I85PREP
⌘ K
Matura History of Music study materials
Matura History of Music study resources

Matura History of Music practice questions

One question at a time. Build your Matura History of Music understanding.

First 50 of 200 questions. Each one lists the choices, the correct answer, and an explanation. The checker at the top of this page saves progress in this browser when it is available.

Continue in the practice tool above to load more questions, 50 at a time.

Question 1Music theory and notation

In common-practice notation, which clef assigns the fourth line of the staff to the note F below middle C?

  1. Alto clef
  2. Bass clef Correct answer.
  3. Treble clef
  4. Tenor clef

Explanation

The bass clef is an F clef: its two dots bracket the fourth line, which is fixed as F below middle C. From that anchor the remaining lines and spaces follow stepwise, placing middle C one ledger line above the staff.

Question 2Music theory and notation

A note written with a single dot placed to its right, in a passage of duple metre, has what duration?

  1. One quarter extra of its written value
  2. Three quarters of its written value
  3. Twice its written value
  4. Half again its written value Correct answer.

Explanation

A dot adds half of the preceding note value to that value, so a dotted note lasts one and a half times its undotted length. The metre does not change this arithmetic, though it affects how the resulting duration is beamed and grouped.

Question 3Music theory and notation

Which interval is produced by two notes on adjacent lines of the staff when no accidental is present?

  1. A fourth
  2. A second
  3. A fifth
  4. A third Correct answer.

Explanation

Staff lines and spaces alternate, so moving from one line to the next skips the space between and spans three letter names, which is a third. Adjacent line and space, by contrast, give a second.

Question 4Music theory and notation

In 6/8 time, which grouping of a full bar reflects the metre's compound character?

  1. One group of four plus one group of two
  2. Six separate quavers with equal stress
  3. Two groups of three quavers Correct answer.
  4. Three groups of two quavers

Explanation

A 6/8 bar contains six quavers organised as two dotted-crotchet beats, each subdivided into three. The primary accent therefore falls on quavers one and four, which is what distinguishes it from 3/4.

Question 5Music theory and notation

Which accidental raises a note by one semitone without changing its letter name?

  1. Flat
  2. Double flat
  3. Natural
  4. Sharp Correct answer.

Explanation

A sharp raises the pitch of the written note by a semitone while the letter name stays the same, so F becomes F sharp. This distinction matters because enharmonic respelling changes the letter name and therefore the interval's spelling.

Question 6Music theory and notation

Which rest symbol denotes a silence lasting one whole bar in 4/4 time?

  1. Quaver rest
  2. Semibreve rest Correct answer.
  3. Minim rest
  4. Crotchet rest

Explanation

The semibreve rest hangs below the fourth line and represents a whole note's silence, filling a 4/4 bar. It is also conventionally used as a full-bar rest in other metres where a whole bar must be silent.

Question 7Music theory and notation

A piece notated with no sharps or flats in the key signature begins and ends on A, and uses G sharp throughout as a leading note. Which key is it in?

  1. C major
  2. A major
  3. E minor
  4. A minor Correct answer.

Explanation

An empty key signature fits C major or A minor, and the tonic A with a raised seventh G sharp confirms A harmonic minor. The raised leading note is the decisive evidence, since natural minor would use G natural.

Question 8Music theory and notation

Which scale-degree pattern describes the natural minor scale?

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
  2. 1 2 b3 4 5 b6 b7 Correct answer.
  3. 1 b2 b3 4 5 b6 b7
  4. 1 2 b3 4 5 6 b7

Explanation

Natural minor lowers the third, sixth and seventh degrees relative to major, giving the semitone pattern 2-1-2-2-1-2-2. The lowered sixth is what distinguishes it from the harmonic and melodic forms.

Question 9Music theory and notation

In a major key, which chord is built on the seventh degree of the scale?

  1. A diminished triad Correct answer.
  2. A major triad
  3. A minor triad
  4. An augmented triad

Explanation

Diatonic triads in major follow the pattern major, minor, minor, major, major, minor, diminished. The seventh degree therefore carries a diminished triad, which functions as the leading-note chord resolving to the tonic.

