Opera Props Online Trivia | Other Music

Opera Props Trivia Quiz

Of course, opera is music. But it is also acting and stagecraft. Match the inanimate objects to the opera in which we would find them.

A matching quiz by RhinosNRoses. Estimated time: 5 mins.

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. A fan, a steak knife, and candlesticks.

Answer: Tosca

Baron Scarpia enflames Tosca's jealousy by showing her a fan allegedly belonging to a secret lover of Mario.
After Tosca kills Scarpia with the steak knife, she puts two candlesticks by his corpse.
"And before him, all Rome trembled."

2. Castanets, cards, and a knife.

Answer: Carmen

Carmen plays her castanets as she dances for Don Jose.
The tarot cards foretells her death. So, you can see where the knife comes in.

3. Soldier's uniform, "laundry list", and ladder.

Answer: Barber of Seville

The "laundry list" was really a love note.
The soldier uniform was a disguise so "Lindoro" could get into Rosina's house.
The ladder that was to aid the lovers' elopement went missing, trapping them in the house.

4. Romance novel, love letter, and dueling pistols.

Answer: Eugene Onegin

Tatiana's tragic romance novels become the story of her life, and the scene where she writes the letter to Onegin is the awakening of a shy, dreamy girl into a passionate woman as she throws herself into this bold confession.
The duel had nothing to do with that. Onegin's friend, the poet Lensky challenged him over an incident with Lensky's fiancee. Lensky lost. Life imitating art: poet Alexander Pushkin, the author of Eugene Onegin, a novel in verse, was killed in a duel over a woman.

5. Lute, anvils, and poison.

Answer: Il Trovatore

In their camp, the Gypsies sing the famous "Anvil Chorus". The troubadour of the title is heard offstage singing and playing the lute. The poison was Leonora's method of choice for suicide.

6. Pin, broken flowerpot, chair with a cloth draped over it.

Answer: Marriage of Figaro

The pin gets lost, the flowerpot is broken by Cherubino leaping from a window, and what is under that cloth? Cherubino is also the one hiding under the cloth.

7. The moon, a palace, and a lake in the forest.

Answer: Rusalka

Rusalka is basically the story of The Little Mermaid. Without the happy ending. Instead of the ocean, Rusalka's home was a lake in a forest. She sings to the moon of her love for the Prince. At a ball in the palace, a foreign Princess captures the Prince's attention.

8. A knife, cherry blossoms, US Navy uniform.

Answer: Madama Butterfly

Butterfly decorates her home with cherry blossoms to welcome home her US Navy Lieutenant husband. When she learns that he has married an American woman and discarded her, she commits seppuku with the same knife that her father used to end his life.

9. Mask, statue, little black book.

Answer: Don Giovanni

That little black book has 2067 names in it.
Don Giovanni wore a mask when he broke into Dona Anna's room. Dona Anna, Don Ottavio, and Dona Elvira wore masks when they crashed Giovanni's party in order to seek revenge.
The statue is of Anna's late father.

10. A ring, a knife, and a bloody wedding gown.

Answer: Lucia di Lammermoor

The poor girl was already unstable when she was forced into a marriage of convenience.
Probably the most well-known mad scene in opera.
Edgardo returns the ring that Lucia had given him as a pledge of her love. She is forced to marry Arturo, has a mental breakdown and stabs him on their wedding night. Hence the bloody wedding gown.

Source: Author RhinosNRoses

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Questions		Choices
1. A fan, a steak knife, and candlesticks.		Eugene Onegin
2. Castanets, cards, and a knife.		Tosca
3. Soldier's uniform, "laundry list", and ladder.		Barber of Seville
4. Romance novel, love letter, and dueling pistols.		Don Giovanni
5. Lute, anvils, and poison.		Lucia di Lammermoor
6. Pin, broken flowerpot, chair with a cloth draped over it.		Il Trovatore
7. The moon, a palace, and a lake in the forest.		Madama Butterfly
8. A knife, cherry blossoms, US Navy uniform.		Rusalka
9. Mask, statue, little black book.		Marriage of Figaro
10. A ring, a knife, and a bloody wedding gown.		Carmen