Question 131·200 Super-Hard SAT Reading Questions·Craft and Structure
Text 1
Musicologist Priya Sato argues that composer Emil Varga's addition of a hammered dulcimer to an 1892 orchestral revision was intended to evoke rural ensembles from Varga's home region. Sato cites the instrument's distinctive repeated rhythm and reviews from the 1910s that describe the passage as folk-like. She concludes that the revision was an early deliberate incorporation of regional folk music into Varga's orchestral work.
Text 2
When reconstructing artistic intention, evidence produced near a work's creation generally bears more directly on purpose than later reception does, though contemporaneous documents may record only the immediate problem being solved. The reviews Sato cites appeared roughly two decades after the revision, and by then the hammered dulcimer had become much more prominent as a symbol of regional music in concert arrangements. An 1892 rehearsal memorandum states that Varga added the instrument to make an inner rhythm audible through the brass but says nothing about regional associations. Thus, the memorandum provides firmer evidence for at least one of Varga's purposes than the reviews do, although its practical focus may explain why it is silent about other possible aims.
Based on the texts, how would the author of Text 2 most likely respond to Sato's interpretation in Text 1?
For a cross-text question, compare not only the authors' conclusions but also how each text weighs the available evidence. Pay particular attention to distinctions among what is possible, what is directly supported, and what has been conclusively established; Hard questions often place these different levels of certainty in otherwise plausible choices.
Hints
Compare the sources
Consider which evidence was produced near the revision and which evidence reflects reception many years later.
Distinguish possibility from support
An interpretation can remain possible even if the evidence offered for it is less direct than the evidence for another explanation.
Watch for overstatements
Compare choices that say one interpretation is impossible, equally supported, or merely possible. Determine which degree of certainty matches Text 2.
Step-by-step Explanation
Identify Sato's interpretation
Sato argues that Varga deliberately used the hammered dulcimer to evoke regional folk music. She bases this interpretation partly on reviews written about two decades after the revision.
Compare the evidence's timing
Text 2 distinguishes evidence created near the revision from later reception. Because the reviews appeared after the dulcimer had become a more prominent regional symbol, they are less direct evidence of what Varga intended in 1892.
Evaluate the memorandum carefully
The 1892 memorandum directly identifies a technical purpose: making an inner rhythm audible through the brass. Text 2 therefore gives this evidence greater weight, but it also notes that a practical document may omit other artistic aims.
Preserve both parts of Text 2's position
The best response must distinguish possibility from evidentiary support. Text 2 leaves a regional purpose possible while maintaining that the later reviews do not establish that purpose and that the memorandum more directly supports a technical explanation.