Question 10Music theory and notation

A chord built from the notes C, E, G and B in root position is best described as which seventh chord?

  1. Dominant seventh
  2. Minor seventh
  3. Half-diminished seventh
  4. Major seventh Correct answer.

Explanation

The interval from C to B is a major seventh, and the triad beneath is major, so the chord is a major seventh. Dominant seventh would require B flat, giving a minor seventh above the root.

Question 11Music theory and notation

Which cadence moves from the subdominant chord directly to the tonic, ending on the tonic root position?

  1. Interrupted cadence
  2. Plagal cadence Correct answer.
  3. Perfect cadence
  4. Imperfect cadence

Explanation

The plagal cadence is IV to I and is traditionally associated with the closing 'Amen' formula. A perfect cadence uses V to I, which is a different harmonic progression with a stronger leading-note pull.

Question 12Music theory and notation

A melody in C major leaps from G up to C, then continues to E. Which symbol best describes the resulting triadic outline?

  1. Arpeggiation of the tonic triad Correct answer.
  2. Suspension resolution
  3. Neighbour-note figure
  4. Chromatic passing motion

Explanation

The notes G, C and E are members of the C major tonic triad, so the melodic motion outlines that chord in succession. Outlining chord members in this way is arpeggiation, not stepwise or chromatic motion.

Question 13Music theory and notation

Which term denotes a curved line joining two notes of different pitch, indicating they are sung or played legato in one phrase?

  1. Fermata
  2. Slur Correct answer.
  3. Staccato
  4. Tie

Explanation

A slur groups different pitches into a single articulation or phrasing unit. A tie looks identical but joins two notes of the same pitch to extend their duration.

Question 14Music theory and notation

In 4/4 time, a syncopated rhythm typically places an accent on which position?

  1. Every beat equally
  2. The final beat of the bar alone
  3. The first beat of the bar
  4. A weak beat or the offbeat Correct answer.

Explanation

Syncopation displaces accent onto weak beats or between beats, contradicting the metric stress the metre establishes. The first beat of the bar is the strongest metrical position and therefore the opposite of syncopated.

Question 15Music theory and notation

Which ornament is written as a small note before the main note and takes its time from that main note in modern performance?

  1. Acciaccatura Correct answer.
  2. Turn
  3. Appoggiatura
  4. Mordent

Explanation

The acciaccatura is the small slashed grace note played as quickly as possible, borrowing negligible time from the principal note. The appoggiatura, by contrast, is unmarked by a slash and takes a measurable share of the main note's value.

Question 16Music theory and notation

A passage modulates from C major to G major. Which chord most typically prepares the new key?

  1. D minor
  2. F major
  3. D major Correct answer.
  4. A minor

Explanation

G major's dominant is D major, and introducing F sharp through that chord is what establishes the new tonic. D minor belongs to C major and would not confirm G as tonic.

Question 17Music theory and notation

Which description matches a first-inversion tonic triad in root-position notation analysis?

  1. The third of the chord is in the bass Correct answer.
  2. The seventh of the chord is in the bass
  3. The root of the chord is in the bass
  4. The fifth of the chord is in the bass

Explanation

Inversion is determined by which chord member sounds in the bass, so a first-inversion triad places its third lowest. Root position puts the root in the bass, and second inversion puts the fifth there.

Question 18Music theory and notation

A composer writes a passage in 3/2 and wants a hemiola against the prevailing metre. Which grouping of the bar's six minims achieves this?

  1. Six groups of one minim
  2. Two groups of three minims
  3. Three groups of two minims Correct answer.
  4. One group of four plus one group of two

Explanation

A 3/2 bar normally divides into three minim beats, so regrouping those six minims into three groups of two creates the two-against-three conflict characteristic of hemiola. The pattern temporarily implies a duple metre before the triple metre resumes.

Question 19Music theory and notation

Which pair of intervals is enharmonically equivalent but spelled differently?

