Reading Comprehension

PT151 · S1 · P3 · Q21 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.

21.

The author of passage A would be most likely to regard the discussion in passage B regarding "a third kind of opera" (last two sentences of the first paragraph of passage B) as evidence of which one of the following propositions?

Both poetry and music are
Less On-Topic
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".
33% picked this
Correct
The aesthetic value of an
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.
53% picked this
The musical and nonmusical elements
Wrong Viewpoint
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.
5% picked this
Music invariably gains by being
Contradicted
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% picked this
Opera requires the careful balancing
Wrong Viewpoint
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).
5% picked this

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