Opera by Region Trivia

1. "A Life for the Tsar"?

From Quiz Russian Opera

Answer: Mikhail Glinka

First performed in 1836, the opera was an immediate success. For the first time, genuine Russian music was heard on the operatic stage.

From Quiz French Operas

Answer: Georges Bizet

Bizet lived from 1838 till 1875. He wrote 'Carmen'in 1875. 'The Pearlfishers' had been written in 1863. Poulenc, one of the 'Six' (together with Honegger, Milhaud and other friends of Jean Cocteau, was born in 1899. Died in 1963. Gounod was born in 1818, died in 1893. Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) wrote a comic opera 'L'heure espagnole', collaborated on a version of Mussorgsky's 'Khovanshina' and also composed a fantasy opera: ' L'enfant et les sortileges'.

From Quiz Famous Italian Operas

Answer: Gaetano Donizetti

Puccini (1858-1924) composer of 'La Fanciulla del West', 'Madame Butterfly','Manon Lescaut', 'Tosca', 'Turandot'. Bellini(1801-1835) composer of 'La Sonnambula','Norma','I Puritani'. Rossini(1792-1868) composer of 'L'Italiana in Algeri', 'Il Barbiere di Siviglia', 'La Cenerentola', 'Guillaume Tell'. Donizetti lived from 1797 'til 1848. He was the composer of 'La Fille du Regiment','Lucia di Lammermoor','Don Pasquale'.

From Quiz Russian Opera Potpourri

Answer: Chemistry Professor

Borodin was a chemistry professor, although he is much better known to us as a composer. He wrote "Prince Igor" primarily when he was too sick to lecture, which makes one take another look at one's own achievements...

From Quiz French Operas

Answer: her husband Golaud falls off his horse

Pelleas is Golaud's halfbrother who was absent when Golaud , originally against his grandfather's (= King Arkel's) wishes, marries the golden-haired Melissande. When Melissande and Pelleas meet, they are in less than no time in a situation as Tristan and Isolde's: doomed love. At first Golaud is blind to their {love;} later he will use his son to spy on the two 'innocent lovers'.

From Quiz Russian Operas

Answer: Onegin had insulted Lensky by dancing all evening with Olga only

The initial atmosphere is not unlike Anton Chekhov's plays about educated boredom in pre-revolutionary Russia: 'The Three {Sisters';} 'The {Seagull';} 'The Cherry Orchard'.

From Quiz Russian Opera Potpourri

Answer: Three cards that allowed one always to win at gambling

The secret of the three cards is the central theme of the opera. The old woman learned it by providing, er, favours to Count St. Germain in her days of youth and beauty, and has told the secret twice so far: once to her husband and once to a "handsome youth." She is destined by prophecy to reveal the secret once more, to one who "comes in passionate love, who will take the secret by force." German, with a bit of encouragement from his friends, convinces himself that he is the third who will learn the secret from her. She gets her revenge by telling him "Three, Seven, Ace." When he makes use of the knowledge, the three and seven win as predicted, but then instead of the ace that he bets on, he is dealt the Queen of Spades-that was the real third card, and also coincidentally the symbol of the old lady. He kills himself in despair, so she gets her own back in the end!

From Quiz French Operas

Answer: he kills his rival, but loses his wife too

Debussy was born in 1862 at St. Germain-en-Laye and died in Paris in 1918. Pelleas et Melissande was for the larger part written in 1893-5, but it was not completed until 1902. It was based on a work by Maurice Maeterlinck, that had been published in 1892. Maeterlinck(1862-1949) himself was a Ghent-born Belgian author who won the Nobel Prize in 1911.

From Quiz Famous Italian Operas

Answer: Rossini

The Assyrian Queen is Semiramis. The Swiss national hero is Wilhelm Tell. 'Semiramide' dates back to 1823. 'Guillaume Tell' to 1829. The other operas are: 'La Gazza Ladra' (1817) and 'L'Italiana in Algeri' (1813). Rossini's best-known work is probably 'Il Barbiere di Siviglia' (1816).

From Quiz All About the Met

Answer: Fire

It was rare that a theatre didn't burn down in those days. Architect J. Cleaveland Cady had built the opera house at the corner of Broadway and West 39th. Although the fire completely gutted the building, the Italianate exterior remained. It was rebuilt according to the original specifications, but in 1903 the auditorium was completely redone, creating the famed 'golden horseshoe'. After the company moved to Lincoln Center in 1966, the building was razed. Today '1411 Broadway', a huge commercial tower, stands in its place.

