Ether Game Daily Music Quiz artwork

Ether Game Daily Music Quiz

840 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 4 years ago - ★★ - 2 ratings

Ethercast is the companion podcast to Ether Game, a weekly music trivia show produced by WFIU Public Radio in Bloomington, Indiana. On each episode of Ethercast, host Christopher Burrus explores big questions in the world of classical music.

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Episodes

Donizetti: Daughter of the Regiment, Overture

November 03, 2011 13:00 - 1 Byte

Can you guess this piece? Here’s a hint: Slapstick on the battlefield…

Monteverdi: Madrigals of War and Love, “I burn, I rage”

November 02, 2011 13:00 - 1 Byte

Can you guess this piece? Here’s a hint: Fiery passions burn in Italy…

Stealing!

November 02, 2011 00:00 - 1 Byte

Can you guess this piece? Here's a hint: or St. Petersburg

Beethoven: Wellington’s Victory, Victory Symphony

November 01, 2011 13:00 - 1 Byte

Can you guess this piece? Here’s a hint: It’s one of the first orchestral showstoppers

Gounod: Faust, Soldier’s Chorus

October 31, 2011 13:00 - 1 Byte

Can you guess this piece? Here’s a hint: Marching to a very operatic beat

Rodgers and Hart: You Are Too Beautiful

October 28, 2011 13:00 - 1 Byte

Can you guess this piece? Here’s a hint: you ain’t remembered nothin’ yet…

Ives: The Circus Band

October 27, 2011 13:00 - 1 Byte

Can you guess this piece? Here’s a hint: the Memory Circus is coming to town…

Gottschalk: Memories of Havana

October 26, 2011 13:00 - 1 Byte

Can you guess this piece? Here’s a hint: New world recollections…

Headless Harmonies

October 26, 2011 00:00 - 1 Byte

This composer, or rather, the fictional “artist,” reflects upon love, losing, and murdering of a “beloved” who is depicted by a recurring musical theme. In this movement, the artist has taken opium and, in his drug-induced dream, has killed his beloved. He is then a witness to his own execution as he marches up the scaffold steps to be beheaded.

Liszt: Reminiscences of Don Juan

October 25, 2011 13:00 - 1 Byte

Can you guess this piece? Here’s a hint: remembering opera on the keyboard…

Schubert: Winterreise, "The Linden Tree"

October 24, 2011 13:00 - 1 Byte

Can you guess this piece? Here’s a hint: come inside and warm up!

Praetorius: Terpsichore, Entry And Courante

October 21, 2011 13:00 - 1 Byte

Can you guess this piece? Here’s a hint: It’s a Renaissance dance party!

Mendelssohn: Scottish Symphony, Second Movement

October 20, 2011 13:00 - 1 Byte

Can you guess this piece? Here’s a hint: Music from the Highlands

Hildegard of Bingen: Play Of Virtues

October 19, 2011 13:00 - 1 Byte

Can you guess this piece? Here’s a hint: She’s sure preaching to the choir

Mozart: The Abduction from the Seraglio, Overture

October 18, 2011 13:00 - 1 Byte

Can you guess this piece? Here’s a hint: Opera goes Deutsch!

Steiner: Gone With The Wind, Main Title

October 14, 2011 13:00 - 1 Byte

Can you guess this piece? Here’s a hint: Oscars for (almost) everybody!

Bernstein: Suite from “On the Waterfront”

October 13, 2011 13:00 - 1 Byte

Can you guess this piece? Here’s a hint: a “contender” of a film score…

The Mighty Dollar

October 12, 2011 13:00 - 1 Byte

Around the time this composer began this symphony, he got married, but it was a failure, in part because his sexual proclivities lay elsewhere. With a spiral into depression and attempted suicide, the symphony was understandably put on hold. By the end of the year, however, he had found encouragement from a generous (and wealthy) patron.

Chopin: Ballade No. 1 in G minor

October 12, 2011 13:00 - 1 Byte

Can you guess this piece? Here’s a hint: playing on the keys of history…

The Art Of Construction

October 12, 2011 00:00 - 1 Byte

In 1857, with the first two operas of a larger cycle completed, the composer left our teaser partway through Act II, and did not return to his hero until 1869. In the meantime, this composer wrote two operas, his marriage fell apart, he was kicked out of Vienna for debt, and he acquired his most influential patron, King Ludwig II of Bavaria.

Puccini: La Bohéme, “O soave fanciulla”

October 11, 2011 13:00 - 1 Byte

Can you guess this piece? Here’s a hint: music therapy, Italian-style…

Mozart: Serenade for Winds, K. 361

October 10, 2011 13:00 - 1 Byte

Can you guess this piece? Here’s a hint: a first-rate film about being second-best…

Antheil: Ballet Mechanique

October 07, 2011 13:00 - 1 Byte

Can you guess this piece? Here’s a hint: “Paris, we have lift-off…”

Biber: “Mystery” Sonata 3, “The Nativity”

October 06, 2011 13:00 - 1 Byte

Can you guess this piece? Here’s a hint: in- and out-of-tune…

Superstar Syndrome

October 05, 2011 13:35 - 1 Byte

The technique of this composer and performer was so frightfully good that many claimed that he was in league with the Devil. His flashy first violin concerto is filled with deft maneuvers like left hand pizzicato, rapid thirds, and an abundance of harmonics. These techniques led many of his contemporaries to call the concerto unplayable.

