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Fun Trivia : Opera Encyclopedia FunTrivia

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Interesting Questions, Facts and Information

  • There are a total of 485 general entries. We are selecting 30 for display.

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Interesting Questions, Facts, and Information

    Opera

    Turandot (the first one)?Who Composed These Operas?

      Busoni. Busoni's premiered in Zurich on May 11, 1917 while Puccini's premiered in Milan on April 25, 1926 (2 years after Puccini himself died).

    Tosca?Who Composed These Operas?

      Puccini. Premiered in Rome on January 14, 1900.

    Lakme?Who Composed These Operas?

      Delibes. Premeried in Paris on April 14, 1883.

    Lizzie Borden?Who Composed These Operas?

      Beeson. Premiered in New York City on March 25, 1965.

    Khovanshchina (The Princes Khovansky)?Who Composed These Operas?

      Mussorgsky. Premiered in St. Petersburg on February 21, 1886.

    Robert le Diable?Who Composed These Operas?

      Meyerbeer. Premiered in Paris on November 21, 1831.

    Nixon in China?Who Composed These Operas?

      Adams. Believe it or not - it's an opera. Premiered in Houston on October 22, 1987. Characters include Nixon, Henry Kissinger and Pat Nixon.

    Otello (the first one)?Who Composed These Operas?

      Rossini. Rossini's premiered in 1816, Verdi's in 1887.

    Manon Lescaut?Who Composed These Operas?

      Puccini. Premiered in Paris on January 19, 1884.

    The Gambler?Who Composed These Operas?

      Prokofiev. It had its premier on April 29, 1929.

    Who portrayed 'Opera Man' on Saturday Night Live?The World Of Opera Man

      Adam Sandler. This was intended as a freebie for those who don't know much about opera but decided to take the quiz any way.

    Who composed the opera 'Nixon In China'?The World Of Opera Man

      John Adams. Wagner was dead long before Richard Nixon was born.

    Who composed 'Lady Macbeth of Mtensk'?The World Of Opera Man

      Shostakovich. If you picked the name that sounded Russian you were right.

    Who wrote the rock opera 'Tommy'?The World Of Opera Man

      The Who.

    What recent movie featured a type of opera singer known as a 'castrato'?The World Of Opera Man

      'Farinelli'.

    Which company sponsored the weekly international radio broadcast 'Live at the Met' until the end of thw 2003-2004 season?The World Of Opera Man

      Texaco.

    Which is NOT a Mozart opera?The World Of Opera Man

      'Abduction of Figaro'. 'Abduction of Figaro' is an opera spoof by the Weird Al of classical music P.D.Q.Bach.

    Which prolific composer only wrote one opera?The World Of Opera Man

      Beethoven. Beethoven's only opera was 'Fidelio' which was first performed in Vienna in 1805.

    Who created operas out of works by Henry James, Shakespeare and Herman Melville?Opera Trivia

      Benjamin Britten. 'The Turn of the Screw', 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' and 'Billy Budd'.

    Verdi's opera 'Nabucodonosor' later became abbreviated as what?Opera Trivia

      Nabucco.

    Who wrote 'you know my greatest desire is to write operas...I envy anyone who is composing one' to his father?Opera Trivia

      Mozart. Mozart had a mixed relationship with his father, very devoted but also resentful.

    Which term refers to a group of individuals hired by a performer or composer to sit amongst the audience and influence the audience's response?Opera Trivia

      claque.

    What is another term for jongleurs, in the historical sense of the word?Opera Trivia

      minstrels. Not strictly an opera question, but the minstrels or jongleurs were part of the evolution into opera in the west.

    The father of which famous scientist was a member of the influential intellectual Florentine group called the 'Florentine Camerata' who collaborated together to develop the art of recitativo?Opera Trivia

      Galileo . Among this group included Jacopo Peri, who wrote the first opera, and composers Giulio Caccini and Emilio de Cavalieri.

    Who wrote the opera called 'Dido and Aeneas'?Opera Trivia

      Purcell. Purcell was a British composer who wrote this opera in English. 'Dido and Aeneas' was created in 1689.

    What was Gounod's most famous sacred song?Opera Trivia

      Ave Maria.

    Who commissioned and wrote the libretto for Mozart's 'The Magic Flute'?Opera Trivia

      Emanuel Schikaneder.

    The final five questions concern opera and Shakespeare. Giuseppe Verdi's 'Falstaff' is a staple of the international repertoire. Which of the listed composers did not write an opera based on the character of Falstaff?Operantics I

      Camille Saint-Saens. Salieri's 'Falstaff', Nicolai's 'Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor', and Vaughan William's 'Sir John in Love' are all based on Shakespeare's Falstaff, found in his plays 'The Merry Wives of Windsor and 'Henry IV'. Camille Saint-Saens did compose an opera on the life of another corpulent philanderer - Henry VIII.

    All four listed composers wrote operas based on the life of a Roman emperor. Three composed works about the same emperor, while the fourth produced a work about a different emperor. Who is the odd man out?Operantics I

      Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Monteverdi's 'Il coronazione di Poppea', Boito's 'Nerone' and Mascagni's 'Nerone' concern Roman emperor {Nero;} Mozart's 'La clemenza di Tito' concerns Roman emperor Titus.

    Opera has its share of women engaged in the world's oldest profession. Which opera does not have a 'lady of easy virtue' as the heroine?Operantics I

      Samson et Dalila, Camille Saint-Saens. While Violetta, Thais, and Lula are involved in some form of prostitution, Dalila is merely the pawn of the High Priest of Dagon.

    In addition to Giacomo Puccini's 'Manon Lescaut', Abbe Prevost's 'Histoire du Chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut' served as a source for a number of operas in a number of languages. Which composer did NOT set a version of this story?Operantics I

      Sergei Prokofiev. Prokofiev did not set a version of Prevost's {work;} however, both Auber and Massenet wrote an opera titled 'Manon Lescaut' and Henze wrote a version of the story titled 'Boulevard Solitude'.

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