[Q]: I have a test where I am given the following article, what is an answer for the question: What is the name of the piece Tchaikovsky sent to Balakriev to conduct in Saint Petersburg? ?  In 1867, Rubinstein handed over the directorship of the Conservatory to Zaremba. Later that year he resigned his conductorship of the Russian Music Society orchestra, to be replaced by Balakirev. Tchaikovsky had already promised his Characteristic Dances (then called Dances of the Hay Maidens) from his opera The Voyevoda to the society. In submitting the manuscript (and perhaps mindful of Cui's review of the cantata), Tchaikovsky included a note to Balakirev that ended with a request for a word of encouragement should the Dances not be performed.At this point The Five as a unit was dispersing. Mussorgsky and Rimsky-Korsakov wanted to remove themselves from Balakirev's influence, which they now found stifling, and go in their individual directions as composers. Balakirev might have sensed a potential new disciple in Tchaikovsky. He explained in his reply from Saint Petersburg that while he preferred to give his opinions in person and at length to press his points home, he was couching his reply "with complete frankness", adding, with a deft touch of flattery, that he felt that Tchaikovsky was "a fully fledged artist" and that he looked forward to discussing the piece with him on an upcoming trip to Moscow.These letters set the tone for Tchaikovsky's relationship with Balakirev over the next two years. At the end of this period, in 1869, Tchaikovsky was a 28-year-old professor at the Moscow Conservatory. Having written his first symphony and an opera, he next composed a symphonic poem entitled Fatum. Initially pleased with the piece when Nikolai Rubinstein conducted it in Moscow, Tchaikovsky dedicated it to Balakirev and sent it to him to conduct in Saint Petersburg. Fatum received only a lukewarm reception there. Balakirev wrote a detailed letter to Tchaikovsky in which he explained what he felt were defects in Fatum but also gave some encouragement. He added that he considered the dedication of the music to him as "precious to me as a sign of your sympathy towards me—and I feel a great weakness for you"....
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[A]: Fatum


[Q]: I have a test where I am given the following article, what is an answer for the question: What song did Jeff Tweedy and British singer-songwriter Alan Pownall cover? ?  Singers and bands of various genres have covered the song in their own style. Scottish band Marmaduke Duke performed a cover version in April 2009 on BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge show. In October 2009, it was released on Radio 1's Live Lounge – Volume 4, a compilation of Live Lounge recordings. Australian singer Stan Walker sang a jazzier version of the song on the seventh series of Australian Idol in October 2009. The same year, elementary school group PS22 chorus covered "Single Ladies" and "Halo" (2009) during Billboard's annual Women In Music luncheon held at The Pierre in New York City. In her short-lived Broadway revue "All About Me" in March 2010, Dame Edna Everage performed a version of the song with backup dancers Gregory Butler and Jon-Paul Mateo. It was also covered by Jeff Tweedy and British singer-songwriter Alan Pownall. According to Simon Vozick-Levinson of Entertainment Weekly, Tweedy sang only a few bars; he gave "Single Ladies" an acoustic feel and recited the rest of the song's lyrics. He performed the hand movements that Beyoncé and her dancers do in the song's video. Pomplamoose, an American indie music duo consisting of Jack Conte and Nataly Dawn, recorded a cover of "Single Ladies" on video, which makes use of split screens to show Dawn on vocals and Conte playing the instruments. Inspired by the avant-garde Dogme 95 movement in cinema, Conte began to record songs on video as a quick way to create "organic and raw" music. They chose "Single Ladies" as they believed that it would help them grow their audience.
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[A]: "Single Ladies"


[Q]: I have a test where I am given the following article, what is an answer for the question: What was the name of the person who supported himself in England? ?  In 1870, concerned at the dominance of German music and the lack of opportunity for young French composers to have their works played, Saint-Saëns and Romain Bussine, professor of singing at the Conservatoire, discussed the founding of a society to promote new French music. Before they could take the proposal further, the Franco-Prussian War broke out. Saint-Saëns served in the National Guard during the war. During the brief but bloody Paris Commune that followed, his superior at the Madeleine, the Abbé Deguerry, was murdered by rebels; Saint-Saëns was fortunate to escape to temporary exile in England where he arrived in May 1871. With the help of George Grove and others he supported himself while there, giving recitals. Returning to Paris in the same year, he found that anti-German sentiments had considerably enhanced support for the idea of a pro-French musical society. The Société Nationale de Musique, with its motto, "Ars Gallica", had been established in February 1871, with Bussine as president, Saint-Saëns as vice-president and Henri Duparc, Fauré, Franck and Jules Massenet among its founder-members. As an admirer of Liszt's innovative symphonic poems, Saint-Saëns enthusiastically adopted the form; his first "poème symphonique" was Le Rouet d'Omphale (1871), premiered at a concert of the Sociéte Nationale in January 1872. In the same year, after more than a decade of intermittent work on operatic scores, Saint-Saëns finally had one of his operas staged. La princesse jaune ("The Yellow Princess"), a one-act, light romantic piece, was given at the Opéra-Comique, Paris in June. It ran for five performances.Throughout the 1860s and early 1870s, Saint-Saëns had continued to live a bachelor existence, sharing a large fourth-floor flat in the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré with his mother. In 1875, he surprised many by marrying. The groom was approaching forty and his bride was nineteen; she was Marie-Laure Truffot, the sister of one of the composer's pupils. The marriage was not a success. In the words of the...
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[A]:
Saint-Saëns