Music

101 Classical Music Trivia Questions for Music Lovers

When you think of classical music, a few of the greats come to mind: Johann Sebastian Bach, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Frederic Chopin, to name a few (and they all have such long, dramatic names, don’t they?). We all know famous tunes like “Fur Elise,” “Symphony No. 5,” and “Ride of the Valkyries.” But only a true expert can master this classical music quiz. 

Lovers of classic rock, jazz, and even hip-hop claim certain songs and artists as timeless, but no other music has been around since the early 1700s but classical. Sure, some people find it boring. But fans can appreciate the pure skill, careful technique, and beautiful sounds of pianos, violins, flutes, and horns coming together to form a complex piece. With these classical music questions and answers, you can prove your love for this masterful period in music history. 

Need more trivia in your life? Check out our classic rock, country music, and 80’s music trivia quizzes as well as some general music trivia questions and answers.

Vannesa-Mae found fame playing which musical instrument?

Guitar

Piano

Flute

Violin

Which composer once claimed to have poisoned Mozart?

Bach

Beethoven

Haydn

Salieri

In what century did Tchaikovsky live?

17th

20th

19th

18th

Which is the lowest of the male voices?

Alto

Baritone

Tenor

Bass

Which of these periods of classical music came first?

Classical

Renaissance

Baroque

Romantic

What was the first name of prolific Opera composer Puccini?

Franz

Guiseppe

Giacomo

Beppe

The March of the Toreadors’ comes from an Opera by which composer?

Bizet

Verdi

Puccini

Mozart

The Fairy Queen’ is a work by which composer?

Vaughn-Williams

Britten

Purcell

Elgar

To what year did Tchaikovsky dedicate a famous overture?

1812

1912

1712

1612

What is the nickanme of Beethovens 5th Piano Concerto?

King

Ruler

Emperor

Lord

Itzhak Perlman was a virtuoso on which instrument?

Piano

Violin

Oboe

Guitar

Who composed the Tritsch-Tratsch Polka?

Elliott Carter

Johann Strauss II

Paul Dukas

Henry Purcell

Ludwig Van Kochel made catalogued which composers works?

Mozart

Haydn

Bach

Beethoven

Bolero’ was the work of which composer?

Grieg

Wagner

Bach

Ravel

Who composed the ‘Funeral March’?

Claude Debussy

Alban Berg

Frederic Chopin

Franz Liszt

In what century did Johannes Brahms live?

17th

20th

18th

19th

What opera contains the famous ‘Casta Diva’ aria?

William Tell

The Barber Of Seville

The Magic Flute

Norma

Bach’s ‘Brandenburg Concertos’ were composed during what era?

Baroque

Classical

Futuristic

Early Romantic

Which of these terms describes the fastest style of playing?

Adagio

Grave

Legato

Allegro

Air on a G String’ is by which composer?

Bach

Chopin

Beethoven

Brahms

Which of these periods of classical music came latest?

Baroque

Romantic

Classical

Renaissance

What is the nickanme of Beethoven’s 5th Piano Concerto?

King

Ruler

Emperor

Lord

James Galway found fame playing which instrument?

Clarinet

Oboe

Piano

Flute

Rallentando refers to what?

Decrease in Volume

Increase in volume

Increase in Speed

Decrease in Speed

Prokofiev produced a work entitled ‘The Love For Three…..’?

Apples

Oranges

Onions

Pears

What nationality was the composer Carl Weber?

German

Dutch

Austrian

Spanish

How many instruments will be involved in a ‘Cadenza’?

4

1

The whole orchestra

0

Lied is the German word for what?

Play

Dance

Song

Bow

Fingals Cave’ is a work by which composer?

Wagner

Mendelssohn

Weber

Mussorgsky

Who composed ‘Revolutionary’ Etude?

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Ludwig Van Beethoven

Richard Wagner

Frederic Chopin

Liszt’s ‘Hungarian Rhapsodies’ were composed during what era?

Late Romantic

Early Romantic

Middle Romantic

Too Romantic

Who wrote ‘O Fortuna’?

Carl Orff

Igor Stravinsky

Serge Prokofiev

Charles Gounod

Pablo Casals is famed for playing which instrument?

Cello

Piano

Violin

Flute

Which of these was NOT a German composer?

Weber

Chopin

Teleman

Gluck

The Planets’ is a famous classical work by which composer?

Holst

Mozart

Elgar

Beethoven

Issac Albeniz was born is which country?

Mexico

Spain

Portugal

Italy

Swan Lake’ was a work by which Russian Composer?

Mendelssohn

Prokofiev

Rimsky-Korsakov

Tchaikovsky

Charles Villiers Stanford was born in which country?

America

Canada

New Zealand

Ireland

The Fairy Queen’ is a work by which composer?

Vaughn-Williams

Britten

Purcell

Elgar

The Manaus Opera House lies on which river?

Po

Ganges

Amazon

Nile

What was the surname of the composer known as Adam the Hunchback?

De La Halle

Tallis

Dunstable

Du Fay

How many strings does a Harp have?

206

46

406

16

Who composed ‘Moonlight Sonata, Movement 1’?

Ludwig Van Beethoven

Johannes Brahms

Igor Stravinsky

Samuel Barber

La Scala is an Opera House in which Italian city?

Rome

Milan

Turin

Naples

What opera features a quack named Dulcamara?

Norma

Idomeneo

The Elixir of Love

The Marriage of Figaro

What composer published some of his sister’s compositions under his name due to societal norms that frowned on female composers?

Jules Massenet

Charles Gounod

Felix Mendelssohn

Johannes Brahms

What was the first name of prolific Opera compose Puccini?

