Empedocles Goes Classic - Air Trivia Quiz

Answer: Ludwig van Beethoven

Beethoven (1770-1827) is the only one of these composers who was already around in 1801. This German composer is best known for his nine symphonies, as well as his piano works "Für Elise" and "Mondscheinsonate". Both of these last works have current names that were given after Beethoven's death.
In 1832, a piano critic compared the emotions conveyed by the piano sonata nr. 14 to a moonlit night on a lake near Luzern, Switzerland. The name "Moonlight Sonata" stuck immediately.
Beethoven's Bagatelle nr. 25 was first published in 1867 and got the name "Für Elise" ("For Elise"). The title written on the manuscript was rather difficult to read, so chances are the title was incorrectly interpreted. The bagatelle was probably composed for one of Beethoven's students, Therese Malfatti.
The French composer Claude Debussy (1868-1918) created music for the folk verse "Au clair de la lune" (translated as "In the Moonshine"), which is one of his better known works.
Mike Oldfield (born 1953) is a British composer of pop music. He released "Moonlight Shadow" in 1983. He is best remembered for his albums "Tubular Bells".
Brahms (1833-1897) was a German composer. His opus nr. 71 contains the song "An den Mond" ("To the Moon"). Highlights of his works are the Hungarian dances and the romantic "Lullaby".

Answer: Johann Sebastian Bach

The name for this movement fits wonderfully well in this quiz, but it doesn't refer in itself to something above the Earth's surface. 'Air' is simply the English word for the Italian 'aria', which is used to indicate any expressive melody - and usually the most popular pieces of classical music.
Suite number 3 in D major was composed for three trumpets, timpani, two oboes, two violins, viola and basso continuo. As the basso continuo is outdated, August Wilhelmj made another arrangement for the "Air" on violin and piano.
The BWV indication is typical of the Bach collection. In fact, the letters BWV stand for "Bach Werke Verzeignis" - which can be translated as "List of Bach's works".
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) was a prolific German Baroque composer. If you have the opportunity, go and listen to the "Toccata and Fugue in D minor" in a baroque church.
Vincenzo Bellini (1801-1835) was an Italian opera composer. One of his best known works is "Norma".
Anton Bruckner (1824-1896) was an Austrian composer who left us at least nine symphonies.
Arrigo Boito (1842-1918) did compose one opera ("Mefistofele"), but he is better known as the librettist for operas by Alfredo Catalani, Amilcare Ponchielli and Giuseppe Verdi.

Answer: The Airport of Vienna

"1,000 Airplanes on the Roof" premiered in 1988. This melodrama is a monologue with musical accompaniment. The protagonist recalls some meetings with extra-terrestrials. Meanwhile a holographic show is performed.
Looking at the title, there is no place more appropriate for this melodrama than an airport. And indeed, the first night was at the Vienna airport.
Philip Glass (born 1937) is an American composer. He has created at least nine symphonies and ten concerti, as well as 25 operas or music theatre plays.
The beach refers to Philip Glass' first music theatre play, "Einstein on the Beach".
Both other options refer to John Cage (1912-1992).
The church in Halberstadt, Germany is the location where Cage's piece "As Slow as Possible" is performed. The show started in 2000 and the last note will be played in 2639.
The Barbican in London had the first orchestral performance of Cage's piece " 4'33'' ", a musical joke in which not any note is performed during four minutes and thirty-three seconds. Musicians just turn score papers.

Answer: Nightingale

All these birds have inspired some classical composers. The nightingale was one of the most popular, for it inspired all the aforesaid composers.
Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971), a Russian composer, completed the opera "Le Rossignol" ("The Nightingale") in 1914.
Albert Roussel (1869-1937) was a French composer. "Rossignol, mon mignon" ("My dear Nightingale") is an excerpt from the "Poèmes de Ronsard".
Jean-Benjamin de La Borde (1734-1794) was another French composer. His opera "Le rossignol" had its first night in 1751.
Dennis Ballière (1729-1800), yet another French composer, started his career with the vaudeville "Le Rossignol" in 1751.
The Italian Gioacchino Rossini (1792-1868) completed "La gazza ladra" ("The Thieving Magpie") in 1817, as well as three other operas.
Ralph Vaughn Williams (1872-1958), a British composer, named a string concerto "The Lark Ascending".
The swan inspired many composers. I'll just name the two most famous: the ballet "Swan Lake" by the Russian Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) and the movement "Le cygnet" ("The Swan") from the "Carnaval des Animaux" by the French Camille Saint-Saens (1835-1921).

Answer: Giacomo Puccini

In the opera "Tosca", a singer (the title character) is in love with a painter (Cavaradossi) and is accused of conspiring with Cavaradossi to hide an enemy of the state (Angelotti). When Cavaradossi is tortured to reveal the whereabouts of Angelotti, Tosca gives in. She promises the police chief Scarpia to spend the night with him if he will set free Cavaradossi and Tosca. But Tosca kills Scarpia, Cavaradossi is executed and Tosca commits suicide.
"E lucevan le stelle" is a song by Cavaradossi, just before he is escorted to the execution grounds.
Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924) was a famous opera composer. His best known works are "Madama Butterfly", "La Bohème", the aforesaid "Tosca" and his final opera "Turandot" - which was completed after Puccini's sudden death by one of his pupils.
The other Italian composers I've mentioned have also created an opera containing one or more arias which would fit in the theme of this quiz.
Amilcare Ponchielli (1834-1886) left us the opera "La Gioconda", which contains the aria "Cielo e mar" ("The heaven and the sea").
One of the masterpieces by Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) is the opera "Il Trovatore". Il conte di Luna - which can be translated as Lord Moon - plays an important role in this opera.
Donizetti (1797-1848) completed several operas, of which I want to mention here "Don Pasquale". This opera contains the aria "Bella siccome un angelo" ("She is lovely as an angel").

