By 1784, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was internationally renowned as the c

Question

By 1784, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was internationally renowned as the composer of The Marriage of Figaro, and consequently received a commission from the Prague Opera House to compose another opera. The resulting product was Don Giovanni, which tells the tale of a criminal and seducer who nevertheless evokes sympathy from audiences, and whose behavior fluctuates from moral crisis to hilarious escapade.

While Don Giovanni is widely considered Mozart’s greatest achievement, eighteenth century audiences in Vienna—Mozart’s own city—were ambivalent at best. The opera mixed  traditions of moralism with those of comedy —a practice heretofore unknown among the composer’s works—resulting in a production that was not well-liked by conservative Viennese audiences. Meanwhile, however, Don Giovanni was performed to much acclaim throughout Europe.    1 
 1. The primary purpose of the passage is to 
(A) relate the story of a somewhat likable antihero
(B) discuss how a work of art was met by diverging responses
(C) give a history of the work of Mozart
(D) make a case for the renown of Don Giovanni
(E) emphasize the moral aspects of a musical work

2  
 2. The author mentions the mixing of “traditions of moralism with those of comedy” ( Highlighted ) primarily in order to

(A) explain a work’s lackluster reception among a particular group of people
(B) remind the reader of the plot of Don Giovanni
(C) highlight a practice common in contemporary opera
(D) argue for an innovative approach to opera
(E) undermine a previously presented assertion

3  
 3. It can be inferred from the passage that which of the following is true about the response of Viennese audiences to Don Giovanni?

(A) The audiences preferred purely moralistic works.
(B) The response was unequivocally positive.
(C) They did not know that the composer was attempting to mix musical styles.
(D) The play’s moral themes were offensive to Viennese audiences.
(E) They preferred operas that followed existing stylistic conventions.

Sajjad1994 · Answer

OE

1. The primary purpose of the passage is to

In main idea questions, you can often eliminate one or more answers just based on the first word or phrase in the answer: relate, discuss, give a history, make a case, emphasize. Does the passage  “make a case” ? It doesn’t— like almost all GRE passages, it is merely reporting facts and/or the opinions of others, so  (D)  is wrong.  “Emphasize”  in  choice (E)  is also a bit strange—usually, the purpose of a passage is something a little bigger than just  “emphasizing”  something. The first paragraph gives background information about Don Giovanni, while the second paragraph gives the  “twist” —even though almost the whole world loved Don Giovanni, people in Mozart’s own hometown were less enthusiastic about it.  Choice (B)  matches this—the passages discusses how the opera Don Giovanni was met by  “diverging”  (differing) opinions, specifically those of Viennese audiences versus those of everyone else. 
  
  Answer: B

Sajjad1994 · Answer

OE

2. The author mentions the mixing of “traditions of moralism with those of comedy” (     Highlighted     ) primarily in order to

The second paragraph states that  “ he opera mixed traditions of moralism with those of comedy—a practice heretofore unknown among the composer’s works—resulting in a production that was not well-liked by conservative Viennese audiences.”  The language  “a practice heretofore unknown”  indicates that Mozart had not done this before. Correct answer  (A)  is a good match—a  “lackluster reception”  means that those who “received” something (the audience) were unimpressed. Note that the GRE is trying to hide the correct answer a little bit by saying  “a particular group of people” for “Viennese audiences.”  Also note that  (D)  and  (E)  are incorrect because the author does not “argue” or “undermine” at any point. Talking about moralism and comedy doesn’t address the plot, as mentioned in  choice (B) , and the passage does not mention what is common in contemporary (modern) opera, so  choice (C)  is out of scope. 
  
  Answer: A

Sajjad1994 · Answer

OE

3. It can be inferred from the passage that which of the following is true about the response of Viennese audiences to Don Giovanni?

According to the passage,  “conservative”  Viennese audiences did not like Don Giovanni’s  “heretofore unknown”  mixing of moralism and comedy. It can be inferred that Viennese audiences disliked the opera’s adventuresome genre-blending and preferred works that kept to  “stylistic conventions,”  as noted in  choice (E) .  Choices (A)  and  (B)  contain extreme language  (“purely,” “unequivocally”) .  Choices (C)  and  (D)  go too far. The passage offers no indication that audiences were confused or offended, merely that they didn’t like or had mixed feelings about a work of art. 
  
  Answer: E

Vissamsetty · Answer

Why it cannot be C - it is technically taking about the history of the drama right?

Vissamsetty · Answer

No this is controversial in my view, the highlighted text is not saying anything about the response of the audience. It merely repeating itself from the top passage

JaxTran · Answer

can you explain why the answer B is not correct since the last sentence in the first paragraph briefly mentioned the plot as well as the mixture between between moral and comedy, so it does make sense for option B that the author reminded readers again about the plot through the highlighted sentence.

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Hi

The passage says that Viennese audiences were  “ambivalent at best”  toward  Don Giovanni . Immediately after, the author explains that the opera  “mixed traditions of moralism with those of comedy,”  which was unusual and  “not well-liked by conservative Viennese audiences.”  Hence, the mention of mixing traditions serves to explain  why  that audience reacted negatively.

(A)  is best, while  (B)  is incorrect because the phrase about  “mixing traditions of moralism with those of comedy”  is not used to summarize or remind readers of the story of the opera.

A plot reminder would describe events or characters in  Don Giovanni- for example, that Don Giovanni is a seducer, commits crimes, or shifts between serious and comic situations. The passage already gives that plot information earlier:

By contrast, the highlighted phrase discusses the  style and structure of the opera- specifically, Mozart’s blending of moral seriousness and comedy. The author mentions this to explain why conservative Viennese audiences disliked the opera.

That’s why  (A)  fits the author’s purpose, while  (B)  does not.

By 1784, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was internationally renowned as the c

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