Sibelius – The Easy Quiz (New Year 2019) – Answers

Here are the correct answers to 2019’s New Year Quiz:

1. How many symphonies did Sibelius write?
c) 7

2. Sibelius was born in the year in which an American president died. Which one?
b) Abraham Lincoln

3. The Swan of Tuonela features a major solo for which instrument?
a) cor anglais

4. Sibelius’s eldest daughter’s married name was…
c) Eva Paloheimo

5. Kullervo and Lemminkäinen, as depicted in music by Sibelius, are characters in which epic poem?
b) Kalevala

6. Who played the solo part at the first performance of Sibelius’s Violin Concerto (original version)?
b) Viktor Nováček

7. In which city was Sibelius’s Seventh Symphony premièred?
c) Stockholm

8. Sibelius and Winston Churchill famously shared a love of
b) cigars

9. The tone poem Tapiola is an evocation of
c) Finnish forests

10. In 1893 Sibelius wrote a score for tableaux based on the history of which geographical region?
c) Karelia

11. In 1892 Sibelius married
a) Aino Järnefelt

12. Sibelius’s home, Ainola, was designed by
b) Lars Sonck

13. Sibelius sheltered at the Lapinlahti Mental Hospital during which conflict?
c) Finnish Civil War

14. Donald Tovey described the finale of Sibelius’s Violin Concerto as a polonaise for…
b) polar bears

15. Sibelius’s Seventh Symphony was originally named
c) Fantasia sinfonica

16. Before composing his Fourth Symphony, Sibelius was inspired by a visit to
b) Koli mountain

17. In his youth Sibelius greatly enjoyed summer visits to his grandmother’s house in
b) Lovisa

18. At the end of his career, at the height of his powers, Sibelius stopped producing major works. He is therefore sometimes compared to which Shakespearean character?
a) Prospero

19. In Sweden, the title of Sibelius’s Kullervo usually appears on programmes as
b) Kullervo

20. Sibelius advised a conductor in detail about recording his Fourth Symphony, and later suggested that the same conductor should record The Oceanides. Which conductor?
b) Thomas Beecham

21. Sibelius’s famous piece of incidental music depicting the dance of a dying woman is called
c) Valse triste

22. Sibelius’s Jäger March was originally composed as
b) a military song for the Royal Prussian 27th Jäger Battalion

23. The title of Sibelius’s opera Jungfrun i tornet is usually translated into English as
c) The Maiden in the Tower

24. Among Sibelius’s fiftieth birthday presents, still preserved at his home Ainola, was
a) a Steinway piano

25. Sibelius auditioned unsuccessfully for a post as violinist with which orchestra?
c) Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra

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