Answer: The Musical Bee

The composers whose music was used in this pastiche are : the Italians Pasquale Anfossi (1727-1797), Domenico Cimarosa (1749-1801), Giuseppe Gazzaniga (1743-1818), Giuseppe Giordani (1751-1798), Giovanni Paisiello (1740-1816), Niccolo Piccinni (1728-1800), Antonio Salieri (1750-1826) and Angelo Tarchi (1760-1814), the Spanish Vicente Martin y Soler (1754-1806), the Austrians Florian Leopold Gassmann (1729-1774) and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), and a very obscure composer by the name Monibelli.
The librettist Lorenzo da Ponte (1749-1838) gave the title to this work and probably was the chief responsible for selecting the different arias. In fact, the pastiche was some kind of medley of the top hits of that time. The pastiche had its first night in 1789. In 1829, da Ponte created a complete rework of this pastiche, now with music by the aforesaid Mozart, Salieri and Cimarosa, as well as the Italian composers Gioacchino Rossini (1792-1868), Saverio Mercadante (1795-1870) and Niccolo Zingarelli (1753-1837).
Although "L'ape musicale" is in fact a collection of various arias out of other operas, da Ponte limited the cast for this pastiche to five people: a baritone, two tenors, a bass and a soprano. I suppose the libretto is quite consistent, even though the arias are taken from the works of various composers.
You have meanwhile figured out that the Italian word "musicale" corresponds with the English adjective "musical". The less obvious word is "L'ape", which corresponds to "The Bee".
"The Musical Cats" is not as such a title, although you would recognize "Cats" by Andrew Lloyd Webber. In Italian, this title would be "I Gatti".
The other titles are pure figments of my imagination. Just for the record I'll translate these fictive titles into Italian: the bird would appear in "L'uccello musicale" and the monkey would give "La scimmia musicale".

Answer: The Planets

Gustav Holst (1874-1934) was a British composer. His name doesn't sound typically British, because his family has roots in Sweden, Latvia and Russia. The orchestral suite we're looking for is perhaps the most famous of Holst's compositions.
Holst named this suite "The Planets". It consists of seven movements, dedicated the following planets: Mars, Venus, Mercury , Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Each one of this planets is linked to an astrological feature of the corresponding planet, or a quality of the Roman deity after which the planet was named.
"Jupiter Symphony" is the popular name for Symphony nr. 40 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791).
The Comets refer to the rock band associated with front man Bill Haley.
Venus is the name of several bands. It is also the title of the Dutch number one hit in the United States in 1969: "Venus" by Shocking Blue.

Answer: Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

"The Golden Cockerel" relates the story of King Dodon who invades the neighbouring state ruled by Queen of Shemakha, this on instigation by a speaking golden cockerel (hence the title). After his two sons are killed on the battlefield, King Dodon in person attacks the Queen - only to fall in love with her. Finally Dodon marries the Queen and makes peace with her country.
The libretto was based upon a poem by Alexander Pushkin. Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908) started this opera in 1906 and completed it the next year, only to have it censored. The first night of this opera was delayed until 1909, so after the composer's death.
Rimsky-Korsakov is most famous for the aria "Flight of the Bumble Bee" out of the opera "The Tale of Tsar Saltan". He left us at least 18 operas and ballets.
Bedrich Smetana (1824-1884) was a Czech composer, best known for his opera "Prodana nevesta" ("The Bartered Bride") and for the symphonic cycle "Ma Vlast" ("My Fatherland").
Ferenc Erkel (1810-1893) was a Hungarian composer who created about ten operas.
Wojciech Boguslawski (1757-1829) was a Polish opera singer and composer, theatre actor and playwright, translator and theatre director. To summarize, we could say he performed about all possible occupations in opera and theatre.

Answer: The Gospel of Matthew, chapter 6

Gabriel Balart (1824-1893) was a Spanish composer who created at least 12 zarzuelas.
The title of the zarzuela "Asi en la tierra como en los cielos" is translated as "on earth as in heaven" - a well known phrase of the Lord's Prayer. The full text would be "Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."
You don't need to be a true Bible buff to know that Jesus Christ taught us the Lord's Prayer. Almost every mass, whether it is a Catholic, Anglican, Protestant or Orthodox mass, will introduce the Prayer with a sentence such as "with the words Jesus has given us".
There are two prime locations within the Bible for the Lord's Prayer. Matthew 6: 9-13 contains the text that is commonly used in liturgy, and Luke 11:2-4 gives what I would name a summary.
Genesis chapter 1 is the opening chapter of the Bible, while Revelation chapter 22 is the very last chapter.
Psalms 119 is the longest chapter of the longest book in the Bible.

Answer: Icarus

Sven-Erik Bäck (1919-1994) has completed at least three ballets and three chamber operas, besides several pieces of chamber music.
His first ballet was "Ikaros", that was first performed in 1963. It relates how the architect Daedalus and his son Icarus were confined in the Labyrinth of King Minos. Daedalus used some wax and many feathers to construct wings, on which he and his son could escape. Alas, Icarus flew too close to the sun, so the wax melted and Icarus fell into the Aegean sea.