  1. Major sixth and minor sixth
  2. Augmented fourth and diminished fifth Correct answer.
  3. Major third and minor third
  4. Perfect fourth and perfect fifth

Explanation

The augmented fourth and diminished fifth both span six semitones, yet they differ in letter-name span and therefore in spelling and harmonic function. The tritone's spelling determines whether it resolves outward to a sixth or inward to a third.

Question 20Music theory and notation

In four-part chorale style, which voice-leading rule governs the treatment of the leading note in an outer voice when the harmony moves to the tonic?

  1. It rises by semitone to the tonic Correct answer.
  2. It leaps to the mediant
  3. It falls by semitone to the dominant
  4. It is doubled in the bass

Explanation

The leading note carries a strong tendency to resolve upwards by semitone to the tonic, particularly in an outer voice. This rule prevents the flattened seventh effect that a descending resolution would create in the cadence.

Question 21Ancient, medieval and Renaissance music

Which body of monophonic plainchant, traditionally associated with Pope Gregory I, became the core repertory of the medieval Roman liturgy?

  1. Gregorian chant Correct answer.
  2. Gallican chant
  3. Ambrosian chant
  4. Mozarabic chant

Explanation

Gregorian chant is the repertory of monophonic Latin plainchant that medieval tradition attributed to Pope Gregory I and that spread through the Frankish reforms and later the Roman liturgy. The other named chants are regional rites with their own melodies and uses.

Question 22Ancient, medieval and Renaissance music

In modal theory inherited from Boethius and later medieval writers, which pair of terms names the final and the reciting tone of a church mode?

  1. Clausula and punctum
  2. Cantus and tenor
  3. Hexachord and solmization
  4. Final and tenor Correct answer.

Explanation

Each church mode is defined by its final, the closing pitch, and its tenor (also called the reciting tone), the pitch around which psalm tones and recitation center. The other pairs name unrelated concepts from chant notation and polyphony.

Question 23Ancient, medieval and Renaissance music

The medieval hexachord system built on the syllables ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la is traditionally credited to which theorist?

  1. Guido of Arezzo Correct answer.
  2. Philippe de Vitry
  3. Johannes Tinctoris
  4. Hucbald of Saint-Amand

Explanation

Guido of Arezzo, writing in the eleventh century, is credited with the hexachord system and the syllable names derived from the hymn Ut queant laxis. These syllables became the basis for solmization across the Middle Ages and Renaissance.

Question 24Ancient, medieval and Renaissance music

Which description best characterizes the organum of the Notre Dame school around 1200?

  1. Strict canon at the unison between two equal voices
  2. Sustained tenor notes supporting florid upper voices in rhythmic modes Correct answer.
  3. Homophonic chordal declamation of a complete Mass text
  4. Monophonic recitation of a psalm tone without accompaniment

Explanation

Notre Dame organum, associated with Leoninus and Perotinus, sets a slow sustained tenor beneath one or more faster upper voices organized by rhythmic modes. This produced the elaborate clausulae and discant passages that fed later polyphonic development.

Question 25Ancient, medieval and Renaissance music

In the ars nova of fourteenth-century France, which notational development allowed composers to divide note values into two as well as three parts?

  1. Chant notation with staffless neumes
  2. Neumatic notation with liquescent neumes
  3. Tablature with letter names
  4. Mensural notation with proportional signs Correct answer.

Explanation

Ars nova notation, described by Philippe de Vitry and others, introduced mensural signs that permitted duple as well as triple division of note values. This flexibility enabled the rhythmically intricate motets and chansons of the period.

Question 26Ancient, medieval and Renaissance music

The term cantus firmus in Renaissance polyphony most often refers to which element?

  1. A drone bass held without rhythm
  2. A pre-existing melody used as the structural tenor of a polyphonic work Correct answer.
  3. The highest improvised voice in a chanson
  4. A cadential formula closing each phrase

Explanation

A cantus firmus is a pre-existing melody, often plainchant or a secular tune, borrowed and placed in the tenor as the structural foundation of a polyphonic composition. Composers built Mass cycles and motets around such borrowed material.

