# Opera Quiz



## Herkku (Apr 18, 2010)

I can't help myself but I would like to propose a new thread: operatic quiz or trivia. With the search engines now in use it may prove to be too easy to find the answers, but let's give it a try!

Which opera is said to have sparked up a revolution that actually led to the indepence of a country?


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## emiellucifuge (May 26, 2009)

I would love to play but i have no idea..
is it by Verdi?


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## Herkku (Apr 18, 2010)

No, it's not by Verdi. And pardon my English for the title of the thread. It should be Quiz instead of Quizz...

[Admin note: Title has been corrected per your request - Kh]


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## jhar26 (Jul 6, 2008)

Auber's "La Muette de Portici"

PS: I'm Belgian.


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## Herkku (Apr 18, 2010)

*Which opera?*

Quite right! What a coincidence! Could we go on with this thread everybody being allowed to post questions?

Here is my second question: which opera? The leading lady had to be changed twice before the premiere due to the pregnancy of the first two. The opera's "motto" encourages people to multiply...


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

Wouldn't stop them now!

Quote from Antonio Pappano in the Times online:

"Le nozze di Figaro was one of the first operas I conducted - in 1988 at Wolf Trap in Washington. It was with very young singers and with a quite pregnant Dawn Upshaw doing her first Susanna. She wasn't allowed to turn sideways!"

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/stage/article7125150.ece


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## Herkku (Apr 18, 2010)

But we are dealing with a premiere now!


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

Yes I definitely see that you might have to suspend disbelief a little too much if your brand new opera's romantic lead was sporting a tummy bump the size of a rugby ball..

On the other hand don't you think that in the Nozze case it makes the whole "droit de seigneur" issue a bit redundant if the virginal bride has very obviously already succumbed?


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## Herkku (Apr 18, 2010)

Dear mamascarlatti! I most wholeheartedly agree with you. And I appreciate your sense of humour. A comic opera is the answer here, too!


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## jhar26 (Jul 6, 2008)

Ok, what is wrong with the title of this Prokofiev opera?

"The love for two bananas."


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## Chi_townPhilly (Apr 21, 2007)

Herkku said:


> The opera's "motto" encourages people to multiply...


Don't know if I'm on the right track (and my 'code-of-honor' prevents me from internet-searching this), 
but it seems that _Die Zauberflöte_ fits this description...

Beide: Welche Freude wird das sein, wenn die Götter uns bedenken,
unsrer liebe Kinder schenken, so liebe, kleine Kinderlein!
Papageno: Erst einen kleinen Papageno.
Papagena: Dann eine kleine Papagena.
Papageno: Dann wieder einen Papageno.
Papagena: Dann wieder eine Papagena-
Beide: Papageno!/Papagena! Est ist das höchste der Gerfülte, 
wenn viele, viele Papageno/a, der Eltern Segen werden sein.

Both: What a joy it would be if the gods would bless us with children,
very darling little children!
Papageno: First a little Papageno.
Papagena: Then a little Papagena.
Papageno: Then another Papageno.
Papagena: Then another Papagena-
Papageno!/Papagena! It would be the greatest feeling,
if we would be blessed with many Papagenos & Papagenas.

This was on my mind recently, because I mentioned it on our sibling forum, in this thread. 
(I think that the general discouragement against mention of other forums doesn't apply to our sibling forum!)


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

jhar26 said:


> Ok, what is wrong with the title of this Prokofiev opera?
> 
> "The love for two bananas."


It should be "A love for Three Oranges" 

Question: What opera had in it the original "Flight of the Bumble Bee" ?


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

The Tale of Tsar Saltan, courtesy of wiki. Anyone seen or heard this opera? I feel a Russian opera-fest coming on.


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## Herkku (Apr 18, 2010)

I have never seen or heard Tsar Saltan as a whole, only the orchestral suite from it, including "The Flight of the Bumblebee", which I even used to practice on the piano.

But an extra hint to my question: the opera includes a sex change.


