Empedocles Goes Classic - Water Quiz

Answer: George Frederick Handel

The "Water Music" consists of three suites (F major - D major - G major), for the first time performed by an orchestra of fifty-odd musicians on a barge accompanying the Royal Barge of King George I of England when sailing down the river Thames.
Some of the movements of these three suites have been used (or abused) for contemporary purposes, such as the intro of a cooking programme on an American television channel.
Seeing the options I gave you, you'll have to conclude that a man named George composed the "Water Music". But which one of the four options is correct?
The "Water Music" was created by George Frederick Handel (1685-1759), a German composer who settled in England in 1712. He left us at least 42 operas, 29 oratorios and 120 cantatas. Many of you will recognise the "Hallelujah" from the "Messiah" or the "Largo" form the opera Xerxes.
Telemann (1681-1767) was another German composer, best remembered for his "Tafelmusik" (1733) - chamber music to accompany a meal.
Zamphir (born 1941) is a Romanian pan flute player. His best known works are "The Lonely Shepherd" and "Solitude", but he has also arranged classical compositions for pan flute : the "Meditation" out of Massenet's opera "Thais" and the adagio from the concerto for oboe by Albinoni.
George Michael (born 1963) is an English singer-songwriter from Greek origin. Some of his songs are "Careless Whisper" and "Faith".

Answer: Odette

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikowsky (1840-1893) was a famous Russian composer. He left us about a dozen operas, three ballets, eight symphonies, orchestral suites, a well known piano concerto, and so on.
The ballet "Swan Lake" (1877) relates to an enchanted princess, Odette. An evil magician has put a spell on Odette, so she can only be human at night and will have to spend all day as a white swan. One night Odette meets Siegfried, a beautiful prince, and they fall in love. Odile, the daughter of the evil wizard, stirs up some trouble and seduces Siegfried. Odile is usually called "the black swan", as she resembles Odette very closely - only wearing black instead of white.
The other first names were not picked at random. Pierina (Legnani, 1863-1930) and Matilda (Kschessinskaya, 1872-1971) were two of the most famous ballerinas having played the roles of Odile and Odette. Natalie (Portman, born 1981) played a ballerina performing the role of Odette in the movie "Black Swan" by Darren Aronofsky.

Answer: Der Zarewitsch

All these operettas were created by Franz Lehar (1870-1948), an Austrian-Hungarian composer.
The "Wolgalied" ("Volga Song") is a very emotional song from "Der Zarewitsch". Here are the German lyrics (you can find many recordings of the song on internet):

"Es steht ein Soldat am Wolgastrand,
Hält Wache für sein Vaterland
In dunkler Nacht, allein und fern.
Es leuchtet ihm kein Mond, kein Stern.
Regungslos, die Steppe schweigt.
Ein Träne die ins Auge steigt.
Und er fühlt wie's im Herzen frisst und nagt
Wenn ein Mensch verlassen ist und er klagt und er fragt
Hast Du dort oben vergessen auf mich
Es sehnt doch mein Herz auch nach Liebe sich
Du hast im Himmel viel Englein bei dir
Schick doch eines davon zu mir."

For those of you who don't speak German, copy this text and paste into an online translator and you'll get the general idea of this song. I prefer the original German lyrics, though.
The operetta "Der Zarewitsch" is loosely based upon the history of Alexei, the eldest son of Czar Peter the Great. Alexei eloped with his beloved. In the true history, Alexei was caught and imprisoned, and died waiting his execution. In the operetta however, Czar Peter dies.
The other operettas are set in Vienna and China ("Das Land des Lächelns") or in Paris ("Die lustige Witwe" and "Der Graf von Luxemburg").

