# A simple little quiz for those who think their favorite composer is THE greatest ever



## Meyerbeer Smith (Mar 25, 2016)

Here's a simple quiz for people who think that Wagner, or Mozart, or Verdi, or Stockhausen, or whoever is the greatest opera composer who ever lived.

Not just their favourite composer, whose wonderful operas they want everyone to love as much as they do. Not just a composer with a huge influence on the genre. But better than every other composer who ever tried their hand at writing operas.

They should find this a cinch. :devil:

INSTRUCTIONS:
Write your answers on your monitor in indelible ink.

You must answer ALL questions. "I don't know" is not an acceptable answer.

*EASY*
What are your five favourite Handel operas? How do they compare to Graun, Hasse, Galuppi, Porpora, and Vivaldi's operas?

What is your favourite _Iphigénie_: en Aulide, en Tauride, or en Champagne?

How would you fix _Oberon_?

Discuss the merits of these Marias: Padilla, Rohan, Rudenz, Stuarda, Stuarda, Callas, Tudor (on whose heart "Callas" was engraved)

How do _Il barbiere di Siviglia_, _Le philtre_, _Gustave III_, _Otello_, _Die lustige Weiber von Windsor_, and _Il giuramento _compare to the more famous later versions?

Wagner admired _La muette de Portici _and _La reine de Chypre_. Based on your own knowledge of these works, do you agree?

Peter Conrad, in _Opera: A Song of Love and Death_, believes that Carmen and Don Giovanni are impelled to remain eternally in motion, pursuing, in Don Giovanni's case, and manoeuvring free, in Carmen's. They can only be truly satiated in death.
Gently psychoanalyse any THREE other Bizet operas [*] to boiling point.
[*] Except (_Les pêcheurs de perles _and _La jolie fille de Perth _

Do you agree that _The Maid of Orleans _and _Mazeppa _are better than _Eugene Onegin _and the _Queen of Spades_? If not, why not?

NOT counting _Rusalka _and _The Bartered Bride_, what are your three favourite operas by Dvořák and Smetana? How do they compare to your favourite Janáček opera?

Are _Ariane_, _Grisélidis_, and _Roma_ more interesting than _Werther_ and _Manon_? Can _Bacchus_ really be as bad as all that? Explain your answer, with monkey noises, if appropriate.

Some critics have called _Die schweigsame Frau _one of the twentieth century's best comic operas. Do you agree? If not, which one would you put?

Compare and contrast:
a)
i) _Un giorno di regno_ and _Falstaff_
ii) _I Lombardi_ and _Jérusalem_
iii) _I due Foscari_, the two versions of _Simon Boccanegra_, and _Marino Faliero_
iv) _Stiffelio_ and _Aroldo_
v) _Luisa Miller_ and _King Lear_

b)
i) _Maometto II_ and _Le siège de Corinthe_
ii) _Mosè in Egitto_ and _Moïse et Pharaon_
iii) _Ermione_ and _Guillaume Tell_

d) _Don Procopio_, _Don Giovanni_, _Don Gregorio_, _Don Carlos_, _Dom Sébastien_

e) _Der Ring des Nibelungen_ and _L'enlèvement d'Europe_ / _L'abandon d'Ariane_ / _La délivrance de Thésée_

*HARDER*
What do you think of Salieri's _Danaïdes_, Sacchini's _Œdipe à Colone_, Méhul's _Joseph en Egypte_, and Le Sueur's _Paul et Virginie_?

Was Berlioz right to say what he did about Spontini? Justify your answer.
What about Berlioz's verdict of _Le devin du village_?

Which do you prefer: _A Life for the Tsar_ or _Ivan Susanin_? 
(Or _Ruslan and Lyudmila_?)

How do you feel about Serov, Dargomyzhsky, and Nápravník? Do they object to being felt? Have you been arrested?

What do you know of Buzzolla, Cagnoni, Foroni, Mabellini, Pacini, Pedrotti, Petrella, Platania, the Ricci brothers, and Rossi? Why not?

How many differences you can spot between Charpentier and Charpentier? What about Charpentier (either one), Chabrier, and Chausson? Include diagram.

Which of these do you prefer: Gotovac's _Ero s onoga svijeta_, Żeleński's _Goplana _, Nowowiejski's _Legenda Bałtyku_, or Paliashvili's _Abesalom da Eteri_?

Who is your favourite woman composer out of Francesca Cassini, Louise Bertin, Pauline Viardot, and Ethel Smyth?

What is a Pfitzner, and is it painful? Illustrate how YOU would deal with one.

Birtwhistle vs. Stockhausen.

Give your considered critical opinion of EACH of the following:

Antar
Antigone / Elektra / Medea (Theodorakis)
Antony and Cleopatra
La dame blanche
Benvenuto Cellini
Dardanus
Dialogues des Carmélites
Fantasio
Fervaal
Genoveva
Hans Heiling
Jessonda
La juive
Khovanshchina
Maskarade
The Midsummer Marriage
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Das Nusch-Nuschi
Orazi e Curiazi
Prince Igor
Le prophète
Richard Cœur-de-lion
Saint François d'Assise
Saint Louis roi de France
Satyagraha
Sigurd
Snegurochka
Straszny dwór
Troilus and Cressida

BONUS

La dame de Monsoreau
Le val d'Andorre
La jeunesse de Goethe
Messaline
Patrie!
Quo vadis
La statue


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## Barbebleu (May 17, 2015)

Brilliant post. I have barely heard of any of the references so I may investigate further. But surely Nick, you should have posted this on the 1st April!:lol:


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## Larkenfield (Jun 5, 2017)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

I was about to start answering when I realized I was short on indelible ink...

Well, that's life.


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## Barbebleu (May 17, 2015)

Loved the Maria Tudor reference. Nice one for the historically minded.

And I do hope that the Genoveva reference wasn't alluding to our erstwhile member of the same name!


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