Giacomo

Franz

Beppe

Guiseppe

Who composed the ‘Grosse Fugue’?

Antonio Vivaldi

Richard Wagner

Ludwig Van Beethoven

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Belshazzar’s Feast’ was a work by which British composer?

Elgar

Walton

Purcell

Barnes

in which century did Dmitri Shostakovich live?

19th

17th

18th

20th

In what year was Beethoven born?

1770

1790

1750

1810

Peter and the Wolf’ was composed by which Russian?

Mendelssohn

Tchaikovsky

Prokofiev

Rimsky-Korsakov

What was the name of Beethovens only Opera?

Fernilo

Fido

Fidelio

Filo

Who was the founder of Impressionist music?

Bizet

Handel

Rossini

Debussy

Sergei Prokofiev composed a ballet based on what Shakespearian play?

King Lear

Othello

As You Like It

Romeo And Juliet

Clock2 and ‘Surprise’ are common names for symphonies by which composer?

Haydn

Beethoven

Mozart

Schubert

After which European capital is the 104th Symphony by Haydn known?

Paris

Madrid

London

Rome

How is Beethoven’s 3rd Symphony better known?

Summer

Leningrad

Choral

Eroica

The Gamelan is the tradtional orchestra in which country?

Indonesia

Mexico

Japan

Russia

Which of thse was NOT an Italian composer?

Vivaldi

Rossini

Verdi

Liszt

Which of the following means unaccompanied singing?

Alberti

A Cappella

Accent

Aleatory

What composer lost his right arm in WWI and composed left-hand compositions for the piano?

Paul Wittgenstein

Leos Janácek

Dietrich Buxtehude

Giacomo Meyerbeer

Who composed ‘Peter and the Wolf’?

Sergei Prokofiev

Johann Strauss II

Giuseppe Verdi

Henry Purcell

Ave Maria’ was composed by whom?

Schubert

Bizet

Satie

Debussy

Who created ‘The Blue Danube’?

Johannes Brahms

Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Strauss II

Johan Strauss

Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6 ‘Pathetique’ was composed during what era?

Late Romantic

Un-Romantic

Early Romantic

Middle Romantic

In what country was Gustav Mahler born?

Austria

Germany

Russia

Italy

Which one of these was NOT a French composer?

Ravel

Debussy

Liszt

Berlioz

What nationality is the composer Kurt Weill?

Dutch

Austrian

German

American

Who composed ‘Finlandia’?

Remo Giazotto

Jean Sibelius

Bedřich Smetana

Luigi Boccherini

Carl Maria von Weber’s ‘Der Freischütz’ translates to what in English?

The Mischief Maker

The Marksman

The Evil Tyrant

The Honor Guard

In what year was Mozart born?

1726

1826

1756

1796

Mozart’s Symphonies No. 40 and 41 were composed during what era?

Bronze

Late Romantic

Classical

Atonal

Adagio refers to what kind of pace within a piece of music?

Quiet

Slow

Loud

Fast

Berlioz was a famous German composer. But what was his first name?

Giacomo

Johannes

Hector

Franz

How many operas were written by Rimsky-Korsakov?

15

5

100

50

What was the first name of the Russian composer Prokofiev?

Sergei

Sergio

Alexandar

Pitor

Who composed ‘The Thieving Magpie Overture’?

Dmitri Shostakovich

Olivier Messiaen

Maurice Ravel

Gioachino Rossini

How many players are involved in a string quartet?

4

3

9

6

Which composer wrote the famous Brandenburg Concertos?

Schumann

Beethoven

Bach

Schubert

What kind of ‘Concerto’ did Alban Berg compose during the Atonal era?

Cello

Bass

Harpsichord

Violin

What nationality is the composer John Adams?

American

Scottish

Canadian

English

Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis’ ish a work by which British Composer?

Alwyn

Purcell

Elgar

Vaughn Williams

How many Operas were composed by Giacomo Puccini?

24

36

2

12

On which instrument is a Nocturne usually played?

Violin

Piano

Oboe

Flute

In what year did Tchaikovsky die?

1993

1893

1803

1903

Which of these was NOT one of the Three Tenors?

Luciano Pavarotti

Andrea Bocelli

Placido Domingo

Jose Carrera

in which centiry did Henry Purcell live?

16th

17th

15th

19th

Lied’ is the German word for what?

Dance

Song

Play

Bow

Which of the following was buried in an unmarked paupers grave?

Mozart

Chopin

Beethoven

Haydn

Das Rheingold,’ ‘Die Walküre,’ ‘Siegfried’ and ‘Götterdammerung’ make up what Richard Wagner ‘cycle’?

The Angel Cycle

The Saga Cycle

The Ring Cycle

The Life Cycle

Legato’ is an instruction to play a piece in what style?

Loudly

Quickly

Violently

Smoothly

In which country was Antonio Vivaldi born?

Russia

France

Spain

Italy

Which of these terms describes the slowest style of playing?

Presto

Vivace

Adante

Allegro

What is considered to be Richard Wagner’s only comic opera?

Tristan und Isolde

Siegfried

Götterdämmerung

Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg

If something is played ‘Allegro’ how is it place?

Slow

Fast

Medium

Quietly

After which planet is Mozarts Symphony No.41 named?

Saturn

Mars

Jupiter

Uranus

What was the name of Beethoven’s only Opera?

Filo

Fido

Fidelio

Fernilo

In which country was Schubert born?

Austria

Hungary

Poland

Germany

What nationality was the composer Sibelius?

Danish

Norwegian

Swedish

Finnish

Who composed, ‘Carmina Burana’?

Orff

Mascagni

Mozart

Saint-Saens

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