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Opera Trivia

Select the correct answer from among the choices given.

Constructive criticism is welcome.

I’m not sure how much of an appetite there is for opera-themed quizzes, so please leave a comment if you want more.
Quiz by arjaygee
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Last updated: August 18, 2023
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First submittedAugust 18, 2023
Times taken27
Average score46.7%
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1. Which opera does NOT have a principal character named Elvira?
La favorita
Don Giovanni
Ernani
I puritani
2. What is the name of Cio-Cio-San’s maid in Madama Butterfly?
Suzuki
Yamaha
Harley
Kawasaki
3. Which is an opera composed by Gioacchino Rossini?
Il barbiere di Siviglia
Le nozze di Figaro
Assedio di Firenze
La mère coupable
4. Where does the opera Norma take place?
Gaul
Anglo-Saxon England
An unspecified location in Scandinavia
The outskirts of the city of Rome
5. Which character sings «Nessun dorma» in the final act of Turandot?
Cavaradossi
Rodolfo
Calaf
Rinuccio
6. Which Valkyrie role did Wagner write for a contralto?
Schwertleite
Roßweiße
Waltraute
Ortlinde
7. Which of the following did NOT compose an operatic retelling of the Faust legend?
Hector Berlioz
Charles Gounod
Robert Schumann
Ferruccio Busoni
Berlioz: La damnation de Faust; Busoni: Doktor Faust; Gounod: Faust.
8. John Adams (1947- ) composed which opera?
The Ice Break
The Prodigal Son
Maria Golovin
Antony and Cleopatra
Samuel Barber composed an opera (arguably better known) of the same name.
9. Which musical number can you hear in a standard performance of Carmen?
The Macarena
The Toreador Song
The Bell Song
The Flower Duet
Escamillo sings «Votre toast, je peux vous le rendre» (The Toreador Song) in Act II.
10. In an 1831 Bellini opera, one of the principal characters sings an aria cantabile while she is …
Dying
Asleep
Offstage
Drunk
Amina, the main protagonist in La sonnambula is sleepwalking when she sings «Ah, non credea mirarti». Luckily, she wakes up in time to sing the cabaletta «Ah, non giunge».
11. Carlisle Floyd’s opera Susannah takes place in which U.S. state?
North Carolina
Oklahoma
Kentucky
Tennessee
12. The Kitchen Boy in Dvořák’s Rusalka is usually performed by …
A mezzo-soprano
A lyric tenor
A treble
A non-speaking actor
13. Which of the following is NOT known to have composed an opera based on one of Shakespeare’s plays?
Giuseppe Verdi
Benjamin Britten
Ottorino Respighi
Ambroise Thomas
Britten: A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Thomas: Hamlet; Verdi: Macbeth, Falstaff.
14. In this one-act opera, a troubled woman discloses (during a telephone conversation) her recent suicide attempt.
Night (Lorenzo Ferrero)
La voix humaine (Francis Poulenc)
The Telephone (Gian Carlo Menotti)
Sancta Susanna (Paul Hindemith)
15. Richard Wagner had a son who was also an opera composer. What was his name?
Siegfried Wagner
Tristan Wagner
Walther Wagner
Sigmund Wagner
2 Comments
+1
Level 85
Sep 20, 2023
Cool first quiz, but hard!!! I only got four right. Also try Famous Operas!
+1
Level 65
Sep 20, 2023
Thank you. I had a lot of fun putting this together, but I thought it had been removed from the site because it had so few takers. Last time I checked, it wasn’t showing up in the search.

How did you come across it?