Music of the Night Trivia Quiz

Answer: A Little Night Music

"Eine Kleine Nachtmusik" or "A Little Night Music" is likely to be a familiar melody to you, even if you don't recall it by name. In addition to the movies named it has been heard on TV's "Friends", "The Simpsons" and "Saturday Night Live" to name but a few.

Answer: Silent Night

The tune has changed slightly since the carol's first performance in St Nicholas Church, Oberndorf, Austria, in 1818, becoming rather more solemn over the years. The song is believed to have been sung by British, French and German troops on the Western Front during the Christmas truce of 1914, because it was one that they all knew.

Answer: Divine

This pretty song has remained popular at Christmas-time, having been recorded by such notables as Whitney Houston, Bing Crosby and Josh Groban. It was performed in an episode of the popular television program "Glee" in 2010, and was included on the cast Christmas album.

The first chorus contains the words "O night divine, O night when Christ was born."

Answer: Irene

Known both as "Goodnight, Irene" and "Irene, Goodnight" the song has a lilting quality that makes one want to sing along, at least with the chorus. As well as Leadbelly's early recording, the song has been recorded many times, notably by The Weavers in 1950, Johnny Cash in 1958 and Eric Clapton in 2013. It is also the club song of Bristol Rovers football (soccer) team.

Answer: Cole Porter

"Night and day, you are the one..." has been sung by many artists, including Fred Astaire in the film version of the play (now titled "The Gay Divorcee"), and others including Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday. The biopic had Cary Grant playing Porter, and the song was heard during the opening credits and at other times during the film.

Answer: The shank

Bing Crosby and Jane Wyman performed the song, including the lines "In the shank of the night, when the doin's are right, You can tell 'em we'll be there." Hoagy Carmichael wrote the music for this fun and upbeat song that has also been recorded by Dean Martin, Rosemary Clooney, Bette Midler and many others.

Answer: A morning star

"Tonight, tonight won't be just any night,
Tonight there will be no morning star!"

In the 1961 film of the musical "West Side Story" these lines occur in the "Tonight Quintet", the second time we are treated to Sondheim and Leonard Bernstein's lovely song. Both Tony (Richard Beymer, sung by Jimmy Bryant) and Maria (Natalie Wood, sung by Marni Nixon) sing these lines as they anticipate their next meeting. Renditions of this song by such diverse performers as the operatic tenor Jose Carreras and members of the cast of "Glee" can be found online.

Answer: Ray Thomas

Thomas also did backing vocals, along with Pinder, drummer Edge and bass guitarist John Lodge. Hayward was lead vocalist, and also wrote the song. Pinder's instrument was the Mellotron, a keyboard of sorts that produced a distinctive sound, and that was also used, to some extent, by the Beatles and King Crimson amongst others.

Answer: Stoneman's cavalry

"Virgil Caine is the name and I served on the Danville train
'Til Stoneman's cavalry came and tore up the tracks again..."

Historically, Major General George Stoneman Jr was a Union cavalry officer who led raids into Virginia and North Carolina from Tennessee in 1865, as the American Civil War was drawing to its conclusion.
In her cover version, Joan Baez changed the words to "so much cavalry" removing some of the historical content of the song. Despite this, and her professing to be a man named Virgil Caine, I still enjoy her version.

Answer: Barbra Streisand

Crawford originated the role of the Phantom in London's West End and on Broadway, and indeed produced "sweet intoxication" in his rendition of the song. The duet with Streisand appeared in her album "Back to Broadway".