From Quiz Russian Opera Potpourri

Answer: That Boris is guilty of the murder of Prince Dmitri, son of Ivan the Terrible

Mussorgsky's libretto is based on the play "Boris Godunov" by Pushkin. The play assumes that Boris is guilty of the murder of Prince Dmitri, and thus in addition to dealing with the political turmoil of his day, he was also labouring under a burden of guilt that eventually destroys him. For the record, historically, Boris is probably innocent of the murder. Theories on the demise of Dmitri include that he died during an epileptic fit (never have a fit with a knife in your hand) or that his father, Ivan the Terrible, killed him in a fit of rage as he did his older son. (Never be around while your father has a fit with a knife in his hand, especially if he is a mad Tsar.) But at any rate, Pushkin and Mussorgsky saw that fingering Boris for the murder would make a cracking good tale, and apparently they were right.

From Quiz French Operas

Answer: Valentin

The Vicomte de Valmont is a character in ' Les Liaisons Dangereuses' by Choderlos de Laclos. Valmy , near St. Menehould, is where the French revolutionary troops (on September 20th, 1792) stopped the Prussian troops that had invaded France to intervene in the ongoing events of the overthrow of the monarchy. At Valmy the Duke of Brunswick was defeated by the French general Dumouriez.

From Quiz Russian Operas

Answer: Alexander Pushkin

An alternative name for 'Queen of Spades' is 'Pique-Dame'.

From Quiz Famous Italian Operas

Answer: Norma

'La Forza del Destino' is by Verdi. (Don Alvaro, in love with Leonora, accidentally kills her father the Marquess of Calatrava,etc...No happy end). 'La Cenerentola' by Rossini is the story of Cinderella. 'La Somnambula' is a story about a girl (Amina) who gets herself in trouble by being seen in the wrong person's room while sleepwalking. It takes some time before her beloved Elvino can be convinced of her innocence, but at the end of the opera the couple are happily reunited. In Bellini's 'Norma' the heroine first discovers that her lover Pollione has found a new girl-friend, the young priestess Adalgisa. In the end when he sees that Norma is ready to die in his place, he joins her on the stake and together they are swallowed by the flames.

From Quiz Russian Opera Potpourri

Answer: Whether it is ethical for him to escape when he is an honoured guest of the Khan

Khan Konchak treated Igor like an honoured guest, and even offered him a slave girl or two to warm him up at night. It was all quite civilized, really. However, Igor felt a bit of trepidation at leaving this gentleman's club in the dead of night without paying the bill, since after all he was a prisoner and the Khan would expect him to behave like one. The Khan's daughter was infatuated with Igor's son Vladimir, which caused no end of problems. Igor loved his wife, Yaroslavna, and was eager to return to her. His men finally convince him that he can do more good by legging it back to Putivl and saving his wife and citizens from further ravages from the invaders (not to mention his brother-in-law, Prince Vladimir, whom he had left in charge against his better judgement) than by doing the "honourable" thing by staying put, and off he goes (but not before getting in a really cracking aria.)

From Quiz French Operas

Answer: She has been condemned to death for murdering her baby.

Goethe's 'Faust Part One' was published in 1808. The second part in 1831. Gounod's 'Faust' dates back to 1859.Berlioz had already composed his cantata 'La Damnation de Faust' in 1846 and Liszt had written his 'Faust-Symphony' in 1854.

From Quiz All About the Met

Answer: Parsifal

Richard Wagner had written 'Parsifal' as a "Festival Play for the Consecration of the Stage" and he stipulated that it could only be produced at Bayreuth. Although numerous concert and abbreviated versions had taken place in Europe and South America between 1883 and 1903, it was only when the Met decided to produce the opera complete that Cosima filed. As at the time the United States did not honour international copyrights, she lost. The massive production, which necessitated the rebuilding of the proscenium and pit, was an enormous success. Alfred Hertz conducted, Alois Burgstaller played Parsifal and Kundry was sung by Milka Ternina. The first complete Ring Cycle at the Met was staged in 1889 with designs taken from those in Bayreuth. Original productions soon followed , and Wagner has a special place in the repertoire of the Metropolitan Opera.

From Quiz Russian Opera Potpourri

Answer: The overture, known as "Daybreak on the Moskva River"

"Khovanschina" has as its subject the rebellion of the Old Believers, who were the Russian Orthodox who refused to accept the religious reforms of Peter the Great. The title means something like "The Khovansky Affair", and refers to one of the leading Old Believer families. As a matter of historical interest, the Old Believers persisted into the 20th century and an isolated colony of them was discovered in forests near Moscow as late as the 1970s, which ought to give an idea of how deep and dark the forests near Moscow really are. The other 3 works named were written as stand-alone works and are not part of an opera. "Night on Bald Mountain," a tone poem, and the "Songs and Dances of Death," a song cycle, are by Mussorgsky; whereas "March Slav" is by Tchaikovsky.

