"Popular Art" has a Number of Meanings, Impossible to Define GMAT Reading Comprehension

Reading Passage Question

"Popular art" has a number of meanings, impossible to define with any precision, which ranges from folklore to junk. The poles are clear enough, but the middle tends to blur. The Hollywood Western of the 1930's. for example, has elements of folklore, but is closer to junk than to high art or folk art. There can be great trash. just as there is bad high art. The musicals of George Gershwin are great popular art, never aspiring to high art. Schubert and Brahms, however, used elements of popular music—folk themes—in works clearly intended as high art. The case of Verdi is a different one: he took a popular genre—bourgeois melodrama set to music (an accurate definition of nineteenth-century opera)—and, without altering its fundamental nature, transmuted it into high art. This remains one of the greatest achievements in music, and one that cannot be fully appreciated without recognizing the essential trashiness of the genre.

As an example of such a transmutation, consider what Verdi made of the typical political elements of nineteenth-century opera. Generally in the plots of these operas, a hero or heroine—usually portrayed only as an individual, unfettered by class—is caught between the immoral corruption of the aristocracy and the doctrinaire rigidity or secret greed of the leaders of the proletariat. Verdi transforms this naive and unlikely formulation with music of extraordinary energy and rhythmic vitality, music more subtle than it seems at first hearing. There are scenes and arias that still sound like calls to arms and were clearly understood as such when they were first performed. Such pieces lend an immediacy to the otherwise veiled political message of these operas and call up feelings beyond those of the opera itself.

Or consider Verdi's treatment of character. Before Verdi, there were rarely any characters at all in musical drama, only a series of situations which allowed the singers to express a series of emotional states. Any attempt to find coherent psychological portrayal in these operas is misplaced ingenuity. The only coherence was the singer's vocal technique: when the cast changed, new arias were almost always substituted, generally adapted from other operas. Verdi's characters, on the other hand, have genuine consistency and integrity, even if, in many cases, the consistency is that of pasteboard melodrama. The integrity of the character is achieved through the music: once he had become established, Verdi did not rewrite his music for different singers or countenance alterations or substitutions of somebody else's arias in one of his operas, as every eighteenth-century composer had done. When he revised an opera, it was only for dramatic economy and effectiveness.

“"Popular Art" has a Number of Meanings, Impossible to Define” is a GMAT reading comprehension passage with Answers. Candidates need a strong knowledge of English GMAT reading comprehension. The GMAT Reading Comprehension questions are designed to test candidates’ abilities in understanding, analyzing, and applying information or concepts.

This particular GMAT Reading Comprehension consists of 6 comprehension questions. ‘Although numbers of animals in a given region may fluctuate from year to year’ comprises choosing the correct option question types. In choosing the correct option, candidates are required to answer based on a given cue. They are required to choose from multiple options.

Solution and Explanation

1. The author refers to Schubert and Brahms in order to suggest

(A) that their achievements are no less substantial than those of Verdi
(B) that their works are examples of great trash
(C) the extent to which Schubert and Brahms influenced the later compositions of Verdi
(D) a contrast between the conventions of nineteenth-century opera and those of other musical forms
(E) that popular music could be employed in compositions intended as high art

2. According to the passage, the immediacy of the political message in Verdi's operas stems from the

(A) vitality and subtlety of the music
(B) audience's familiarity with earlier operas
(C) the portrayal of heightened emotional states
(D) individual talents of the singers
(E) the verisimilitude of the characters

3. According to the passage, all of the following characterize musical drama before Verdi EXCEPT

(A) arias tailored to a particular singer's ability
(B) adaptation of music from other operas
(C) psychological inconsistency in the portrayal of characters
(D) expression of emotional states in a series of dramatic situations
(E) music used for the purpose of defining a character

4. It can be inferred that the author regards Verdi's revisions to his operas with

(A) regret that the original music and texts were altered
(B) concern that many of the revisions altered the plots of the original work
(C) approval for the intentions that motivated the revisions
(D) puzzlement, since the revisions seem largely insignificant
(E) enthusiasm, since the revisions were aimed at reducing the conventionality of the operas' plots

5. According to the passage, one of Verdi's achievements within the framework of nineteenth-century opera and its conventions was to

(A) limit the extent to which singers influenced the musical composition and performance of his operas
(B) use his operas primarily as forums to protest both the moral corruption and dogmatic rigidity of the political leaders of his time
(C) portray psychologically complex characters shaped by the political environment surrounding them
(D) incorporate elements of folklore into both the music and plots of his operas
(E) introduce political elements into an art form that had traditionally avoided political content

6. Which of the following best describes the relationship of the first paragraph of the passage to the passage as a whole?

(A) It provides a group of specific examples from which generalizations are drawn later in the. passage.
(B) It leads to an assertion that is supported by examples later in the passage.
(C) It defines terms and relationships that are challenged in an argument later in the passage.
(D) It briefly compares and contrasts several achievements that are examined in detail later in the passage.
(E) It explains a method of judging a work of art, a method that is used later in the passage.

7. It can be inferred that the author regards the independence from social class of the heroes and heroines of nineteenth-century opera as

(A) an idealized but fundamentally accurate portrayal of bourgeois life
(B) a plot convention with no real connection to political reality
(C) a plot refinement unique to Verdi
(D) a symbolic representation of the position of the bourgeoisie relative to the aristocracy and the proletariat
(E) a convention is largely seen as irrelevant by audiences

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