Imperial Russia Quiz for Modules 9-10 – Answer Key

Multiple Choice

1. In Venetsianov's paintings, a. Serfs are never shown, but rather he paints portraits of aristocracy. b. Serfs are shown in the full detail of the difficult lives. c. Serfs are shown living relaxed lives with no real duties. d. Serfs are shown working, but in an idealized fashion.

2. Serfdom ended official in Russian in a. 1837 b. 1855 c. 1861 d. 1881

3. "With us, it is always a matter of great joy or bitter sorrow." This quote comes from a. Tsar Nikolai I, mourning the death of Pushkin. b. Turgenev, mourning the death of Pushkin. c. Glinka, describing what's different about Russian identity. d. Venetsianov, explaining his approach to painting the serfs.

4. Which writer was Suzanne Massie referring to when she said, "[He] lived his life in darkness. He remains one of the most merciless and devastating dissectors of the foibles of humanity." a. Tolstoi b. Chekov c. Gogol d. Turgenev

5. Glinka's "A Life for the Tsar" is famous because a. it is the first opera based on Pushkin. b. it incorporated elements of Russian music. c. it was the only opera by the composer called the Father of Russian Music. d. it was banned by Nikolai I for implying that the tsar was too autocratic.

6. Classical imagery (statuary, themes from Antiquity) helped Russians a. link tsarist achievements to a line stemming from Greece and Rome. b. prove to Western Europeans that they, too, had strong, solid art. c. make a transformation from European models to Russian folk models. d. thwart the arguments of the Slavophiles that Western models were corrupting.

7. A gusli is a. a house spirit that lives inside an izba. b. a melody that imitates a Russian lament in folk style. c. a system where serfs and others would be sent abroad to study formally in Europe. d. a stringed instrument traditionally played to accompany recitation of epics.

8. The Wedding Chorus in "A Life for the Tsar" a. takes the sound of the a cappella Orthodox choral music. b. tries to capture folk rhythms by using a metric pattern of five beats. c. is quite long to convey the fact that Russian folk weddings took place over a series of days. d. portrays the last happy moment in the opera, for soon Antonida will lose her father.

9. The tsar known as the "liberator" was a. Peter the Great, for defeating the Swedes and Charles X, thus clearing the way for St. Petersburg to be established. b. Alexander I, for being victorious over Napoleon. c. Nicholas I, for restoring peace and order after the Decembrist Revolt. d. Alexander II, for overseeing the abolition of the Russian version of slavery.

10. Although appearing only briefly, one of the most impressive characters in Mussorgsky’s opera is a. the Tsar Boris. b. the old Holy Fool. c. the False Dmitri d. the Polish noblewoman Marina Mniszech.

11. In one set of statistics based on a Russian population of 61 million, the number of enslaved people has been estimated as a. 4.9 million. b. 19 million. c. 29.4 million. d. 49.4 million.

12. Fedor Shaliapin is famous in Russia as a a. composer. b. novelist. c. conductor. d. singer.

13. Paintings by the Wanderers, such as Ge's painting of Judas Iscariot, a. engaged viewers by their bold colors. b. puzzled viewers by their abstract shapes and forms. c. puzzled viewers by their return to the stylized peasant art of the early 18th century. d. engaged viewers by their intense psychological probing.

True/False

1. Since race was not an issue after the abolition of Russian slavery, the process of helping the formerly enslaved people move into a free life was fairly easy. (F)

2. The assassination of Alexander II came as an utter surprise to everyone. (F)

3. Dostoevsky and Tolstoi are two names readily associated with “Russian Literature.” (T)

4. In their novels, neither Dostoevsky or Tolstoi takes up issues concerning God, spirituality, or religion. (F)

5. It’s possible to retrace some of the actually places where the events in Dostoevsky had the events in his plot take place. (T)

6. Dostoevsky knew first-hand the traumas of punishment, imprisonment, and hard labor. (T)

7. The “Wanderers” were named so, in part, because they were not interested in focusing on specific subjects. (F)

8. It isn’t always possible to categorize a work of art or a composer within the ideals of the “Westernizers” or “Slavophile.” (T)

9. Russian audiences had a casual approach to new artistic works in the second half of the 19th century, viewing them primarily as entertainment. (F)

10. One thing uniting 19th-century Russian composers was a desire to establish Russian at the forefront of European Music. (T)

11. Tchaikovsky’s music towards the end of his life became lighter and more superficial. (F)

12. Many people base their overall sense of Musorgsky (as a person, a composer) on Repin’s disheveled depiction of him in a famous portrait. (T)