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## Herkku (Apr 18, 2010)

Still an additional hint: 40000 children are born in the opera in a one day, locally.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

No I definitely don't know it. I'm sure I would have remembered 40,000 kids.


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## Herkku (Apr 18, 2010)

*Which opera No. 3*

While the previous question still awaits it's answer, here is a new one:

Which opera: it's scenario (originally meant to be a ballet) was sent to the composer while he was serving in the army and on the front during WW1. Obviously the composer had other things in mind while the war was going on - like surviving - since the opera had it's premiere in 1925 in Monte Carlo.


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## jhar26 (Jul 6, 2008)

Ravel's "l'Enfant et les Sortiléges"?


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## Herkku (Apr 18, 2010)

*Which opera No. 3*

Yes, Ravel received the scenario of L'Enfant et les sortiléges while still at the front. It's hard to imagine how he could have been able to concentrate on an endearing children's opera, but maybe it was a way out of the horrors of war. He actually began the composition work in earnest only 1920, but it feels kind of comforting that there was something to occupy his mind even at the front. I cannot know where he was situated and it could have been weeks or months of just waiting for something to happen or the pure hell of real action.


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## Herkku (Apr 18, 2010)

*Which opera No. 4*

Which opera? The composer has been reported to have hidden himself in the wings during the rehearsals and pinched a leg of a female singer to achieve a real scream like he wanted.


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## Silver (May 17, 2010)

Opera # 1.
I was a bit lead astray here. Surely there were 40 049 children born...?  I think it is called The breasts of Tiresias in English (Les mamelles de Tirésias). Poulenc's first try at opera and like so much else by him, unique. (I had to google to get the acute accent right; read the wondrous plot by all means!)


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## Silver (May 17, 2010)

Which opera #5
A serious opera about the importance of education. The opera's frightening ballet is performed by bears.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

*Which opera #6*

Ths opera, never staged in the composer's lifetime, contains a rousing ode to liberty strangely prescient of political events occuring some 25 years after its composition.


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## Herkku (Apr 18, 2010)

Yes, the opera with so many children is Poulec's Les mamelles de Tirésias.


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## Herkku (Apr 18, 2010)

It's beginning to look like some additional help with operas #5 and 6 would be needed.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

*which opera #6*



Herkku said:


> It's beginning to look like some additional help with operas #5 and 6 would be needed.


These political events occured in 1789. It is possible that one reason why this opera was not performed is because the liberty theme was a bit threatening, rightly so as it turns out...

Now, how about some help with N.4?


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## Herkku (Apr 18, 2010)

mamascarlatti said:


> Now, how about some help with N.4?


The singer in question was the wife of the manager of the opera group that premiered the work.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

*Which opera #4*

I woke up in the middle of the night, wracking my brains about shrieking sopranos, and thought Don Giovanni - this opera quiz is not good for my health!


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

*which opera #6*

Additional hint: It's a very windy opera. In fact, in my DVD of it, weather features very largely.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

*Which singers?*

These two singers, entirely famous and adulated, but not entire, appeared for the first time together on stage as tyrannical ruler and captive. The captive sang an aria so movingly that the tyrant forgot his character and ran over in admiration to throw his arms around the singer.
Interestingly, the aria which so moved the tyrant concerns a sweet embrace.


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## Chi_townPhilly (Apr 21, 2007)

Silver said:


> Which opera #5
> A serious opera about the importance of education. The opera's frightening ballet is performed by bears.


Still playing it honest, here. It's easy enough to resist the temptation of internet-searching (so far)- it's proving a little harder for me to keep from cracking open my copy of _Kobbé_! (But I'm steering clear, to this point!)

Re: *Opera #5*: Scott Joplin's _Treemonisha_?


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## Herkku (Apr 18, 2010)

# 4 was indeed Don Giovanni and Zerlina's scream in end of the first act, the singer in the Prague premiere Caterina Bondini.


