The Classical Free-Reed Quiz Answers

1. Which classical composer used the accordion in a major work for orchestra?

______ A: Mikhail Glinka -- the opera Russlan and Ludmilla (1842)
___X__ B: Tchaikovsky -- Orchestral Suite No. 2 (1883) uses four accordions
______ C: Saint-Saens -- Le Carnaval des Animaux (1886)

2. Which classical composer used the accordion in a major opera?

___X__ A: the Italian composer Umberto Giordano -- Fedora (1898)
___X__ B: the German composer Alban Berg -- Wozzeck (1922)
___X__ C: the American composer Virgil Thomson -- Four Saints in Three Acts (1928)

3. Which instrument had many concerti written for it and numerous virtuosi to perform it in the mid-nineteenth century?

______ A: accordion
___X__ B: concertina (the composer/performer Giulio Regondi commissioned six concerti for concertina and orchestra.)
______ C: harmonium

4. The accordion was banned by which of the following institutions?

___X__ A: Some Catholic parishes in Italy actually banned the accordion. However, Pope Pius XII later ended the controversy in 1946 by decreeing that the accordion could be performed in church.
___X__ B: the German Third Reich also banned the accordion, calling it a "nigger jazz instrument" for its association with American dance bands.
______ C: the Soviet Communist Party actually promoted and supported the bayan -- the Russian button accordion -- as a national heritage.

5. The American bandleader and composer John Philip Sousa wrote a piece for:

___X__ A: harmonica band -- The Harmonica Wizard (1930)
______ B: accordion band
______ C: concertina band

6: The English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams, the Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos and the French composer Darius Milhaud wrote music for:

______ A: accordion and orchestra
______ B: bandoneon and orchestra
___X__ C: harmonica and orchestra

(Romance in Db: 1952; Concerto: 1956; Suite Anglais, op. 234: 1942)

7: Which Argentino bandoneonista was threatened by a tango singer, who put a pistol to his head during a radio interview?

___X__ A: Astor Piazzolla (the father of the New Tango) (He was hated in his home country -- Argentina -- for modernizing the Tango.)
______ B: Alejandro Barletta (the father of the classical bandoneon)
______ C: Eduardo Arolas (El Tigre del Bandoneon)

8: Which French organist/composer wrote music for the harmonium?

___X__ A: Saint-Saens
___X__ B: Cesar Franck
___X__ C: Louis Vierne

9: The first two concerti for the accordion were written by:

______ A: the American composers: Pietro Deiro and Anthony Galla-Rini (1939 & 1941)
______ B: the German composers: Hugo Herrmann and Fred Malige (1940 & 1942)
___X__ C: the Soviet composers: F.A. Rubtsov and T. Sotnikov (both concerti were composed in 1937)

10: The first college to offer a degree in accordion was:

______ A: State Academy of Music, Trossingen Germany (1931)
______ B: Oklahoma City University, USA (1937)
___X__ C: Music Conservatory of Kiev, USSR (1927)