Final Jeopardy: Classical Music (12-17-13)

The Final Jeopardy question (12/17/2013), in the category “Classical Music” was:

“Royal March of the Lion”, “The Aquarium” & “The Aviary” are thematically related 1886 works from this man.

New champ Matthew Church won $24,000 and the title yesterday. Today he takes on these two players: Debbie Singer, from Evanston, IL; and Sandy Howard, from Cincinnati, OH.

Debbie got the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “The Confederacy” under the $1,000 clue, the last clue on the board. She was in the third place with $3,600, $2,000 behind Sandy’s lead. She bet $1,000 and guessed it was the Commander of the Confederate Army. That was WRONG.

Tough job! In November 1862 James Seddon became the fourth man in this cabinet post in 19 months. show

WHAT IS SECRETARY OF WAR?

Sandy finished in the lead with $5,600. Matthew was second with $5,000 and Debbie was last with $2,600.

Sandy found the first Daily Double in “Did You Get My Letter” under the $1,200 clue. In the lead with $10,800, she was $1,400 ahead of Debbie in second place. She bet $3,000 and thought it was George Washington. That was WRONG.

“Twenty thousand pounds sterling I think will be a cheap purchase” for West Point he wrote to Major Andre July 15, 1780. show

WHO IS BENEDICT ARNOLD?

Matthew found the last Daily Double in “European Ports” under the $2,000 clue. He was now in second place with $8,600, $1,200 behind Debbie’s lead. He bet $4,400 and thought it was Krakow. That was WRONG.

This Polish shipbuilding port’s Town Hall once served as the office of the Hanseatic League. show

WHAT IS GDAŃSK?

Debbie finished in the lead with $9,000. Sandy was next with $7,800 and Matthew was in third place with $5,400.

NONE of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.

WHO IS CAMILLE SAINT-SAËNS?

“In 1886 Saint-Saëns produced two of his most renowned compositions: The Carnival of the Animals and Symphony No. 3, dedicated to Franz Liszt, who died that year. That same year, however, Vincent d’Indy and his allies had Saint-Saëns removed from the Société Nationale de Musique. Two years later, Saint-Saëns’s mother died, driving the mourning composer away from France to the Canary Islands under the alias “Sannois”. Over the next several years he travelled around the world, visiting exotic locations…. Saint-Saëns chronicled his travels in many popular books using his nom de plume, Sannois.” (wikipedia)

Saint-Saëns also wrote under his own name, including a collection of poems and a stage play. American poet and wit, Ogden Nash, wrote a humorous poem about The Carnival of the Animals that you can read here if you wish.

Matthew wrote down (George Frideric) Handel (who died in 1759). He lost $400 and finished with $5,000.

Sandy thought it was (John Philip) Sousa (who was alive and composing a patriotic march and a funeral march). She lost $4,000 and finished with $3,800.

Debbie wrote down (Jacques) Offenbach (who died in 1880). She lost $6,601 and wound up with $2,399.

So Matthew won the match by managing to retain the most money in this triple stumper. That makes his 2-day total $29,000.