Andrew Clements 

The great Beethoven quiz: do you know your Eroica from your elbow?

Celebrations for the 250th anniversary of his birth might have been paused but why not test your knowledge of the composer who said: ‘To play a wrong note is insignificant; to play without passion is inexcusable.’
  
  

A bust of Beethoven wears a handmade mask in Bonn, Germany.
A bust of Beethoven wears a handmade mask in Bonn, Germany. Photograph: Andreas Rentz/Getty Images

  1. Which of the following composers almost certainly did not meet Beethoven?

    1. Hummel

    2. Rossini

    3. Haydn

    4. Mozart

  2. A mural of German pianist and composer Ludwig van Beethoven on a house facade in Bonn, Germany, the city of his birth.

    ... and who was a pall bearer at his funeral in 1827?

    1. Liszt

    2. Schubert

    3. Paganini

    4. Weber

  3. Who was the original dedicatee of the Eroica Symphony, whose name Beethoven later removed from the score?

    1. Duke of Wellington

    2. Friedrich Schiller

    3. Napoleon Bonaparte

    4. Johann von Goethe

  4. Traffic lights in Bonn, Germany, display his image to celebrate the 250th anniversary of his birth.

    Three of Beethoven's nine symphonies have nicknames: the Eroica, the Pastoral and the Choral. What numbers are those symphonies?

    1. 2, 5 and 9

    2. 3, 6 and 9

    3. 3, 5 and 8

    4. 5, 6 and 9

  5. Beethoven statue in Bonn, Germany.

    Which of the following works did not receive its first public performance in Beethoven's famous Viennese benefit concert of 22 December 1808?

    1. Piano Concerto No 4

    2. Mass in C

    3. Choral Fantasy

    4. Symphony No 5

  6. Which novel by EM Forster devotes a chapter to a performance of the Fifth Symphony?

    1. A Room With a View

    2. Maurice

    3. Howard's End

    4. Where Angels Fear to Tread

  7. Which 20th-century composer described the Grosse Fuge as 'an absolutely contemporary piece of music that will be contemporary forever'

    1. Igor Stravinsky

    2. Arnold Schoenberg

    3. Béla Bartók

    4. Elisabeth Lutyens

  8. What is now thought to have been the primary cause of Beethoven's death in 1827?

    1. Alcoholic cirrhosis

    2. Lead poisoning

    3. Syphilis

    4. Hepatitis

  9. Lise Davidsen and Jonas Kaufmann in Fidelio at the Royal Opera House, London, in February.

    What was Beethoven's preferred title for his only opera, first performed in 1805?

    1. Florestan

    2. Fidelio

    3. Leonore

    4. Leonore und Florestan

  10. Alice's Adventures Under Ground by Gerald Barry at the Royal Opera House, London, in February.

    Which contemporary composer has written two operas in which the Ode to Joy is quoted?

    1. Thomas Adès

    2. Judith Weir

    3. Tansy Davies

    4. Gerald Barry

  11. Who was Elise, the dedicatee of his Bagatelle No 25 in A minor for solo piano?

    1. His sister
 Thérèse

    2. A local barmaid, Elisabeth Halm

    3. We don't know

    4. Soprano and friend Elise Barensfeld

  12. Beethoven's Op 129, Rondo alla Ingharese quasi un Capriccio, is popularly known as what?

    1. Rage Over a Lost Love

    2. Rage Over a Lost Handkerchief

    3. Rage Over a Lost Penny

    4. Worry Over a Lost Cat

  13. The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra perform Beethoven's Fifth and Sixth symphonies at the Barbican, London, in February.

    Which of the following birds is not 'quoted' in the Pastoral Symphony?

    1. Quail

    2. Cuckoo

    3. Goldfinch

    4. Nightingale

  14. Who in 2012 composed Absolute Jest, for string quartet and orchestra, based on material from Beethoven's string quartets, piano sonatas and symphonies?

    1. David Lang

    2. Missy Mazzoli

    3. Caroline Shaw

    4. John Adams

  15. The Ninth Symphony features prominently on the soundtrack for which cult 1970s movie?

    1. Emmanuelle

    2. Picnic at Hanging Rock

    3. A Clockwork Orange

    4. Don't Look Now

Solutions

1:D - Claims that Mozart and Beethoven met in Vienna in 1787 are based entirely on a single, much later secondhand source. , 2:B, 3:C - Beethoven had admired Napoleon hugely, but became disillusioned with him when he declared himself emperor., 4:B - Symphony No 3 in E flat major, Op 55 is known as the Eroica; Symphony No 6 in F major, Op 68 is known as the Pastoral, and Symphony No 9 in D minor, Op 125 is known as the Choral, 5:B - Movements from the mass were included in the 1808 concert, but it had already been performed complete the previous year in Esterházy., 6:C - (It's chapter five), 7:A, 8:B - He suffered from cirrhosis too, but long-term low-level exposure to lead, probably through wine, may have contributed to his deafness, while the immediate cause of his death might well have been an overdose of a lead-based treatment for edema, 9:C - The first run of performances in Vienna was however advertised under the title of Fidelio to avoid confusion with other recent Leonore operas by Gaveaux and Paer, 10:D - The theme appears in both The Importance of Being Earnest and Alice’s Adventures Under Ground , 11:C, 12:C, 13:C, 14:D, 15:C

Scores

  1. 15 and above.

    Congratulations. Or did you fluke it? Your Beethoven knowledge makes you the Emperor and the Eroica

  2. 14 and above.

    Congratulations - you are 'Quasi una fantasia'

  3. 13 and above.

    Well done! Your tempo marking is Vivacissimo (very lively and fast)

  4. 12 and above.

    Well done! Your tempo marking is: Vivace (lively and fast)

  5. 11 and above.

    Your tempo marking is: Vivace (lively and fast)

  6. 10 and above.

    Your tempo marking is: Allegro moderato (moderately quick)

  7. 9 and above.

    Your tempo marking is: Allegro moderato (moderately quick)

  8. 8 and above.

    Your tempo marking is: Andante (at a walking pace)

  9. 7 and above.

    Your tempo marking is: Andante (at a walking pace)

  10. 6 and above.

    Your tempo marking is: Adagio (slow and stately)

  11. 3 and above.

    Your tempo marking is: Largo (slowly)

  12. 2 and above.

    Your tempo marking is: Largo (slowly)

  13. 1 and above.

    Your tempo marking is: Larghissimo (very, very slow)

  14. 5 and above.

    Your tempo marking is: Adagio (slow and stately)

  15. 0 and above.

    Your tempo marking is: Larghissimo (very, very slow)

  16. 4 and above.

    Your tempo marking is: Adagio (slow and stately)
 

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