the album, but Une page d’éphéméride is a very demanding composition technically – in any case Boulez himself admitted that he seemed to be unable to write anything simpler.
Kazimierz Serocki’s The Gnomes, a collection of pieces for young pianists, became very popular and was even arranged in various transcriptions for other instruments.
In Louis Andriessen’s Dancing on the Bones, a piece the composer described as a “diabolical scherzo”, a children’s choir sings about what happens to the body after death.
Arvo Pärt’s “children’s” works were issued on the Songs from Childhood album.
Read more about his Music for Children.
In which example is the sound of instruments transformed electronically?
Choose one or more:
Pierre Boulez – …explosante-fixe… for MIDI flute, two flutes, ensemble and electronics (1991–93).
Louis Andriessen – De Tijd for choir and orchestra (1980–81). Louis Andriessen sometimes used electronics, but the sophisticated colours and effects in the piece are achieved without electronics.
Kazimierz Serocki – Pianophonie for piano with electronic transformation of sound and orchestra (1979).
Arvo Pärt – Miserere (1989–92). Arvo Pärt did not use electronics, the reverberation is, of course, entirely natural.
With whom did the four composers study?
Arvo Pärt studied composition in Tallinn with e.g. Veljo Tormis, a composer known primarily for his choral compositions.
The eminent Italian composer Luciano Berio was young Louis Andriessen’s composition professor in 1962–1964.
In the same period, also in Paris, Olivier Messiaen conducted his famous analysis class – his broad horizons, unconventional interests and openness attracted many composers, including Pierre Boulez, who several years later became leading figures of the European avant-garde.
Nadia Boulanger (1887–1979) was a teacher of many outstanding composers, including Kazimierz Serocki, who in 1947–1948 explored the secrets of composing under her guidance thanks to a scholarship he had been granted.
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