Arts and Books Mixed Bag 6 Trivia Quiz

Answer: 'The Tempest'

Written only a few years before his death in 1616, 'The Tempest' is acknowledged as the last play written solely by Shakespeare.
In addition to Prospero, other major characters include Miranda (Prospero's daughter), the spirit Ariel, Alonso (the King of Naples) and Caliban (Prospero's deformed slave).

Answer: Johannes Brahms

Johann Brahms was a Romantic composer born in Hamburg in 1833. The Requiem, his most famous work, was composed in various stages during his life. Part of it was released as early as 1854, although the complete work was not published until 15 years later.
The alternatives are also German composers. Handel's most famous works are 'Messiah', 'Water Works' and 'Music for the Royal Fireworks'. Humperdink is best remembered for the opera 'Hansel & Gretel'. Wagner's best-known production is the four-opera cycle 'Der Ring des Nibelungen' (aka 'The Ring Cycle').

Answer: Aphrodite

Aphrodite was also known as Kypris and Cytherea, after the two places (Cyprus and Cythera) that claimed to be her birthplace.
Of the alternatives, Dione was the daughter of Atlas and, according to Homer's 'Iliad', Aphrodite's mother. Athena was the Goddess of heroic endeavor and the patron of Athens, and Venus was the Roman equivalent to Aphrodite.

Answer: Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Along with 'The Rhime of the Ancient Mariner', 'Kubla Khan' is the best-known work of English Romantic poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834). Its opening lines are well known:

"In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree:
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea..."

Coleridge claimed that he wrote the poem in 1797, although it was not published until almost 20 years after that.

Answer: George Stubbs

George Stubbs is best known for his paintings of horses. His most famous works include 'Whistlejacket', a painting of a prancing horse on a plain background that can be seen in the National Gallery in London, and 'Mares and Foals in a River Landscape' which is on display at the Tate Gallery. He also painted more exotic animals, including numerous versions of a wild horse being threatened by a lion.
The alternatives are three other English painters. Reynolds was born in Devon in 1723, Gainsborough in Suffolk in 1727, and Turner in London in 1775.

Answer: 'Beau Geste'

'Beau Geste' tells the story of the three Geste brothers, Michael ('Beau'), Digby and John. When a family heirloom ('Blue Water') goes missing, the brothers are the primary suspects, and they leave to join the French Foreign Legion.
There have been numerous film adaptations of the book, with Ronald Coleman, Gary Cooper, Guy Stockwell and Christopher Cazenove playing the title role.
The alternatives are three more adventure novels. 'The Heart of Princess Osra' (1896) is the first of Anthony Hope's 'Ruritania' trilogy. 'Swallowdale' (1931) was the sequel to Arthur Ransome's 'Swallows and Amazons'. 'The Four Feathers' was a 1902 novel by A.E.W. Mason.

Answer: 'Aida'

First performed in 1871, 'Aida' was one of Verdi's last operas. Of his 28 operas, only 'Otello' and 'Falstaff' were written in the last 30 years of his life. The title character and primary soprano role in 'Aida' is the Ethiopian princess. Other main characters include the kings of Egypt and Ethiopia, plus the Captain of the Guard (Radames) and the Pharaoh's daughter (Amneris).

Answer: Iain Banks

Iain Menzies Banks, born in Dunfermline in 1954, is a novelist who has produced bestsellers under the name of Iain Banks and highly acclaimed science fiction under the name Iain M Banks.
The alternatives are three more Scottish novelists. Stevenson is best known for the novels 'Treasure Island', 'Kidnapped' and 'The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde'. Cronin wrote the best-selling novels 'The Stars Look Down' and 'Citadel' and created the TV and radio series 'Dr Finlay's casebook'. Wolstencroft, a writer of espionage novels, is the creator of the TV series 'Spooks'.

Answer: Norwegian

Edvard Hagerup Grieg was born in Bergen, Norway in 1843. His best-known composition is probably the incidental music written to accompany the Henrik Ibsen play 'Peer Gynt'. His popular 'Piano Concerto' will, perhaps, always be remembered for the comedic arrangement conducted by Andre Previn on a 1971 'Morecambe & Wise Show'.

Answer: René Magritte

René François Ghislain Magritte was born in Lessines, Belgium in 1898. He specialized in painting everyday objects in unusual settings. 'Time Transfixed' features a train coming out of a fireplace, for example. 'The Listening Room' shows a apple that fills a whole room. 'The Treachery of Images' shows a pipe and the caption below it says "Ceci n'est pas une pipe" ('This is not a pipe').

As Magritte explained, no matter how hard you try you cannot use his picture of a pipe to smoke tobacco, so it is, therefore, not a pipe, despite appearances. The three alternatives are also surrealist artists.