PrepTest 151, Section 1, Question 15
Passage A Music does not always gain by(468 more words not shown)
Passage A(201 more words not shown)
Passage B(275 more words not shown)
The authors of both passages(9 more words not shown)
- AIs music inherently(6 more words not shown)
- BIs the emotive(10 more words not shown)
- CShould opera be(10 more words not shown)
- DHow important are(7 more words not shown)
- EHow is opera(7 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
What question could produce these two different answers? A says opera's value depends largely on the emotional range supplied by music, rather than its words, plot, or scenery. B says the words and music must be judged through their contribution to the whole.
What we’re looking for
So we should look for a question about how these elements contribute to opera. The authors can answer the same question while taking different positions; we do not need an opinion they share.
Working the answers
- A
A calls music a more expressive medium. B calls it important within opera, but does not compare the inherent expressive capacities of music and poetry as separate arts. That distinction matters: important to this combined work is not the same as inherently more expressive.
- B
A explains how music can deepen an emotion excited by words. B instead discusses how the elements serve the opera. It doesn't investigate whether setting poetry to music increases poetry's emotional power.
- C
B objects to contempt for one type of opera, not a lack of respect for opera compared with other forms of classical music. Neither author makes that comparison the question here.
- DCorrect
How much do the words contribute? A says opera is largely independent of them and derives its value from music's emotional range. B treats the words' contribution to the combined work as essential to judging the opera. Those are different answers to the same question about words' artistic importance.
- E
B discusses opera's distinctive character, but neither account compares it with all other musical art forms. That broader comparison is not what the authors are trying to provide.
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