Reading ComprehensionDifficulty: Hard

PT151 S1 P3 Q21 Explanation

Words & Operas

A free, expert breakdown of this official LSAT Reading Comprehension question.

TopicsAuthor OpinionHumanities

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Passage

Passage A Music does not always gain by association with words. Like images, words can excite the deepest emotions but are inadequate to express the emotions they excite. Music is more adequate, and hence will often seize an emotion that may have been excited by images or words, deepen its expression, is how words can gain by being set to music.

But to set words to music—as in opera or song—is in fact to mix two arts together. A striking effect may be produced, but at the expense of the purity of each art. Poetry is a great art; so is music. But as a medium for emotion, each is greater alone than even the plot or scenery, but upon its emotional range—a region dominated by the musical element.

Passage B Throughout the history of opera, two fundamental types may be distinguished: that in which the music is primary, and that in which there is, essentially, parity between music and other factors. The former, sometimes called “singer’s opera”—a term which has earned undeserved contempt—is exemplified by most Italian operas, while the limited, and a fuller participation of music was required to establish opera on a secure basis.

In any event, in any aesthetic judgment of opera, regardless of the opera’s type, neither the music nor the poetry of the libretto should be judged in isolation. The music is good not if it would make a good concert piece but if it serves the particular situation in the opera in It is this union—further enriched and clarified by the visual action—that results in opera’s inimitable character.

What this question is testing

Author Opinion

Your task

Pin down exactly what the question asks about the passage — a detail, the author's view, the structure, or the main point — before looking at the choices.

Common trap

Answers that restate a true detail from the passage but don't answer the specific question being asked.

Winning move

Anticipate the answer in your own words from the passage, then find the choice that matches that prediction.

Reading along? Open the full official question in LawHub — we show a fragment here and keep the reasoning in our own words.

The question
21.

The author of passage A would be most likely to regard the discussion in passage B regarding “a third kind of opera” as evidence of which

Answer choices

  1. Less On-Topic33% picked this

    Both poetry and music are diminished by being joined in one

    Passage A does agree with this. He says that "as a medium for emotion, each is greater alone than in company". But it doesn't seem like this is a direct response to the fact that the "third type of opera, where music is downplayed" failed. He actually said, "An opera is largely independent of words, and depends for its aesthetic value upon the its emotional range - a region dominated by the musical element". This answer is worth keeping on a first pass, but any answer that ties into this line reference is going to be more likely what the author A would say in response to the "third type".

  2. Correct52% picked this

    The aesthetic value of an opera depends largely on the quality

    Why this is right

    This maps closely to the final sentence of Passage A and it since this sentence deals specifically with opera, it's the sentence that's most likely to be A's response to the "third kind of opera": An opera is largely independent of words, and depends for its aesthetic value upon the its emotional range - a region dominated by the musical element.

    Skill tested: Author Opinion · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.

  3. Wrong Viewpoint5% picked this

    The musical and nonmusical elements of opera are indivisible from

    This answer is reinforcing Passage B's point of view. She was the one stressing the inextricable harmony of words and music within an opera.

  4. Contradicted5% picked this

    Music invariably gains by being combined

    Passage A doesn't agree with this. He says that "as a medium for emotion, each is greater alone than in company". He thinks that music invariably loses some emotional power by being combined with poetry.

  5. Wrong Viewpoint5% picked this

    Opera requires the careful balancing of many competing but

    This answer is reinforcing Passage B's point of view. She was the one stressing the delicate balance of many factors that goes into an opera (it's the sentence prior to the highlighted one).

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