Kultur Quiz Question (2)

          Ideally, the questions I pose below would be presented on live television. The contestants would respond verbally, and correct answers could be displayed electronically on a video screen. Here, in writing, it is not practical to list groups of names to allow the selection of a correct answer as part of a multiple choice exercise. I can only suggest that you take pen and paper in hand to see how many entries you can identify.

          Actually, I doubt that but a few will know many of the correct names. I certainly would not. My purpose in the construction of this entry is to introduce my audience to the existence of such groups as something of a curiosity. While I probably shall never memorize the names of these individuals and places, I find it interesting that these groups exist(ed). I feel that just knowing that these terms refer to certain people and places increases my goal of becoming a “cultured person” (however minimally-significant this arcane information may be).

Please identify the nature of the terms listed below and name the people/places comprising membership in the groups.

1. The Five

2. Cinque Ports

3. Cinque Terre

4. Les Six

5. Algonquin School

6. The Eight

7. The Ten

Answers

1. The Five, also called The Russian Five or The Mighty Five, was a group of five Russian composers—César Cui, Aleksandr Borodin, Mily Balakirev, Modest Mussorgsky, and Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov—who in the 1860s joined together in an attempt to create a truly national school of Russian music, free of the influence of Italian opera, German Lieder, and other western European forms.

2. The Confederation of Cinque Ports is a historic series of coastal towns in Kent and Sussex. It was originally formed for military and trade purposes, but is now entirely ceremonial. It lies at the eastern end of the English Channel, where the crossing to the continent is narrowest. The name is Norman French, meaning “five ports.” They were: Hastings, New Romney, Hythe, Dover, and Sandwich. However, Rye, originally a subsidiary of New Romney, changed to become one of the Cinque Ports once New Romney was damaged by storms and silted up.

3. The Cinque Terre, meaning “Five Lands” is a rugged portion of coast on the Italian Riviera. It is in the Liguria region of Italy, to the west of the city of La Spezia, and comprises five villages: Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore. The coastline, the five villages, and the surrounding hillsides are all part of the Cinque Terre National Park and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

4. The Six was a group of six French composers who worked in Montparnasse. Their music is often seen as a reaction against the musical style of Richard Wagner and the impressionist music of Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel. The members were Georges Auric, Louis Durey, Arthur Honegger, Darius Milhaud, Francis Poulenc, and Germaine Tailleferre.

5. The Group of Seven, also known as the Algonquin School, was a group of Canadian landscape painters from 1920 to 1933, originally consisting of Franklin Carmichael, Lawren Harris, A. Y. Jackson, Frank Johnston, Arthur Lismer, J. E. H. MacDonald, and Frederick Varley. Later, A. J. Casson was invited to join in 1926; Edwin Holgate became a member in 1930; and LeMoine FitzGerald joined in 1932. Two artists commonly associated with the group are Tom Thomson and Emily Carr. Although he died before its official formation, Thomson had a significant influence on the group. Emily Carr was also closely associated with the Group of Seven, though was never an official member.

7. The Ten American Painters (also known as The Ten) was an artists’ group formed in 1898 to exhibit their work as a unified group. John Henry Twachtman, J. Alden Weir, and Childe Hassam were the driving forces behind the organization. Dissatisfied with the conservatism of the American art establishment, the three artists recruited seven others from Boston, New York City, and elsewhere on the East Coast, with the intention of creating their own exhibition society that valued originality, imagination, and exhibition quality. The members of The Ten were Frank W. Benson, Joseph Rodefer DeCamp, Thomas Wilmer Dewing, Childe Hassam, Willard Leroy Metcalf, Robert Reid, Edward Simmons, Edmund C. Tarbell, John Henry Twachtman, and J. Alden Weir. All were former members of the Society of American Artists. Winslow Homer declined an invitation to join the group; Abbott Handerson Thayer accepted membership but withdrew before the group’s first exhibition. After J. H. Twachtman died in 1902, William Merritt Chase joined The Ten in his place. In order for a new member to join the society, the members (as a whole) would have had to unanimously decide to accept the artist into their ranks. For twenty years, The Ten exhibited as a group in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and other American cities. Throughout the time that the group was active, it was decided that there would never be less than ten members active. After twenty years, the group dissolved due to death of the members and lack of public interest.