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## Herkku (Apr 18, 2010)

The singers would appear to be Farinelli singing "Per questo dolce amplesso" from Hasse's Artaserse, and Senesino being so moved as to forget his part on the stage.


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## Herkku (Apr 18, 2010)

mamascarlatti said:


> Additional hint: It's a very windy opera. In fact, in my DVD of it, weather features very largely.


Is the wind blowing from the North? Rameau's Les Boréades as an opera which wasn't performed during Rameau's lifetime, and Boréas being the god of the North wind, would fit. I have no idea about the praise of liberty, though.


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## HarpsichordConcerto (Jan 1, 2010)

mamascarlatti said:


> These two singers, entirely famous and adulated, but not entire, appeared for the first time together on stage as tyrannical ruler and captive. The captive sang an aria so movingly that the tyrant forgot his character and ran over in admiration to throw his arms around the singer.
> Interestingly, the aria which so moved the tyrant concerns a sweet embrace.


That was definitely Farinelli and Senesino during some Italian opera, as per _The Opera of the Nobility_, the opera company set up in direct competition against Handel's opera company running concurrently. Though I can't remember which opera and who was the tyrant and who was the captive. Definitely not a Handel opera. I could easily look that up, but off the top of my head, I cannot recall.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

*Which singers?*



Herkku said:


> The singers would appear to be Farinelli singing "Per questo dolce amplesso" from Hasse's Artaserse, and Senesino being so moved as to forget his part on the stage.





HarpsichordConcerto said:


> That was definitely Farinelli and Senesino during some Italian opera, as per _The Opera of the Nobility_, the opera company set up in direct competition against Handel's opera company running concurrently. Though I can't remember which opera and who was the tyrant and who was the captive. Definitely not a Handel opera. I could easily look that up, but off the top of my head, I cannot recall.


Both correct!


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

Herkku said:


> Is the wind blowing from the North? Rameau's Les Boréades as an opera which wasn't performed during Rameau's lifetime, and Boréas being the god of the North wind, would fit. I have no idea about the praise of liberty, though.


You are right again!

youtube, Rameau, C'est la liberte


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

*Which Opera #7. Bonus point for the character's name.*

This ensemble road opera allows one of the characters to have a giggle at the foibles of the Spanish, the Polish, the French, the Germans, the English and the Russians.


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## Herkku (Apr 18, 2010)

Herkku said:


> The singers would appear to be Farinelli singing "Per questo dolce amplesso" from Hasse's Artaserse, and Senesino being so moved as to forget his part on the stage.


In fact the performance was a kind of concoction with music both by Hasse and Farinelli's brother Riccardo Broschi.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

Herkku said:


> In fact the performance was a kind of concoction with music both by Hasse and Farinelli's brother Riccardo Broschi.


So I believe, but that aria is by Hasse.


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## Herkku (Apr 18, 2010)

# 7 has to be Rossini's Il Viaggio a Reims.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

Herkku said:


> # 7 has to be Rossini's Il Viaggio a Reims.


That's right. I just love that aria as interpreted by Ruggero Raimondi who created the part in the 80's when the opera was rediscovered. It's been making me laugh for 25 years.

Ruggero Raimondi sings "medaglie incomparabili"


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

Which work is considered to be the Hungarian "national opera?"


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## Herkku (Apr 18, 2010)

Would it be Kodaly's Háry János?


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

Herkku said:


> Would it be Kodaly's Háry János?


No, that's not an "opera" per se but a singspiel (dramatic play with words and music). What I'm thinking of was written in the C19th. The composer is Hungary's greatest composer of opera, but hardly known outside of the country...


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## Herkku (Apr 18, 2010)

Then I must try Ferenc Erkel's Bánk Bán (1861)!


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

Herkku said:


> Then I must try Ferenc Erkel's Bánk Bán (1861)!


