Reading Comprehension

PT151 · S1 · P3 · Q16 Words & Operas

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Passage A Music does not always gain by association with words.

Passage A

Music doesn't necessarily get better by having words associated, but words can be improved by having music associated with them, since music is better able to express the deepest emotions.

In general, combining words and music is mixing two effects and diluting the purity and emotional power of each separate art form.

However, you can still do good stuff by combining them, as long as the words serve the music, which is the more expressive half. That's what's happening with opera. The words of the libretto aren't the main source of aesthetic value; the emotional range conveyed by the music is.

Passage B

There are two types of operas: music-dominant and music-balanced (music is the most important factor, but it's roughly balanced by other factors). The potential third type, music-subordinate, hasn't really ever taken hold.

No matter the type, when you're aesthetically evaluating opera, you shouldn't look at music or poetry in isolation. You judge the music by whether it serves the words and the words by whether it serves the music.

Opera's essence is that the effectiveness of the music and words are deeply intertwined.

Overlap / Disconnect

Both passages were discussing the relative impacts of words and music, including whether words are better w/o music and vice versa. Passage B cared way more about opera, whereas Passage A only barely addressed that topic.

They do seem to have a disconnect when it comes to opera. Passage A said that the aesthetic value does not depend on the words; it depends on the emotional range of the music.

Passage B thought the aesthetic value was more about how the words and the music function to enhance the other.

16.

Which one of the following issues is addressed by the author of passage A but not by the author of passage B?

the importance of music to
Addressed in Both
Both authors think that music is a crucial part of opera and would thus consider it important to any aesthetic judgment of an opera. Passage B in particular is stressing that "in any aesthetic judgment of opera, neither the music nor the poetry of the libretto should be judged in isolation".
2% picked this
how music is affected when
Addressed in Both
Both authors think that music is a crucial part of opera and would thus say that when the music of the opera is combined with the words of the opera, the music is affected. It becomes more than it previously was. Passage B says, "True, the elements of music and poetry may be considered separately, but ... in actuality these elements are as united as hydrogen and oxygen. This union results is opera's unique character."
11% picked this
Correct
the ability of music to
Why this is right
The concept of "emotion" is mentioned 6 times in passage A and 0 times in passage B (thank you, CTRL + F). The first paragraph of A definitely addresses the ability of music to evoke an emotional response, but passage B never talks about music's ability to evoke emotions. B's first paragraph just talks about the 3 different types of opera. B's second paragraph talks about how aesthetic judgments of opera need to consider how the music and poetry fit together. We might read into that discussion our own guess that "music adds to the poetry by making it more emotional for the listener", but Passage B never says anything like that.
Skill tested: Locate Detail · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.
82% picked this
whether music should ever be
Addressed in B
The end of B's first paragraph addresses this: Theoretically, it would seem that there should be a third kind of opera, in which the music is subordinated to the other features ... Since those word-dominant operas has limited appeal, the author B suggests that there shouldn't be operas where music is subordinated to words.
4% picked this
whether music should be judged
Addressed in B
The first sentence of B's final paragraph explicitly addresses this: neither the music nor the poetry of the libretto should be judged in isolation.
2% picked this

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