A "Night" Out Enjoying the Arts Quiz

Answer: Rembrandt van Rijn

All four are Dutch painters, but Rembrandt is the one in question. He painted "The Night Watch" in 1642. Thankfully the original name, "The Company of captain Frans Banning Cocq and lieutenant Willem van Ruytenburch preparing to march out" didn't stick, as a name that long may have bogged down the popularity of the painting.

Answer: Amahl

"Amahl and the Night Visitors" was an opera commissioned to appear on American television in 1951. It was a live performance viewed by about five million people. The opera still continues to be performed in limited popularity.

Answer: What You Will

Only two of Shakespeare's plays featured a subtitle, the other being "Henry VIII or All Is True". A romantic comedy, "Twelfth Night" is a bizarre love triangle between Duke Orsino, Lady Olivia, and a shipwrecked lass named Viola who disguises herself as a man to remain gainfully employed. Orsino loves Olivia, Viola loves Orsino, Olivia loves Viola when she's not Viola and madness abounds.

Answer: Stephen Sondheim

Stephen Sondheim has earned an incredible eight Tony Awards as a composer, more than any other. This production, "A Little Night Music", earned him one of those Tony Awards, rewarding the high brow headiness of the composing ability, a work that challenges even the most talented of musicians.

He also wrote the lyrics for this production. Not often performed at the community level due to its difficulty, it does lend one familiar song to the public, that being "Send In the Clowns". Sondheim got his title from Mozart's "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik", another piece of the arts that could have made its way into this quiz very easily.

Answer: Vincent van Gogh

Van Gogh's "Starry Night" was actually one of several paintings he did from his bedroom window depicting the view. This happens to be his most famous. It has been a permanent acquisition of the Museum of Modern Art since 1941. "Starry Night" was rarely talked about by Van Gogh.

In fact he included the work in a group of paintings he sent to his brother, and with the care package, he wrote in a letter a list of five that he was proud of, but he made no mention of "Starry Night". So one of Van Gogh's most cherished masterpieces was in Vincent's mind sixth (at best) of just a small percentage of his works.

Answer: Johann Strauss II

Strauss is the name in question here. He wrote eighteen operettas altogether, and strangely enough, "A Night in Venice" is the only one NOT to debut in Venice, as it was first performed in Berlin. "Eine Nacht in Venedig" was one of his more popular works, being performed also in London and New York.

Answer: Eugene O'Neill

Eugene O'Neill was not around to see the success of this play, he passed away in 1953. He left instructions to not bring this play into the public arena until 25 years after he died, but one of his wives transferred ownership of it to Yale University which relinquished the contract. It posthumously won O'Neill the Pulitzer Prize in 1957, his fourth time of winning.

Answer: Edward Hopper

"Nighthawks" is Hopper's most famous work, and also one of the more parodied paintings in existence today. "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" puts Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, Humphrey Bogart and Elvis Presley replacing the original four in Hopper's painting. Sold to the Art Institute in Chicago for $3,000, it would likely receive bids ten thousand times that if ever on auction.

Answer: Beatrice

Beatrice is a major character from another popular Shakespeare comedy, "Much Ado About Nothing".

Puck, Titania and Oberon are Faeries whose actions are what drive the plotlines of the play. Also featured are human characters, including Lysander, Demetrius, Egeus and Helena.

Answer: Mark Haddon

Mark Haddon has been writing children's books for the bulk of his writing career since 1987, but decided to go into the adult fiction genre for a spell. His first full-length novel, 2003's "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time", was intended strictly for adults, but the publisher recommended a push towards children's audiences as well.

It earned a number of awards, and the play version adapted by Simon Stephens has continued its success.