LACHSA Theory 3 Med_Ren_Barl Test practice

1. Church doctrine during the Middle Ages encouraged celebrating life on earth and
living it to its fullest.
false
2. The invention of the printing press was one of the things that helped to bring
independent thought to European culture
Ans: True
Ans: False
3. Music notation was developed during the Middle Ages.
Ans: True
4. Plainsong is another term for Gregorian chant.
Ans: True
5. Gregorian chant was always sung in Latin.
Ans: True
6. The sections of the mass that contains texts that vary with the day of the church year
are called the proper.
Ans: True
7. Medieval motets used a single text in Latin for each of the voices.
Ans: False
8. The Ordinary of the Mass is the part that varies with each day.
Ans: False
9. If a musical line is syllabic, each word is set to a separate note.
Ans: True
10. During the late Middle Ages, everyone from the middle class up learned to read as
part of a church education.
Ans: False
11. The troubadours, trouvéres, and minnesingers were usually from the lower classes.
Ans: False
12. Medieval motets could be a combination of sacred and secular because of the mix of
texts.
Ans: True
13. During the Middle Ages, noblewomen frequently wrote poetry and music for their
own and their families’ enjoyment.
Ans: True
Multiple Choice
14. Gregorian chant is named after Pope Gregory I because
A) a dove came down from heaven and whispered the sacred music in his ear.
B) he wrote all of it.
C) he is credited with ordering the simplification and cataloging of church music.
D) he decreed that music should be used in church.

Ans: C
15. Gregorian chant is
A) monophonic.
B) polyphonic.
C) homophonic.
D) organic.
Ans: A
Which of these civilizations was the first to impact the modern world?
A) Rome
B) Greece
C) France
D) Italy
16. Hildegard of Bingen was
A) a queen and a composer.
B) a stage actress.
C) a noblewoman known as a patron of the arts.
D) the abbess of her convent and a composer.
Ans: D
17. The most solemn service of the Catholic church, commemorating and reenacting the
Last Supper, is called
A) vespers.
B) the Mass.
C) the motet.
D) the propero.
Ans: B
18. Which of these sections of the mass is not a part of the ordinary?
A) Gospel
B) Kyrie
C) Credo
D) Sanctus
Ans: A
19. The development of polyphony was centered in
A) England.
B) France.
C) Italy.
D) Rome.
Ans: B
20.
The earliest polyphonic works were called
A) motets.

B) plainchant.
C) troubadour songs.
D) organum.
Ans: D
21. The Messe de Nostre Dame, the first complete polyphonic setting of the Ordinary of
the Mass, was written by
A) Guillaume de Machaut.
B) Léonin.
C) Hildegard of Bingen.
D) Pérotin.
Ans: A
22. The music of Machaut is representative of which of these periods in history?
A) Ars Nova
B) Ars Antiqua
C) Ars Medieval
D) Greek
Ans: A
23. The texts for secular music in the Middle Ages were written in
A) Latin.
B) French only.
C) the vernacular.
D) Italian only.
Ans: C
24. Medieval traveling street musicians were called
A) trouvères.
B) troubadours.
C) minnesingers.
D) jongleurs.
Ans: D
25. Setting each verse of a song to the same music is a formal structure called
A) free form.
B) binary form.
C) strophic form.
D) ternary form.
Ans: C
26. Which of the following instruments would NOT have been used to accompany songs
or dances in the Middle Ages.?
A) Psaltery
B) Lute
C) Harpsichord
D) Drums

Ans: C
27. The musical genre that added a second set of words to chant was the
A) Mass
B) Plainsong
C) Motet
D) Organa
Ans: C
28. The medieval genre that employed polytextual settings was
A) the Mass.
B) organum.
C) the motet.
D) plainsong.
Ans: C
29. Education and literacy became more widespread during the Renaissance, in part due
to the invention of the printing press.
Ans: True
30. The Renaissance attitude of humanism required people to give up all worldly goods
and think solely about life after death.
Ans: False
31. Palestrina is credited with returning church music to the simplicity and purity of
earlier times.
Ans: True
32. The Council of Trent believed that sacred music had been corrupted by complex
polyphony.
Ans: True
33. The sixteenth century was, to some degree at least, a period of bawdy earthiness,
irreverent humor, and celebration of sensual love.
Ans: True
34. Renaissance madrigals were always homophonic and strophic.
Ans: False
35. English madrigals are distinct from Italian madrigals, in part, due to their tendency to
use fa-la-la refrains.

