This week ... fiddles, anthems and conductor fatalities
1. Torvill and Dean scored maximum points at the 1984 winter Olympics for their dance routine set to Bolero. Who composed it?
2. “In the beginning, it was the family and the races; then the races united through linguistic equality as a nation.” Who wrote these words and which 20th-century tyrant derived inspiration from them?
3. A Stradivarius violin was sold at auction to raise money for victims of the Japanese earthquake. Did it fetch a) #163;450,000 b) #163;9.8 million c) #163;46.9 million?
4. William Hague asked his future wife to teach him the Welsh national anthem after his predecessor as Welsh secretary was caught on camera trying to mime the words. Who was the hapless politician?
5. Place these concert halls in order of audience capacity, starting with the smallest: Royal Albert Hall, Barbican, Royal Festival Hall, Wigmore Hall.
6. Bellini, Berlioz, Gounod, Prokofiev and Tchaikovsky all wrote pieces named after which Shakespeare characters?
7. Which modern-day manufacturer of cold remedies was founded by the grandfather of the man who started both the London Philharmonic and Royal Philharmonic orchestras?
8. El Sistema, the musical education programme which targets children from poor socio-economic backgrounds, originated in which country?
9. Who said, “Hell is full of amateur musicians”? Was it a) Bono b) George Bernard Shaw c) Dante?
10. On 8 January 1687, the French court composer Lully was conducting a Te Deum in honour of the king’s recovery from illness. He was beating time by banging a long staff against the floor when he struck his toe, causing an abscess. The wound turned gangrenous, resulting in his death. Who was the king?
Quiz answers: 1. Ravel 2. Wagner; Hitler 3. b 4. John Redwood 5. Wigmore Hall (537), Barbican (1,943), Royal Festival Hall (2,500), Royal Albert Hall (5,250) 6. Romeo and Juliet 7. Beechams (founded by Sir Thomas Beecham’s grandfather, also called Thomas Beecham) 8. Venezuela 9. b 10. Louis XIV.