Answer: Claude Debussy

"La mer" is a short orchestral work, named by the composer himself "three symphonic sketches". It suggests the waves, the wind, and everything related to the sea.
Claude Debussy (1862-1918) composed this orchestration, first performed in Paris in 1905. Other works by Debussy include the orchestral work "Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune", the opera "Pelléas et Mélisande" and the piano suite "Au clair de la lune".
The other composers are not French, as you might have guessed from their names.
Qu Xiao-Song is a Chinese composer, born 1952. He created one opera.
Zé Ramalho (born 1949) is a Brazilian singer-songwriter.
Abu Bakr Khairat (1910-1963) was an Egyptian classic composer.

Answer: In the Mediterranean Sea

John Adams (born 1947) is an American composer who has created several operas based upon recent events. His masterpiece is probably "Nixon in China".
Leon Klinghoffer was a retired American businessman of Jewish descent, enjoying a cruise on the Mediterranean with his wife to celebrate their 36th wedding anniversary. Then a group of Palestinian terrorists hijacked the cruise ship "Achille Lauro" and demanded the release of several members of the PLO out of Israeli jails. On the second day, the hijackers shot and killed Leon Klinghoffer and had his body thrown overboard - with the wheelchair he was confined to.
The single fact that the terrorists executed a man confined to a wheelchair raised an enormous protest in the western world. Shortly after the end of the hijacking, the terrorists were brought to American justice. Youssef Majed al-Molqi, the man who shot Klinghoffer, was condemned to thirty years imprisonment.
Adams' opera has encountered harsh critics, for it doesn't explicitly condemn the actions of Molqi and the other hijackers.
The other options have not inspired any classical composers up till the day this quiz was written. By the way, none of these was in the news in 1985.
The termination of Auschwitz ended in 1945 (and none too soon). Then the site was turned into a museum remembering the horrible holocaust.
The Challenger space shuttle exploded in 1986.
The Eyjafjallajökull volcano erupted in 2010. Ash clouds impeded European air traffic for weeks.

Answer: Les pecheurs de perles

You might frown at the orthography of the options I gave to you. To avoid confusing renderings on the computer screen (especially in Flash mode), I left out all accents and diacritics. The correct orthography would be "Thaïs", "Les pêcheurs de perles", "L'enfant et les sortilèges" and "Lakmé".
Only one of this titles can be linked to water and is the title of an opera by Georges Bizet (1838-1875). The correct answer is "Les pêcheurs de perles" (« The Pearl Fishers ») . This opera is set on Ceylon (nowadays Sri Lanka), in a small village where the inhabitants live from fishing pearls and selling those. Nadir is one of the fisher men, and Zurga is chosen the fisher king. Zurga and Nadir were once in love with the same woman, Leila. Then Leila arrives, now acting as high priestess of Brahma. At this moment (the end of the First Act), the famous duet starts.
In the duet "Au fond du temple saint", Zurga and Nadir observe the arrival of the high priestess, but only Nadir recognises Leila. As you can expect, things get quite upset in the following acts, because Zurga and Nadir quarrel about Leila.
"Thaïs" is an opera by Jules Massenet (1842-1912).
"L'enfant et les sortilèges" is a fantaisie lyrique by Maurice Ravel (1875-1937), who is most famous for his "Bolero".
"Lakmé" is the most famous opera by Léo Delibes (1836-1891).

Answer: Johann Strauss

"An der schönen blauen Donau", as the original title of the "Blue Danube" is called, is a waltz named after one of the longest European rivers. The Danube has its source in Germany, flows through ten countries and four capital cities (Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest and Belgrade), and mouths in the Black Sea.
Johann Strauss II (1825-1899) was a prolific Austrian composer, who gained the nickname "The Waltz King". Indeed, he composed at least 185 waltzes, of which the "Blue Danube", "Wiener Blut" and "The Emperor's Waltz" are very popular. Furthermore, he left us 17 operas or operettas, one ballet, more than 150 polkas, 50-odd marches...
Chopin (1810-1849) was a Polish composer and pianist. His best known works are the etudes, preludes and nocturnes for piano. In the dance section, he left us about sixty mazurkas and about twenty waltzes.
Offenbach (1819-1880) was a French composer from German origin. He is most famous for his 100-odd operettas, and shocked the music world with the French can-can.
Astor Piazzola (1921-1992) was an Argentine composer. He made bandoneón music popular and left us several tangos.

