University Challenge

[Nick Armstrong]

Nutcracker for The Rite …ye Gods . I didn’t get the Glass but perversely I’m rather proud of that.

My thoughts exactly, in both respects!

[Nick Armstrong]

Why the surprise at Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky being mixed up?

Because of the specific instances involved. The second guess was that the violent passage played from The Rite was from Sleeping Beauty…

[Ein Heldenleben]

My thoughts exactly, in both respects!

Did you also guess that the Inextinguishable would inevitably crop up when Paxo mentioned double timps in the background intro. I suppose because it’s the first symphony that springs to mind. Largely because they are so very very loud.

[Nick Armstrong]

Did you also guess that the Inextinguishable would inevitably crop up when Paxo mentioned double timps in the background intro. I suppose because it’s the first symphony that springs to mind. Largely because they are so very very loud.

I didn’t anticipate it, no.

[oddoneout]

Because of the specific instances involved. The second guess was that the violent passage played from The Rite was from Sleeping Beauty…

Perhaps someone had seen a Matthew Bourne Sleeping Beauty?

[Ein Heldenleben]

Perhaps someone had seen a Matthew Bourne Sleeping Beauty?

If they had they would have recognised the music on the quiz as being very different from Tschaikovsky’s surely ? Apart from anything else I’m pretty sure it doesn’t feature double timps.

[gradus]

I hadn't realised that Maher 1 needed two either.

[LHC]

Did you also guess that the Inextinguishable would inevitably crop up when Paxo mentioned double timps in the background intro. I suppose because it’s the first symphony that springs to mind. Largely because they are so very very loud.

As soon as the question was asked I guessed that the composers might include Neilsen and Mahler and was correct on both counts. I didn't get the Glass.

As to the team's failure to recognise the Rite of Spring (which I also recognised almost immediately), I got the feeling that the were simply naming ballets they'd heard of and weren't paying any attention to the music being played, rather in the same way that teams will often guess 'Madame Butterfly' when an opera excerpt is played to them.

[oddoneout]

If they had they would have recognised the music on the quiz as being very different from Tschaikovsky’s surely ? Apart from anything else I’m pretty sure it doesn’t feature double timps.

I was thinking about the fact that MB's productions have very dark elements to them so the mood of the Rite may not have been so unlikely in that context and worth a stab - but that is not very likely I admit.
LHC's suggestion probably had much to do with the answer though. I think we have to accept that "classical" music is not a part of young people's lives as was perhaps the case for the majority of forum members - there is a generation at least which will not have had music playing much, if any, part in their school experience. Although online offerings may be extensively investigated, it will be within fairly narrow search parameters I suspect, so wider exposure to existing choices and preferences rather than exposure to a wider range?

[EnemyoftheStoat]

The balance of subjects covered by UC being what it is, if I had to select a team I would write off the odd 'classical music' question in favour of being able to answer the much more frequent ones on science and maths, to a lesser extent literature and art and increasingly nowadays cinema - and even flipping Marvel comics!

[smittims]

The matter does, though raise the question of what is the purpose of the programme? I think originally the idea was that university students, whether under-or-post graduate, represented the peak of learning and knowledge, so it was moving the old quiz format up a gear, the high-speed time factor adding to the excitement. When it highlights their ignorance instead one wonders if it's run its course.

[oddoneout]

The matter does, though raise the question of what is the purpose of the programme? I think originally the idea was that university students, whether under-or-post graduate, represented the peak of learning and knowledge, so it was moving the old quiz format up a gear, the high-speed time factor adding to the excitement. When it highlights their ignorance instead one wonders if it's run its course.

The contestants are probably still ahead of many of the audience, even if they seem more limited in the music field than us oldies? On that basis it fulfills the "challenging" and "educational" brief. However this forum is a self-selecting group so can't be taken as representational in terms of the broader educational standards picture.

[gurnemanz]

The matter does, though raise the question of what is the purpose of the programme?

It did disappear for many years and then return (like Dr Who) but now frequently tops BBC2's viewing figures. It's the only TV quiz I watch. I enjoy the individual contestants and the format as much as the sometimes abstruse questions.

The last time I watched Dr Who was in the 60s as a teenager - Saturday tea time in glorious black and white. Just checked wiki and stumbled on this fact:

Doctor Who first appeared on the BBC Television Service at 17:16:20 GMT on Saturday, 23 November 1963; this was eighty seconds later than the scheduled programme time, because of announcements concerning the previous day's assassination of John F. Kennedy.

[smittims]

Thanks for the memory, gurnemanz. I sawthe first episode of 'Doctor Who?' the first time it was broadcast. It was repeated the following Saturday before episode two as so many people had missed it and heard the interest it had caused. I'm a fan of the black and white Doctors, Patrick Troughton being my favourite, and I love to see him and Bill Hartnell turn up in the many old films in which they played small parts.

I used to watch 'University Challenge ' every week . Who could forget Gail Trimble! One reason I stopped may have been an uncomfortable feeling that my viewing partner resented the number of questions I was answering, which of course was part of the appeal of the programme: a chance to show off in front of others..

Have you seen the comedy film 'Starter for Ten' ? which is an amusing ( I won't put it stronger than that) nostalgic look at the Bamber Gascoigne era.

[ardcarp]

It did disappear for many years and then return (like Dr Who) but now frequently tops BBC2's viewing figures. It's the only TV quiz I watch. I enjoy the individual contestants and the format as much as the sometimes abstruse questions.

Yes and it's one of the TV 'shows' which just gets on with it and has little extra flummery. There must be quite a large proportion of the viewing public that just likes that straightforwardness. Even if (like me) they only manage to answer few of the questions.

Here's a thing I've probably suggested before. Do science/maths students chip in to answer arts questions more often than arts students doing likewise with science/maths?