Yes, correct, though I think that it was composed in the 1840's(?). I'll have to look it up. But this opera was considered to be too nationalistic by the ruling Austrian authorities, who saw it as a threat, particularly after the failed Hungarian war of independence in 1848. It was banned for decades until the end of the C19th, when it was the first work to be performed in the new Hungarian national opera house in Budapest. None other than the Emperor himself, Franz Joseph I, was in attendance that night. Clearly, the opera was by that time no longer seen as a threat by the Austrian authorities, and it has stayed firmly in the repertoire in Hungary ever since (a big revival was made in the late 1960's, with a classic recording now reissued on Hungaroton with Janos Ferencsik conducting and tenor Jozsef Simandy in the title role). Another great opera Erkel penned was _Laszlo Hunyadi_...


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

*Which opera #9*

Sections of this opera are sung in a language that no living person has ever heard.


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## Chi_townPhilly (Apr 21, 2007)

mamascarlatti said:


> Sections of this opera are sung in a language that no living person has ever heard.


Well, if opera-goers are hearing the language sung, then living people _will_ have heard the language...

unless, of course, upon hearing the first syllable of the language, the audience then...
OMG! Old Dungeons & Dragons players will recognize this as the _Power Word: Kill_ spell!!

For the more "mainstream," it's kind of like the Monty Python "Literal-Killing-Joke" routine.

That aside, I guess you're referring to Glass' _Satyagraha_...


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

Chi_townPhilly said:


> Well, if opera-goers are hearing the language sung, then living people _will_ have heard the language...
> 
> unless, of course, upon hearing the first syllable of the language, the audience then...
> OMG! Old Dungeons & Dragons players will recognize this as the _Power Word: Kill_ spell!!
> ...


This was a hard one to phrase. Yes, living people have heard the language in the opera, but we have no idea if the language we are hearing would resemble it as actually spoken at the time. I have enough trouble explaining that I just watched Ruslan and Lyumila to my Russian student - she looks completely blank at my horrible pronunciation.

As for your answer, it was nearly what I had in mind, the defition would fit both.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

*Which opera/character #9*

Many operas have mad scenes.
Whose sanity was restored by the reappearance of a domestic animal?


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## Herkku (Apr 18, 2010)

#9 The first that comes to mind is Meyerbeer's Dinorah and her goat.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

An operatic work which the composer saw as a kind of ritualistic theatre for all of the performers (including musicians). There is also much mime incorporated into this opera (actually, it's a central part of telling the opera's story). This is a Western opera but it draws on the stories and music of other cultures. Any more, and I would give it away. It's certainly not what you'd think of as conventional or traditional opera, that's for sure...


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

Herkku said:


> #9 The first that comes to mind is Meyerbeer's Dinorah and her goat.


You are totally brilliant.


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## Herkku (Apr 18, 2010)

Andre said:


> An operatic work which the composer saw as a kind of ritualistic theatre for all of the performers (including musicians). There is also much mime incorporated into this opera (actually, it's a central part of telling the opera's story). This is a Western opera but it draws on the stories and music of other cultures. Any more, and I would give it away. It's certainly not what you'd think of as conventional or traditional opera, that's for sure...


Was the work left unfinished by the composer? If so, de Falla's Atlantida comes to mind, although I'm not sure if it can be called opera. So, maybe you have something else in mind...


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## Herkku (Apr 18, 2010)

*#10 Which opera?*

In which opera one of the singers has to play an ape who in turn poses as a human being?


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

Herkku said:


> Was the work left unfinished by the composer? If so, de Falla's Atlantida comes to mind, although I'm not sure if it can be called opera. So, maybe you have something else in mind...


No, it's not the de Falla. I have to stress that this is not a conventional opera, I would rather use the label "music drama." It was finished by the composer.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

Herkku said:


> In which opera one of the singers has to play an ape who in turn poses as a human being?


Maybe we could have a hint?


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

*Windy?*



mamascarlatti said:


> Additional hint: It's a very windy opera. In fact, in my DVD of it, weather features very largely.


Without remembering whether Norma has a cry for liberty, its performance with Montserrat Caballé in Orange was certainly windy.


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