Question 27Ancient, medieval and Renaissance music

Which composer is the central figure of the Franco-Flemish school whose Mass settings include the Missa Pange lingua?

  1. John Dunstaple
  2. Guillaume Dufay
  3. Cipriano de Rore
  4. Josquin des Prez Correct answer.

Explanation

Josquin des Prez, the leading figure of the Franco-Flemish generation around 1500, composed the Missa Pange lingua on a chant hymn melody. His works exemplify the imitative, carefully balanced polyphony of the period.

Question 28Ancient, medieval and Renaissance music

The contenance angloise, a style noted for sweet thirds and sixths and flowing consonance, is associated with which English composer?

  1. John Dunstaple Correct answer.
  2. John Taverner
  3. Thomas Tallis
  4. William Byrd

Explanation

John Dunstaple is the composer most closely linked with the contenance angloise, a fifteenth-century English style praised for its sweet consonances that influenced Continental polyphony. Tallis, Byrd, and Taverner belong to later English generations.

Question 29Ancient, medieval and Renaissance music

Which formal device, common in Renaissance polyphony, presents a single melodic idea in successive voices at different pitch levels?

  1. Ostinato
  2. Imitation Correct answer.
  3. Hocket
  4. Drone

Explanation

Imitation restates a melodic idea in another voice, often at a different pitch, and became the principal means of unifying Renaissance polyphony. It underlies points of imitation in motets and the pervasive imitation of later sixteenth-century style.

Question 30Ancient, medieval and Renaissance music

Which genre of Renaissance secular polyphony set Italian poems, often with vivid word painting, and flourished in the sixteenth century?

  1. Madrigal Correct answer.
  2. Motet
  3. Rondeau
  4. Chanson

Explanation

The Italian madrigal set vernacular poems for several unaccompanied voices and encouraged expressive devices such as word painting. It became the leading secular genre of the sixteenth century, distinct from sacred motet and French chanson.

Question 31Ancient, medieval and Renaissance music

The Council of Trent's discussions of sacred music in the sixteenth century are traditionally linked to which concern?

  1. Adoption of vernacular hymns in the Latin Mass
  2. Use of instrumental accompaniment in the Mass
  3. Replacement of chant with metrical psalmody
  4. Intelligibility of the sacred text in polyphonic settings Correct answer.

Explanation

Reformers at Trent worried that dense polyphony obscured the words of the liturgy, prompting discussion of textual clarity in sacred music. The legendary account of Palestrina saving polyphony oversimplifies a genuine concern about intelligibility.

Question 32Ancient, medieval and Renaissance music

Which composer's Pope Marcellus Mass is often cited as a model of clear, restrained sixteenth-century sacred polyphony?

  1. Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina Correct answer.
  2. Orlande de Lassus
  3. Tomás Luis de Victoria
  4. Cristóbal de Morales

Explanation

Palestrina's Pope Marcellus Mass exemplifies the balanced, textually clear polyphony associated with the post-Tridentine ideal. Its smooth counterpoint and careful declamation made it a standard reference for later church style.

Question 33Ancient, medieval and Renaissance music

Which technique, characteristic of the Venetian polychoral style, places contrasting groups of singers and instruments in separate spatial positions?

  1. Cantus firmus
  2. Cori spezzati Correct answer.
  3. Musica ficta
  4. Basso continuo

Explanation

Cori spezzati, or divided choirs, exploited the architecture of St. Mark's in Venice by placing separate ensembles in different locations. This antiphonal practice shaped the grand Venetian style of the late sixteenth century.

Question 34Ancient, medieval and Renaissance music

Which composer, working at St. Mark's in Venice, is celebrated for polychoral motets and the collection Sacrae symphoniae?

  1. Claudio Monteverdi
  2. Andrea Gabrieli
  3. Giovanni Gabrieli Correct answer.
  4. Adrian Willaert

Explanation

Giovanni Gabrieli, nephew of Andrea and organist at St. Mark's, published the Sacrae symphoniae and wrote polychoral motets that exploit spatial separation and instrumental color. His work marks the culmination of the Venetian style around 1600.

