Lesson T5.1.1

T5.1.1 Listening to great composers Quiz: KS3 Music, Unit 5

20 questions

Written by Revision Ninja · Last reviewed 11 October 2026

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Lesson T5.1.1, Listening to great composers: 20 multiple choice questions for the KS3 Music (National Curriculum), Unit 5: Listening, written with Revision Ninja.

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The 20 questions

  1. Which composer wrote The Four Seasons?

    • Handel, a German-born composer
    • Vivaldi
    • Bach, a Leipzig composer
    • Mozart, a Viennese composer

  2. Which composer is famous for a symphony that opens with a four-note motif?

    • Schubert, who wrote many songs
    • Brahms, who wrote four symphonies
    • Beethoven
    • Haydn, who wrote 104 symphonies

  3. Who composed The Planets suite?

    • Ralph Vaughan Williams
    • Gustav Holst
    • Edward Elgar
    • Benjamin Britten

  4. Which composer wrote the ballet The Nutcracker?

    • Prokofiev
    • Tchaikovsky
    • Stravinsky
    • Rachmaninov

  5. Which composer is known for Clair de lune and the Impressionist style?

    • Johann Strauss
    • Frederic Chopin
    • Claude Debussy
    • Franz Liszt

  6. Who wrote Eine kleine Nachtmusik?

    • Haydn
    • Handel
    • Bach
    • Mozart

  7. Which composer wrote the Brandenburg Concertos?

    • Johann Sebastian Bach
    • Henry Purcell
    • George Frideric Handel
    • Antonio Vivaldi

  8. Which composer wrote The Rite of Spring and caused a riot at its premiere in 1913?

    • Igor Stravinsky
    • Dmitri Shostakovich
    • Erik Satie
    • Sergei Prokofiev

  9. Beethoven's Fifth Symphony begins with a short-short-short-long rhythm. What effect does this create?

    • A laid-back jazz swing
    • A relaxed waltz feel
    • A calm lullaby mood
    • Urgency and drama

  10. Holst's Mars, the Bringer of War is written in which time signature?

    • 4/4
    • 3/4
    • 6/8
    • 5/4

  11. A listener compares a Baroque piece and a Classical piece. Which difference is clearest?

    • Classical music never uses a melody
    • Classical music always uses a twelve-note row
    • A continuous bass line in Baroque music
    • Baroque music uses only electronic instruments

  12. In Debussy's Clair de lune, which technique creates a hazy, shimmering atmosphere?

    • Soft, blurred harmony
    • Constant loud brass fanfares
    • Rapid strict fugue entries
    • A continuous jazz swing rhythm

  13. Chopin's nocturnes are usually written for which instrument?

    • Solo violin
    • String quartet
    • Pipe organ
    • Solo piano

  14. A listener hears a Viennese waltz. Which composer is famous for these?

    • Gustav Mahler
    • Franz Liszt
    • Johann Strauss
    • Claude Debussy

  15. What is the best way to listen critically to Vivaldi's Four Seasons?

    • Concentrate on the name of the orchestra only
    • Its programme and how it imitates birdsong or storms
    • Listen only for the final chord of each movement
    • Skip the slow movements because they are less important

  16. Which feature of Mozart's music is typical of the Classical style?

    • Atonal chords with no tonic
    • Heavy electronic effects
    • Dense polyphony with many independent voices
    • Clear, balanced phrases and simple textures

  17. What is the subject of a fugue?

    • The final cadence of the piece
    • The accompaniment played by the basso continuo only
    • The main theme introduced at the start by one voice
    • A short section played between each verse

  18. Why might a listener find Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring surprising compared with Mozart?

    • It uses only major keys and simple duple metre
    • It was written for a solo flute
    • Irregular rhythms and dissonant harmony
    • It has no percussion or dynamic changes

  19. Which choral finale does Beethoven's Ninth Symphony famously use?

    • Ode to Joy
    • Hymn of Praise
    • The Lark Ascending
    • Pomp and Circumstance

  20. Which composer is most associated with the 1812 Overture?

    • Mussorgsky, of Pictures at an Exhibition
    • Borodin, of In the Steppes
    • Tchaikovsky
    • Glinka, of A Life for the Tsar

All KS3 Music quizzes