Answer: Moldau

Bedrich Smetana (1824-1884) was a Czech composer. The six symphonic poems are known under the collective title "Ma Vlast" ("My Country") and form one of the highlights of Smetana's compositions. You might know Smetana also from the opera "Prodana Nevesta" ("The Bartered Bride").
All four the options I gave, are titles of symphonic poems in "Ma Vlast".
The Moldau is the largest river in the Czech Republic. It flows for about 430 km (280 miles) and mouths in the Elbe.
Vysehrad is a castle near the Vltava.
Tabor is a city in the South of the Czech Republic.
Blanik is a Czech mountain. Legend has it that Good King Wenceslas keeps an army inside this mountain to help the Czech people in the event of a fierce war.

Answer: Die Lorelei

Alfredo Catalani (1854-1893) was an Italian composer, best known for his opera "La Wally".
Max Bruch (1838-1920) was a German composer.
William Vincent Wallace (1812-1865) was an Irish composer.
All these three named an opera after "Die Lorelei", a rock on the Rhine in Germany in Sankt Goarshausen, some 30km (20 miles) south of Koblenz. This rock is situated near the narrowest point of the Rhine in Germany.
Heinrich Heine (1797-1856) wrote a poem concerning this rock, and started the belief that in ancient times some kind of mermaid sat on the rock, luring skippers on treacherous sand banks and cliffs.
The Lorelei also inspired George (1898-1937) and Ira Gershwin (1896-1983) for a song in the musical "Pardon My English", and a movement in Symphony nr. 14 by Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975).
Ludwigshafen is a German industrial town on the banks of the Rhine, mainly known as the headquarters of the German multinational BASF.
Schaffhausen is a small Swiss town, near some spectacular rapids and cataracts of the Rhine.
Loevestein is a medieval castle in the Netherlands, built at the confluence of the Waal (one of the tributaries of the Rhine) and the Meuse.

Answer: Richard Wagner

"Tristan and Isolde" tells a story about an English knight (Tristan) and an Irish princess (Isolde), betrothed to Tristan's stepfather Marke.
Before the start of the opera, there have already been some developments we hear of later on. Tristan has duelled with Isolde's first fiancé (not Marke - the one before him) and killed him. Isolde wants to take revenge, but falls in love with Tristan.
The opera starts with Isolde arriving by ship in England, where Tristan awaits her to escort her to Marke. Isolde marries Marke, and Tristan marries someone else. However, Tristan and Isolde commit adultery whenever they see each other.
Isolde travels back home to Ireland and Tristan is informed that his best friend Melot has fallen in love with Isolde.
Tristan starts duelling Melot but is mortally wounded. Isolde prepares a medicine for Tristan, but comes too late to save him. Tristan's aide continues the duel with Melot, and both die. Then Isolde decides to take poison, hoping to be reunited with Tristan in the afterlife.
This plot is the best I can summarize the opera without too much confusing you. But a wife having at least four lovers, will not make things easy as pie. (If it were at least four beloved ones of one man, it would be quite as confusing as well.) To make things even worse, Tristan is in love with Isolde the Irish princess but marries another Isolde...
Richard Wagner (1813-1883) was a prolific composer, elaborating not only the music but also the libretti for his operas. He wished to have full control over the opera production: he created the music and the lyrics, argued with costume designers and set builders, and even contributed to the construction of the Bayreuth Festspiel Halle - an opera house with an unusual but acoustically perfect design.
One of the main characteristics of Wagner's music is the use of the leitmotiv: a musical theme that is repeated with slight variations throughout the opera.
Other operas by Wagner that link to the water are "Das Rheingold" (with three fairies living in the Rhine as important characters), "Der fliegende Holländer" (about a captain condemned to sail eternally) and "Lohengrin" (featuring a knight traveling in a boat drawn by a swan).