From Quiz Russian Opera

Answer: Dmitry Shostakovich

This work had been intended as the first of four operas on Russian women, but it was considered more chaos than music by Stalin.

From Quiz French Operas

Answer: Romeo et Juliette

'Bastien et Bastienne' is a Singspiel by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, dating back to 1768, when Mozart was ... 12 years old.

From Quiz Russian Operas

Answer: Playing the three, the seven and the ace of spades, Hermann loses all his money

Also in Dostoevsky's work gambling is an important theme. E.g. in 'The Gambler' (1866)

From Quiz Famous Italian Operas

Answer: Tosca thinks she has tricked Scarpia into arranging a mock execution, kills Scarpia, but then sees that Cavadarossi is executed for real and commits suicide

Scarpia is furious when he hears that Napoleon has just won the battle of Marengo. He takes his revenge on Cavaradossi the painter, who played a role in the escape of the political prisoner Cesare Angelotti. He does this partially because Cavaradossi cannot hide his joy over Napoleon's victory, but much more because he has won the heart of the woman Scarpia himself wanted to win over for himself. When Tosca pleads for Cavaradossi, Scarpia proposes a deal. The prisoner will only undergo a mock execution, in exchange for Tosca's favours. When Scarpia seemingly has written a safe-conduct for Cavaradossi and Tosca, Tosca kills him with a knife which she happens to find on the table, and runs off to the place of execution, the Sant Angelo Castle in Rome. In reality Scarpia has NOT given orders that Cavaradossi's execution must be faked. When Tosca sees her beloved has been executed for real, she jumps off the walls of the castle. UNhappy end of the opera.

From Quiz Russian Opera Potpourri

Answer: The censors would not allow it to be performed as it was because there was no female lead

Believe it or not, the censors told Mussorgsky he had to put in a female lead. Mussorgsky did it, and the Polish scene contains some excellent music, but it is in marked contrast to the rest of the opera... the Polish scene is much more like a conventional Italian or French opera than the rather dark Russian stuff that the rest of it consists of. The opera can and has been performed without the Polish scene... the dramatic story seems tighter and more focused without it, although one does miss out on all that lovely music! One more thing about Mussorgsky: he paid much attention to the rhythm of words in his music. For a singer, it's much more necessary to understand word-for-word what is happening when singing Mussorgsky than most other 19th century Russian composers, e.g., Tchaikovsky. Much 20th century Russian music follows Mussorgsky's lead and places an emphasis on speech patterns... making it absolutely lovely in Russian but presenting many problems for the singer who wants to sing in translation... or indeed the translator who wishes to make a singable translation.

From Quiz Famous Italian Operas

Answer: Louisiana

Manon loves 'il cavaliere des Grieux' (in reality just a student), but keeps having an affair with the elderly Geronte di Ravoir for the sake of money. When Geronte notices that it's des Grieux who Manon loves for real, he sends the police after her. In Act III Des Grieux asks to be allowed to accompany his sweetheart to America. In Act IV they both are on the run in a barren area near New Orleans. Des Grieux in vain tries to find water and food, and both die of exhaustion. There is even a third lover of Manon: Edmondo, also a student. The three first acts are situated in French places: Amiens; Paris; Le Havre. It's only in the fourth Act that we see Des Grieux and Manon on American soil.

From Quiz Russian Opera Potpourri

Answer: The Holy Fool

If the opera is performed in this order, forgoing the operatic convention of the big death scene of the title character at the end, some delicious irony emerges. The revolutionary crowd in the forest scene is calling for the death of Boris, but he is already dead. The final song in the forest scene is the fool's lament, which ends, "Weep, weep, Russian people, poor, hungry people." A fitting end, for with the demise of Boris the country was plunged into chaos with no clear succession, a Time of Troubles from which it would not emerge until 7 years later with the ascent of the first Romanov to the throne in 1613-a dynasty that would last for a little more than 300 years.

From Quiz Famous Italian Operas

Answer: Cio-Cio-San

Cio-Cio-San is only 15 years old. She rejects her ancestral faith to be able to marry her handsome American. An American diplomat in vain tries to warn Pinkerton he is doing something stupid. Indeed after a short period of happiness, Pinkerton leaves his young wife (who happens to be pregnant) and returns to the U.S.A. Cio-Cio-San, who has given birth to Pinkerton's son, keeps hoping for his return. Indeed Pinkerton does return. He has married a new wife in America and he just has come to Japan to pick up his baby son. Totally disappointed about her callous ex-lover, Cio-Cio-San commits suicide.

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Last Updated Nov 01 2025 5:49 AM

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