Ans: True
36. Music for brass and reed instruments was popular for outdoor dancing.
Ans: True
37. The singing of madrigals after dinner was a popular pastime in Renaissance England.
Ans: True
Multiple Choice
38. The religious leader who broke away from the Catholic church over disagreements
with its doctrine was
A) John Farmer.
B) Martin Luther.
C) Claudio Monteverdi.
D) Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina.
Ans: B
39. The Renaissance motet includes all of these except
A) Polyphony
B) Imitation
C) Latin text only
D) Multiple texts in multiple languages
Ans: D
40. The reaction by the Catholic church to the spread of Protestantism was
A) humanism.
B) the Counter-Reformation.
C) the lied.
D) a move back to living solely for the glory of God.
Ans: B
41. The Council of Trent
A) forced musicians to compose monophonic chant again.
B) forbade the use of polyphony.
C) abolished all text from sacred music.
D) investigated every aspect of religious discipline, including church music.
Ans: D
42. The composer credited with writing a Mass that was so beautiful and simple it
supposedly convinced the council to reconsider abolishing polyphony was
A) Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina.

B) Josquin des Prez.
C) Claudio Monteverdi.
D) Michael Praetorius.
Ans: A
43. An Italian Renaissance secular musical genre with sentimental or erotic poetry was
the
A) chanson.
B) chorale.
C) madrigal.
D) fantasia.
Ans: C
44. Music written to represent the literal meaning of the text uses a technique called
A) transcription.
B) word painting.
C) embellishment.
D) imitation.
Ans: B
45. A type of French secular song that used accented rhythms and repetition was the
A) chanson.
B) lied.
C) chorale.
D) fantasia.
Ans: A
46. Renaissance German secular song was called the
A) chorale.
B) fantasia.
C) ballet.
D) lied.
Ans: D
47. A broken consort was made up of
A) instruments from the same family.
B) viols only.
C) instruments from a mixture of families.
D) brass only.
Ans: C
48. One of the changes Protestant churches made concerning music was
A) to sing in the vernacular.
B) to sing solely in Latin.
C) to abolish all singing by the congregation.

D) to allow only the singing of chant.
Ans: A
Matching
49. Match the composition with its composer.
“Flow My Tears“::John Dowland
Pope Marcellus Mass: “Kyrie”:: Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
“Fair Phyllis”:: John Farmer
“Ave Maria”:: Josquin des Prez
50. Match the songs with their descriptions.
Lied:: German secular song
Madrigal:: Italian secular song
Chanson:: French secular song
51. The music of the baroque was often as highly ornamented as the architecture and
paintings of the period.
Ans: True
52. In the baroque, music declined in importance in the church.
Ans: False
53. Within the Protestant church, almost all use of music disappeared during the baroque
period.
Ans: False
54. The baroque music that has come down to us was primarily written for the church and
the nobility.
Ans: True
55. The basso continuo line is played by two instruments: a chordal instrument and a
second playing the melodic bass line.
Ans: True
56.
57. The musical rhythm of recitative is very strict and rigid.
Ans: False
58. Secco recitative is accompanied by the full orchestra.
Ans: False

59. Operatic choral singing is often fairly homophonic.
Ans: True
60. Heroic male roles in baroque opera were often sung by castrati.
Ans: True
61. Today women frequently sing castrato roles.
Ans: True
62. Peri and Monteverdi composed operas based on the same subject – the story of
Orpheus.
Ans: True
63.
64. The group of musicians and scholars who “invented” opera while trying to recreate
the spirit of Greek drama were the
A) castrati.
B) counter tenors.
C) camerata.
D) ariosi.
Ans: C
65. Figured bass is
A) a sort of musical shorthand.
B) a complex bass line used only in opera finales.
C) the musical line sung by the castrati.
D) a line of music found only in opera arias.
Ans: A
66. A combination of singing and speech that serves as dialogue in opera is
A) figured bass.
B) aria.
C) monody.
D) recitative.
Ans: D
67. The focal point of vocal expression in opera that was designed to stand apart from the
story is the
A) recitative.
B) aria.
C) chorus.
D) castrato.

Ans: B
68. A da capo aria generally has the following formal structure:
A) canon.
B) AB.
C) ABA.
D) strophic.
Ans: C
69. The most famous castrato was
A) Monteverdi.
B) Peri.
C) Caccini.
D) Farinelli.
Ans: D
70. Which musical genre, in addition to opera, is Monteverdi known for?
A) Madrigals
B) Chansons
C) Oratorios
D) Concertos
Ans: A
71. This composer was part of the group that developed French opera:
A) Henry Purcell
B) Jean-Baptiste Lully
C) George Frideric Handel
D) Farinelli
Ans: B
72. The text of an opera is the
A) libretto.
B) aria.
C) recitative.
D) chorus.
Ans: A
73. Designed to accompany singing in early opera, this instrumental ensemble was
applied to virtually all baroque music:
A) Da capo aria
B) Ground bass
C) Basso continuo
D) Monody

Ans: C
74. Match the words with their definitions.
Recitative:: A combination of singing and speech used as dialogue in an opera.
Chorus:: A group of singers in an opera who portrayed, for example, citizens of a town.
Aria:: The most important form of vocal expression in opera.
Libretto:: The text of an opera
75. Match the composers with their biographical facts.
Claudio Monteverdi:: The composer of Orfeo.
Francesca Caccini:: The first woman known to have composed an opera.
Henry Purcell:: The composer of Dido and Aeneas.
Jacopo Peri:: The composer of the first known opera.