Operatic Madness Trivia Quiz

Answer: Orlando

Vivaldi's "Orlando Furioso" is based on the epic poem by Ludovico Ariosto, which takes place during the Saracen invasion of France and features the evil sorceress Alcina, also the subject of an opera by Handel. Orlando, the legendary warrior nephew of the emperor Charlemagne, is consumed with love for the lovely Angelica. Angelica, however, falls for a young Saracen named Medoro; when Orlando finds their names engraved on a tree, jealousy drives him completely mad (hence the title "Furioso") and, among other things, he imagines that he is Orestes, the son of Agamemnon (see q.2). Eventually, however, he regains his wits, forgives Angelica and Medoro, and wishes them well. Marilyn Horne's facility at portraying "trouser roles", particularly of a military nature such as this one, has earned her the nickname "General Horne".

She found a tailor-made vehicle in this role, which was originally written to be performed by a castrato.

Answer: Orestes

Orestes has, of course, killed his mother Clytemnestra in revenge for the murder of his father Agamemnon. When this opera was in rehearsal, members of the orchestra complained of the incongruity of the agitated accompaniment they were playing and the text that was being sung. Gluck explained "He [Orestes] lies.

He has killed his mother!" Orestes' "mad scene" in this, the second of Gluck's two "Iphigenie" operas is considered by many to be among the composer's greatest achievements.

Answer: Electra

The members of the House of Atreus are, indeed, a brooding lot, not the least of whom is Electra (or Elettra, as she is called here), who seems to have considerable difficulty "letting go" as it were, both here and in her later incarnation by Richard Strauss.

At the end of "D'Oreste, d'Ajace", she calls upon serpents from Hell to tear out her heart and sings a series of descending staccato scales, which chillingly suggest demented laughter. Personally, I don't understand why Elettra isn't pursuing Idomeneo himself, who is not only available (being a widower), but is also old enough to be her father...

Answer: I Puritani

"I Puritani" takes place in England during the English Civil War. Elvira, the heroine, is the daughter of the Puritan Lord Walton, but is in love with the Cavalier, Lord Arthur (Arturo) Talbot, a match which her father, predictably, disapproves of. Elvira's beloved uncle Sir George (Giorgio) persuades her father to approve the marriage, to Elvira's great joy. On her wedding day, however, Arturo is seen fleeing with a mysterious woman (actually Queen Henrietta, widow of King Charles, whom he is saving from execution- likely story!).

At the end of Act I, the seemingly forsaken Elvira sings the first of what will be three mad scenes "Ah, vieni al tempio", in which she imagines the absent Arturo leading her to the altar. The more famous "Qui la voce", with the cabaletta "Vien, diletto" occurs in Act II.

In Act III, the wandering Elvira comes upon Arturo in the forest, when he explains his actions, her reason is precipitously restored and the reunited pair sing the exultant duet "Vieni fra queste braccie". Arturo, however, is under sentence of death for treason, and the arrival of his pursuers triggers yet another attack of dementia for Elvira.

The timely arrival of a messenger announcing the defeat of the Stuarts and the release of all prisoners sets things aright, however, and the opera ends with Elvira's joyful "Sento, o mio bell'angelo" . The American music critic Peter G. Davis has opined that the subsequent marriage of Elvira and Arturo would undoubtedly have provided the libretto for an opera by Alban Berg.

Answer: Maria Stuarda

"Maria Stuarda" ("Mary Stuart") recounts the final days of the tragic Mary, Queen of Scots; her imprisonment at Fotheringhay, her encounter with Queen Elizabeth I (which never happened in reality), and her execution. The libretto for this opera reflects the traditional Italian-Catholic position that the Catholic Mary, rather than the Protestant Elizabeth, was the rightful Queen of England (though Elizabeth is portrayed not unsympathetically). Consequently, Mary behaves throughout with great dignity (her decidedly randy past is conveniently glossed over) and certainly never loses her reason.