Question 35Ancient, medieval and Renaissance music

In Renaissance music, musica ficta refers to which practice?

  1. Writing music without any fixed meter
  2. Adding unnotated accidentals to avoid tritones and create cadential semitones Correct answer.
  3. Substituting instruments for voices in performance
  4. Improvising a second voice above the cantus

Explanation

Musica ficta is the performer's or editor's addition of accidentals not written in the source, typically to soften tritones and raise leading tones at cadences. It reflects the gap between notation and sounding practice in Renaissance polyphony.

Question 36Ancient, medieval and Renaissance music

Which form, central to the fifteenth-century Burgundian chanson, sets a fixed poetic pattern and returns to the opening music at the end?

  1. Virelai
  2. Ballata
  3. Caccia
  4. Rondeau Correct answer.

Explanation

The rondeau is a fixed form in which a refrain recurs at the end and the opening music returns, and it was a favorite vehicle of Burgundian chanson composers. The ballata and caccia are Italian forms, while the virelai is another French fixed form with a different pattern.

Question 37Ancient, medieval and Renaissance music

The Mass Ordinary in Renaissance polyphony normally sets which group of texts?

  1. Veni Creator, Pange lingua, Ave maris stella
  2. Magnificat, Benedictus, Te Deum
  3. Introit, Gradual, Alleluia, Offertory, Communion
  4. Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Agnus Dei Correct answer.

Explanation

The Mass Ordinary consists of the five fixed texts sung at every Mass: Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei. Renaissance composers built cyclic Mass settings by setting these texts as a unified polyphonic work.

Question 38Ancient, medieval and Renaissance music

Which composer of the Eton Choirbook is known for large-scale English polyphony such as the Missa O quam gloriosum?

  1. John Taverner
  2. William Cornysh Correct answer.
  3. Thomas Weelkes
  4. Robert Fayrfax

Explanation

William Cornysh, represented in the Eton Choirbook, is associated with expansive English polyphony and a Mass on O quam gloriosum. The other composers either belong to different generations or did not contribute to that collection.

Question 39Ancient, medieval and Renaissance music

Which theorist's treatise Ars nova gave its name to the fourteenth-century French notational reform?

  1. Philippe de Vitry Correct answer.
  2. Jacobus of Liège
  3. Marchetto of Padua
  4. Franco of Cologne

Explanation

The Ars nova treatise, attributed to Philippe de Vitry, described the new mensural possibilities of the fourteenth century and gave the era its name. Franco of Cologne and Marchetto belong to earlier or different theoretical traditions.

Question 40Ancient, medieval and Renaissance music

A Renaissance composer writes a Mass using a secular song melody in the tenor. Which term best describes this procedure?

  1. Canon Mass
  2. Cantus firmus Mass Correct answer.
  3. Plainsong Mass
  4. Parody Mass

Explanation

When a pre-existing melody is placed in the tenor as the structural basis, the result is a cantus firmus Mass. Parody Mass instead reworks the polyphonic texture of a model, and plainsong Mass draws on chant material in a broader way.

Question 41Ancient, medieval and Renaissance music

Which feature most clearly distinguishes the Italian madrigal of the late sixteenth century from the earlier frottola?

  1. Use of Latin liturgical texts
  2. Ostinato bass patterns
  3. Strophic form with simple chordal accompaniment
  4. Through-composed texture with expressive text setting Correct answer.

Explanation

The late sixteenth-century madrigal favors through-composed settings that follow the poem's imagery with expressive devices, unlike the strophic, lighter frottola. This shift marks the madrigal's rise as a serious secular genre.

Question 42Ancient, medieval and Renaissance music

Which term describes a melodic line that moves predominantly by step in small intervals, a hallmark of Palestrina's style?

  1. Disjunct motion
  2. Leaping bass
  3. Conjunct motion Correct answer.
  4. Angular contour

Explanation

Conjunct motion proceeds mainly by adjacent scale steps and gives Palestrina's lines their smooth, vocally idiomatic quality. Disjunct motion, by contrast, relies on larger leaps and is more characteristic of instrumental writing.

