Famous Symphonies

About Famous Symphonies

Give your memory a workout with Famous Symphonies: 15 multiple-choice questions with a mix of 6 medium, 5 easy, 4 hard questions, free to play right in your browser. Test your knowledge of the greatest symphonies and the composers who created them! Expect to spend about 7 minutes; every question comes with an explanation, so you learn something even when you miss.

A few sample questions

1. 1. Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 famously opens with how many notes in its iconic 'da-da-da-DUM' motif?

   Answer: Four

   The four-note opening motif of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony (1808) — three short notes followed by one long note — is perhaps the most recognized phrase in all of classical music.

2. 2. Which Beethoven symphony includes the choral setting of Schiller's 'Ode to Joy'?

   Answer: Symphony No. 9

   Beethoven's Ninth Symphony (1824) was revolutionary for including vocal soloists and a chorus in its final movement. The 'Ode to Joy' melody was later adopted as the anthem of the European Union.

3. 3. Which composer wrote the 'Surprise Symphony,' with a sudden loud chord in the slow movement?

   Answer: Joseph Haydn

   Haydn's Symphony No. 94 ('Surprise') features a quiet melody suddenly interrupted by a fortissimo chord. Haydn reportedly said he wanted to make the audience jump who had fallen asleep.

4. 4. Dvořák's Symphony No. 9 is subtitled 'From the New World.' Where was he living when he wrote it?

   Answer: New York City

   Antonín Dvořák composed this symphony in 1893 while serving as director of the National Conservatory of Music in New York City. It incorporates elements inspired by Native American and African American music.

5. 5. Which Russian composer wrote the '1812 Overture,' often performed with real cannons?

   Answer: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

   Tchaikovsky composed the '1812 Overture' in 1880 to commemorate Russia's defense against Napoleon's invasion. The score calls for cannon fire and church bells in the finale.

Things you'll learn along the way

• ✓Mozart composed 41 numbered symphonies, with his last three (Nos. 39, 40, and 41) written in an astonishing six-week span in the summer of 1788. He died at age 35.
• ✓Schubert's Symphony No. 8 in B minor (1822) consists of only two completed movements. The reason he never finished it remains a mystery, though it is one of his most beloved works.
• ✓Beethoven originally dedicated the 'Eroica' to Napoleon, whom he admired as a champion of democracy. When Napoleon crowned himself Emperor in 1804, Beethoven angrily scratched out the dedication.