Mahler: The Miller, "Sorrowful Song”

October 05, 2011 13:00 - 1 Byte

Can you guess this piece? Here’s a hint: familiar instrument, made from gruesome stuff.

J. S. Bach: Well-Tempered Clavier II: Prelude in c sharp

October 04, 2011 13:00 - 1 Byte

Can you guess this piece? Here’s a hint: fully functional…

Berg: Seven Early Songs, "Night" and "Summer Days"

September 30, 2011 13:00 - 1 Byte

Can you guess this piece? Here’s a hint: youthful efforts get a second look…

Bizet: The Pearl Fishers, "I Believe I Hear Again Her Voice”

September 29, 2011 13:00 - 1 Byte

Can you guess this piece? Here’s a hint: what kind of hero is named “Nadir”?

Borodin: Prince Igor, Konchakovna’s Aria

September 28, 2011 13:00 - 1 Byte

Can you guess this piece? Here’s a hint: a musically moonlighting scientist…

That's Ancient History

September 28, 2011 00:00 - 1 Byte

In this piece, the goddess Minerva reawakens in modern Greece and is devastated to find her homeland occupied by the Ottoman Turks. Luckily, Minerva is reassured that the light of Classical Greek culture has conveniently been passed on to the Austrian empire.

Brahms: Symphony 1, First Movement

September 27, 2011 13:00 - 1 Byte

Can you guess this piece? Here’s a hint: an application for admission into the “B” club

Beethoven: To The Distant Beloved

September 26, 2011 13:00 - 1 Byte

Can you guess this piece? Here’s a hint: no cuts allowed!

Elgar: Pomp And Circumstance, March No. 1

September 23, 2011 13:00 - 1 Byte

Can you guess this piece? Here’s a hint: Come and get your diploma!

Grainger: Molly On The Shore

September 22, 2011 13:00 - 1 Byte

Can you guess this piece? Here’s a hint: A musical stroll by the seashore

Bach: Christmas Oratorio, "Glory To Thee"

September 21, 2011 13:00 - 1 Byte

Can you guess this piece? Here’s a hint: Preaching to the choir!

Afterlife

September 21, 2011 00:00 - 1 Byte

This composer's operas were more popular outside of his hometown; in fact, and earlier opera had been a huge hit in a Bohemian city, leading to a commission for an operatic premiere. The composer's response to this commission was to produce what has probably become the most well-known telling of the tale of an infamous lover.

Lerner And Loewe: My Fair Lady, Excerpts

September 19, 2011 13:00 - 1 Byte

Can you guess this piece? Here’s a hint: Watch what you say!

Gershwin: Girl Crazy, “But Not For Me”

September 16, 2011 13:00 - 1 Byte

Can you guess this piece? Here’s a hint: mad for the ladies…

Britten: Rejoice In The Lamb

September 15, 2011 13:00 - 1 Byte

Can you guess this piece? Here’s a hint: a spiritual game of ‘cat-and-mouse’…

Handel: Orlando, Act II Conclusion

September 14, 2011 13:00 - 1 Byte

Can you guess this piece? Here’s a hint: saving poor Roland from himself…

Based On The Book

September 14, 2011 00:00 - 1 Byte

The score for this film was nominated for an Oscar, but lost to another movie just as popular. If sheer musical girth had been a factor, the score heard here certainly would have won as it is present under nearly the entire movie, just under four hours of music. Even more amazing, the composer worked on eleven other film scores in this same year.

R. Schumann: Cello Concerto

September 13, 2011 13:00 - 1 Byte

Can you guess this piece? Here’s a hint: rough mental waters ahead…

Richard Strauss: Don Quixote

September 12, 2011 13:00 - 1 Byte

Can you guess this piece? Here’s a hint: sorrowful countenances and agile windmills…

Prokofiev: “The Crusaders In Pskov” From Alexander Nevsky

September 09, 2011 13:00 - 1 Byte

Can you guess this piece? Here’s a hint: history meets the movie soundstage

Offenbach: “Can-Can” from La Gaité Parisienne

September 08, 2011 13:00 - 1 Byte

Can you guess this piece? Here’s a hint: from the dance hall to the concert hall

Handel: 12 Variations on “See the Conquering Hero Comes”

September 07, 2011 13:00 - 1 Byte

Can you guess this piece? Here’s a hint: musical down-sizing, anyone?

Before Email

September 07, 2011 00:00 - 1 Byte

While finishing up this selection in a village outside Vienna, this composer also wrote a strange document that he never sent. It contains the composer's realization of that his worsening condition. Of course, that wasn’t his only mysterious letter – there’s still the one addressed to an unknown someone.

Robert Schumann: Dichterliebe

September 06, 2011 13:00 - 1 Byte

Can you guess this piece? Here’s a hint: A meeting of music and theater

Gershwin: Suite from Porgy and Bess

September 05, 2011 13:00 - 1 Byte

Can you guess this piece? Here’s a hint: Broadway meets the bayou

Books

The Ivory Tower
1 Episode