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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?
Ernani
I puritani
Don Giovanni
La favorita
2. What is the name of Cio-Cio-San’s maid in Madama Butterfly?
Suzuki
Kawasaki
Harley
Yamaha
3. Which is an opera composed by Gioacchino Rossini?
Il barbiere di Siviglia
La mère coupable
Assedio di Firenze
Le nozze di Figaro
4. Where does the opera Norma take place?
The outskirts of the city of Rome
Gaul
An unspecified location in Scandinavia
Anglo-Saxon England
5. Which character sings «Nessun dorma» in the final act of Turandot?
Rinuccio
Calaf
Cavaradossi
Rodolfo
6. Which Valkyrie role did Wagner write for a contralto?
Schwertleite
Waltraute
Roßweiße
Ortlinde
7. Which of the following did NOT compose an operatic retelling of the Faust legend?
Ferruccio Busoni
Robert Schumann
Hector Berlioz
Charles Gounod
Berlioz: La damnation de Faust; Busoni: Doktor Faust; Gounod: Faust.
8. John Adams (1947- ) composed which opera?
The Prodigal Son
Maria Golovin
Antony and Cleopatra
The Ice Break
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 Bell Song
The Macarena
The Flower Duet
The Toreador Song
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 …
Asleep
Dying
Drunk
Offstage
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?
Tennessee
Kentucky
North Carolina
Oklahoma
12. The Kitchen Boy in Dvořák’s Rusalka is usually performed by …
A treble
A mezzo-soprano
A lyric tenor
A non-speaking actor
13. Which of the following is NOT known to have composed an opera based on one of Shakespeare’s plays?
Ambroise Thomas
Giuseppe Verdi
Ottorino Respighi
Benjamin Britten
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.
La voix humaine (Francis Poulenc)
Night (Lorenzo Ferrero)
Sancta Susanna (Paul Hindemith)
The Telephone (Gian Carlo Menotti)
15. Richard Wagner had a son who was also an opera composer. What was his name?
Walther Wagner
Tristan Wagner
Sigmund Wagner
Siegfried Wagner
+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?