ShmoopTube

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Here's your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by Ludwig Van Beethoven. Who is still mad

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that his name has been appropriated by a family friendly St. Bernard.

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According to the passage, which of the following musicians made a significant impact on Schumann

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when he was only nine years old?

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If the answer to this question doesn't immediately jump out at us, we might want to review the

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passage a bit and zero in on the places where we see these guys' names.

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Okay, now let's first take a look at (C) and (D).

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The author mentions that Schumann cut his musical teeth on Mozart and Beethoven.

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However, the passage doesn't say that either of these mega-famous composers were the ones

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who first inspired little Schumann, so we can take both (C) and (D) out of the running.

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We can also eliminate choice (A).

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The passage does mention that Schumann flipped when he met Johannes Brahms <<yo-HA-niss brahms>>,

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on whom he apparently had a total man crush.

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However, this meeting didn't happen till much later in Schumann's life, so it couldn't

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have been the thing that inspired him at the young age of nine.

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It turns out (B) is the right answer.

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Not only is Ignatz Moscheles <<ig-NAHTS mo-SHELL-iss>> the guy whose piano playing rocked Schumann's

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nine-year-old world, he also wins the award for coolest name.

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Which is stiff competition when you're going up against guys named Johannes, Ludwig, and Wolfgang.

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