Q: Read the following paragraph and extract the answer for the question: What composition premiered in March 1905?  Nielsen's two operas are very different in style. The four-act Saul og David (Saul and David), written in 1902 to a libretto by Einar Christiansen, tells the Biblical story of Saul's jealousy of the young David while Maskarade (Masquerade) is a comic opera in three acts written in 1906 to a Danish libretto by Vilhelm Andersen, based on the comedy by Ludvig Holberg. Saul and David received a negative press when it was premiered in November 1902 and did no better when it was revived in 1904. By contrast, in November 1906 Masquerade was a resounding success with an exceptional run of 25 performances over its first four months. Generally considered to be Denmark's national opera, in its home country it has enjoyed lasting success and popularity, attributable to its many strophic songs, its dances and its underlying "old Copenhagen" atmosphere.Nielsen wrote a considerable number of choral works but most of them were composed for special occasions and were seldom reprised. Three fully-fledged cantatas for soloists, orchestra and choir have, however, entered the repertoire. Nielsen composed Hymnus amoris (Hymn of Love), Op. 12 (1897) after studying early polyphonic choral style.  Writing in the newspaper Dannebrog, Nanna Liebmann referred to the work as "a decisive victory" for Nielsen, and Angul Hammerich of Nationaltidende welcomed its improved clarity and purity. But the Berlingske Tidende reviewer H.W. Schytte thought Nielsen had been pretentious presenting the lyrics in Latin rather than Danish. Søvnen (The Sleep), Op. 18, Nielsen's second major choral work, sets to music the various phases of sleep including the terror of a nightmare in its central movement which, with its unusual discords, came as a shock to the reviewers at its premiere in March 1905. Fynsk Foraar (Springtime on Funen), Op. 42, completed in 1922, has been cited as the most Danish of all Nielsen's compositions as it extols the beauty of Funen's countryside.
A: Søvnen

Question: Read the following paragraph and extract the answer for the question: What is the name of the best known non-vocal piece by Massenet?  Massenet was a fluent and skilful orchestrator, and willingly provided ballet episodes for his operas, incidental music for plays, and a one-act stand-alone ballet for Vienna (Le carillon, 1892). Macdonald remarks that Massenet's orchestral style resembled that of Delibes, "with its graceful movement and bewitching colour", which was highly suited to classical French ballet. The Méditation for solo violin and orchestra, from Thaïs, is possibly the best known non-vocal piece by Massenet, and appears on many recordings. Another popular stand-alone orchestral piece from the operas is Le dernier sommeil de la Vierge from La Vierge, which has featured on numerous discs since the middle of the 20th century.A Parisian critic, after seeing La grand' tante, declared that Massenet was a symphonist rather than a theatre composer. At the time of the British premiere of Manon in 1885, the critic in The Manchester Guardian, reviewing the work enthusiastically, nevertheless echoed his French confrère's view that the composer was really a symphonist, whose music was at its best when purely orchestral.  Massenet took a wholly opposite view of his talents. He was temperamentally unsuited to writing symphonically: the constraints of sonata form bored him. He wrote, in the early 1870s, "What I have to say, musically, I have to say rapidly, forcefully, concisely; my discourse is tight and nervous, and if I wanted to express myself otherwise I would not be myself." His efforts in the concertante field made little mark, but his orchestral suites, colourful and picturesque according to Grove, have survived on the fringes of the repertoire.  Other works for orchestra are a symphonic poem, Visions (1891), an Ouverture de Concert (1863) and Ouverture de Phèdre (1873). After early attempts at chamber music as a student, he wrote little more in the genre. Most of his early chamber pieces are now lost; three pieces for cello and piano survive.
Answer: The Méditation

Question: Read the following paragraph and extract the answer for the question: What has advantages over land-based mining?  The seabed contains enormous reserves of minerals which can be exploited by dredging. This has advantages over land-based mining in that equipment can be built at specialised shipyards and infrastructure costs are lower. Disadvantages include problems caused by waves and tides, the tendency for excavations to silt up and the washing away of spoil heaps. There is a risk of coastal erosion and environmental damage. Seafloor massive sulphide deposits are potential sources of silver, gold, copper, lead and zinc and trace metals since their discovery in the 1960s. They form when geothermally heated water is emitted from deep sea hydrothermal vents known as "black smokers". The ores are of high quality but prohibitively costly to extract. Small scale mining of the deep sea floor is being developed off the coast of Papua New Guinea using robotic techniques, but the obstacles are formidable.There are large deposits of petroleum, as oil and natural gas, in rocks beneath the seabed. Offshore platforms and drilling rigs extract the oil or gas and store it for transport to land. Offshore oil and gas production can be difficult due to the remote, harsh environment. Drilling for oil in the sea has environmental impacts. Animals may be disorientated by seismic waves used to locate deposits, probably causing the beaching of whales. Toxic substances such as mercury, lead and arsenic may be released. The infrastructure may cause damage, and oil may be spilt.Large quantities of methane clathrate exist on the seabed and in ocean sediment at a temperature of around 2 °C (36 °F) and these are of interest as a potential energy source. Some estimates put the amount available at between one and 5 million cubic kilometres (0.24 to 1.2 million cubic miles). Also on the seabed are manganese nodules formed of layers of iron, manganese and other hydroxides around a core. In the Pacific these may cover up to 30 percent of the deep ocean floor. The minerals precipitate from seawater and grow very slowly. Their commercial extraction for...
Answer:
dredging