Even More Opera Summaries in Four Words Quiz

Answer: The Marriage of Figaro

"The Marriage of Figaro" is Mozart's sequel to Beaumarchais's play "The Barber of Seville" (which wasn't made into an opera by Rossini until after Mozart's opera). Figaro, the title character in "Barber", is getting married this time, after accidentally getting engaged to his mother. Meanwhile, his wife Susanna and her mistress Countess Almaviva conspire to teach the Count about fidelity, and not suspecting his wife of infidelity, by dressing Cherubino (a man who's played by a woman) as a woman and arranging a tryst (confusing, isn't it?).

Answer: Madama Butterfly

One of Puccini's most popular operas, "Madama Butterfly" is based on a short story about a man who marries a Japanese woman, Cio-Cio-San, and then abandons her to return to America and take a "real American wife". He doesn't realize that she loves him deeply and awaits his return for years. Anthony Minghella's version uses a puppet to represent Butterfly's son, who is operated by black-clad puppeteers on stage.

Answer: The Tales of Hoffmann

In a tavern, the poet Hoffmann tells others about his three loves: Olympia (a mechanical doll), Antonia (a sickly singer), and Giulietta (a courtesan). Each story has an unhappy ending. Jacques Offenbach's opera was made into a film in 1951, which incorporates a great deal of ballet into the story. Most of the performers are dubbed by other singers.

Answer: Tristan und Isolde

Based on the 12th century story "Tristan and Iseult", Wagner's opera retells the romance between the title characters. Their relationship gets off to a rocky start: Tristan kills Isolde's fiance and sends her his head. He's wounded in a fight, and she heals him, not knowing he killed her lover.

When she finds out, she nearly kills him. And all this happens before the opera starts! It begins with Tristan escorting the Irish princess to his king, Marke. They fall in love at the end of Act I because Isolde's handmaiden gives them a love potion. Of course, their love doesn't go over well with Marke when they're found out, and the two eventually die.

Answer: Iolanta

"Iolanta" is a one-act opera by Tchaikovsky. A king keeps his daughter Iolanta from knowing she's blind by forbidding anyone to speak of anything related to sight around her. A doctor might be able to restore her sight, but does she even want to see?

Answer: The Love for Three Oranges

Prokofiev penned this odd, comic opera. After a hypochondriac, melancholic prince finally finds something to laugh at, Fata Morgana curses him to fall in love with three oranges. It turns out that the oranges are home to three princesses.

Answer: Il Trovatore

The gypsy Azucena, in vengeance for her mother's execution by burning, steals a count's baby and throws him on the fire. By accident, she mixes up the babies and actually kills her own child. And that's just the start of this popular Verdi opera. The famous "Anvil Chorus" is sung in the gypsy camp at the start of Act II.

Answer: The Enchanted Island

"The Enchanted Island" is a 2011 opera by the Metropolitan Opera using music from many composers, including Handel and Vivaldi. Written by Jeremy Sams, it combines the Shakespeare plays "The Tempest" and "A Midsummer Night's Dream". Through a series of wacky events, the honeymooning couples from "Midsummer" are shipwrecked on Prospero's island, where they each (once again) fall in love with the wrong person. Sycorax, a witch only spoken of in "The Tempest", is a character here, as is Neptune.

Answer: L'Orfeo

Monteverdi's "L'Orfeo" is one of the earliest surviving operas. It's based on the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice: Orpheus descends into the underworld to find his dead bride, who can return with him only if Orpheus never looks back at her until they leave the underworld.

This myth has been the basis for dozens of operas, one of the other popular ones being Offenbach's "Orphée aux Enfers", home of the famous can-can music "Galop Infernal".

Answer: Gotterdammerung

After the happy ending of "Siegfried", "Gotterdammerung", the last of Wagner's "Der Ring" cycle, immediately puts a damper on it in the opening scene of the Norns predicting the end of the world. Hagen wants to obtain the ring, and attempts to do so by tricking Siegfried into betraying Brunnhilde. Needless to say, nothing turns out well for the heroes: Siegfried and Brunnhilde both die, the gods die, and the world burns.

But at least the Rhinemaidens get their gold back!