Question 43Ancient, medieval and Renaissance music

Which collection of sixteenth-century English sacred music preserves large-scale Latin polyphony from before the Reformation?

  1. Parnassus Musicus
  2. Cancionero de Palacio
  3. Chantilly Codex
  4. Eton Choirbook Correct answer.

Explanation

The Eton Choirbook is a major manuscript of English Latin polyphony from around 1500, preserving elaborate votive antiphons and Mass movements. The other collections belong to different countries and repertories.

Question 44Ancient, medieval and Renaissance music

In the development of medieval polyphony, what does the term discant describe?

  1. A canon in which voices enter in succession
  2. A drone sustained beneath a chant melody
  3. A monophonic trope added to a chant
  4. Note-against-note counterpoint in which voices move in similar rhythmic values Correct answer.

Explanation

Discant denotes a style of polyphony in which the voices move largely note against note in comparable rhythmic values, contrasting with the sustained tenor of organum purum. It became a key technique in the Notre Dame repertory.

Question 45Baroque music

Which Baroque composer is best known for the set of concertos published in 1725 as Opus 8, including 'La primavera' (Spring)?

  1. Antonio Vivaldi Correct answer.
  2. Giuseppe Torelli
  3. Tomaso Albinoni
  4. Arcangelo Corelli

Explanation

Vivaldi published his Opus 8 in Amsterdam around 1725 as 'Il cimento dell'armonia e dell'inventione', and its first four concertos form 'Le quattro stagioni'. The Spring concerto opens the set and is the most famous programmatic concerto of the Baroque.

Question 46Baroque music

In Baroque terminology, what does 'basso continuo' designate?

  1. A dance suite movement in binary form with two repeated halves
  2. A bass line with figures above or below it, realised by a keyboard or plucked instrument plus a bass melody instrument Correct answer.
  3. A style of unaccompanied solo singing used in early opera
  4. A four-voice choral texture in which the lowest voice doubles the tenor

Explanation

The continuo group consists of a bass instrument (cello, bassoon, violone) and a chordal instrument (harpsichord, organ, lute) that fills in harmonies from the figured bass. This basso continuo underpins most Baroque ensembles and is the defining feature of the period's texture.

Question 47Baroque music

Which Baroque genre is a large-scale sacred choral work with soloists, choir and orchestra, but without staging, costumes or acting?

  1. Cantata da camera
  2. Oratorio Correct answer.
  3. Opera seria
  4. Intermezzo

Explanation

The oratorio uses the same musical forces as opera but is presented in concert form, usually on a sacred subject. Handel's 'Messiah' is the classic example: solo arias, recitatives and choruses, but no staging.

Question 48Baroque music

Which composer wrote the Brandenburg Concertos (BWV 1046–1051)?

  1. Jean-Philippe Rameau
  2. Georg Philipp Telemann
  3. Johann Sebastian Bach Correct answer.
  4. Georg Friedrich Handel

Explanation

Bach assembled the six Brandenburg Concertos around 1721 and dedicated them to Christian Ludwig, Margrave of Brandenburg. They explore varied concertino groupings, from the horns of No. 1 to the harpsichord solo of No. 5.

Question 49Baroque music

The 'fugue' as cultivated in the Baroque is best described as which of the following?

  1. A binary dance movement with two repeated halves
  2. A contrapuntal composition built on one subject imitated in successive voices Correct answer.
  3. A strophic song with a repeated bass pattern
  4. A chordal accompaniment pattern in triple metre

Explanation

A fugue presents a subject in one voice and then imitates it in the other voices, with episodes and modulating passages between entries. Bach's 'Well-Tempered Clavier' is the central Baroque collection of fugues.

Question 50Baroque music

Which of these is a dance movement typically found in a Baroque suite?

  1. Gigue Correct answer.
  2. Rondo
  3. Toccata
  4. Prelude

Explanation

The Baroque suite traditionally groups dances such as the allemande, courante, sarabande and gigue. The gigue is a fast compound-metre dance that usually closes the suite.