BBC Music Magazine Quiz: the Antarctic and the Arctic
Do you know your Penguinski from your Stravinsky? Test your classical music knowledge with our themed quiz. You'll find answers at the foot of the page.
1. For his Seventh Symphony, Vaughan Williams drew on his own score for which 1948 film?
2. Penguinski was a 1933 ballet score by which composer?
3. Name the world’s most northerly professional orchestra.
4. Where will you find the Beethoven Peninsula, the Brahms Inlet, the Rameau Ice Shelf and the Arensky Glacier?
5. Which former Master of the Queen's Music wrote pieces of music inspired by both penguins and bagpipes?
6. Whose Violin Concerto’s final movement has been described as a ‘polonaise for polar bears’?
7. Who wrote these arctic-wildlife-inspired pieces: (1) Cantus Arcticus (1972) (2) Earth and the Great Weather (1989–93)?
8. On his ill-fated 1910-13 Antarctic voyage, Captain Robert Scott took along (1) which musical instrument (2) 78s featuring which two popular classical artists?
9. Name the film and opera director behind both the Antarctica documentary Encounters at the End of the World and the Gesualdo biopic Death for Five Voices.
10. Which prize has been won by artists as diverse as Sir Paul McCartney, Dizzy Gillespie, Pierre Boulez, Stevie Wonder and Renée Fleming?
Answers
1. Scott of the Antarctic
2. Howells
3. Arctic Philharmonic Orchestra
4. Antarctica
5. Peter Maxwell Davies
6. Jean Sibelius
7. a) Einojuhani Rautavaara; b) John Luther Adams
8. a) Pianola; b) Enrico Caruso & Clara Butt
9. Werner Herzog
10. Polar Music Prize
How did you score?
8 – 10 out of 10: Jolly good snow! You should feel on top of the world with this score
5-7 out of 10: Very ice!
1-4 out of 10: Your answers are poles apart
0 out of 10: As paw as a polar bear's foot
Authors