The title heroine of "Lucia di Lammermoor" (based on Sir Walter Scott's "The Bride of Lammermoor") is in love with her brother's deadly enemy, Edgar (Edgardo) Ravenswood. Her brother deceives her into believing that her lover is unfaithful, and maneuvers her into a more politically advantageous marriage. When Edgardo appears suddenly at the wedding, the truth is revealed, but too late. Edgardo curses Lucia, believing her to have betrayed him, the shock and trauma of these events unhinges Lucia's mind. On her wedding night, she stabs her husband and appears, bloodstained and demented, before the horrified wedding guests. The celebrated (and very long) "mad scene" which ensues has long been a staple of the coloratura repertoire. Nellie Melba always sang the mad scene from "Lucia" as an encore after her appearances in Puccini's "La Boheme", thus dying twice in the same evening.

"Anna Bolena" ("Anne Boleyn") is Donizetti's version of the historical tale of the ill-fated second wife of England's Henry VIII. In this version, Anna becomes unhinged on the day of her execution, and sings a lengthy mad scene in which she recalls the days of her "first love", the Earl of Percy (who is fated to die along with her). One of the three set pieces which comprise this scene is the aria "Cielo a miei lunghi spasimi", whose melody anticipates the popular 19th century ballad "Home, Sweet Home".

The title character of "Linda di Chamounix" is a peasant lass of truly astounding naivete; she is described in Kobbe's Complete Opera Book as "...one of those pure, sweet, unsophisticated creatures who exist only on the stage and, possibly, only in opera." She is in love with Charles, the Vicomte de Sirval, but is lusted after by his uncle, the nefarious Marquis de Boisfleury, and is remarkably slow to realize that the latter's generosity and attentions to her are not out of admiration for her great virtue. When, at one point, she believes herself abandoned by Charles (whose mother wants him to marry another) and is denounced by her father (who believes that she has sold herself), she loses her reason. All is brought to a happy conclusion when Charles is able to convince his mother to accept the marriage, and the heroine, having recovered from madness as from a mild headache, forgives one and all, even accepting the libidinous Marquis as her "dear uncle". The most popular excerpt from this rather understandably neglected opera is not the mad scene, but Linda's frothy Act I aria "O luce di quest' anima" ("O light of my soul").

As for the unfortunate composer himself, the death of his wife after giving birth to a stillborn infant in 1839 plunged Donizetti into a depression from which he never fully recovered. His mental condition worsened in the ensuing years as the result of a venereal disease (a fate he shared with Schumann and Hugo Wolf), and he died in 1848 after nearly two years spent in a comatose state.

Answer: Nabucco

Ironically, Nabucco's first aria, addressed to the rebellious Jewish slaves is "Tremin, gl'insani" ("Tremble, ye madmen") before that thunderbolt to the head transforms the king himself into a full-blown paranoid schizophrenic. The insane Nabucco (Nebuchadnezzar) becomes the pawn of his wicked daughter Abigaille (who was actually the daughter of slaves), who convinces him to sack the Jewish Temple and exterminate the captive Jews, among them his true daughter Fenena. The king's reason is restored in time to forestall this carnage and the truth about both Fenena's and Abigaille's parentage is revealed. The remorse stricken Abigaille takes poison and dies asking forgiveness, and Nabucco himself proclaims the dominion of the God of the Hebrews. "Nabucco" is best known for the chorus of the Hebrew slaves at the banks of the Euphrates, "Va, pensiero sull' agli d'orate" ("Fly, my thoughts, on wings of gold"), whose text is a paraphrase of Psalm 137: "By the waters of Babylon."

Historically, Nebuchadnezzar was said to have suffered from a form of lycanthropy, and believed himself to have been transformed into a wolf, a subject which Verdi's librettist Solera unfortunately failed to pursue.

Answer: Dinorah

Yes, I know, this is a recycling of one of the questions from my recent "Moonstruck in Opera" quiz (q.v.), but Dinorah is such a wonderfully silly work. The heroine's rather contemptible fiancé, Hoel, goes off in search of a legendary treasure in the woods. A curse accompanies this treasure, however: whoever first touches it will die, which leads to some conniving as to whom will be set up to "find" the treasure first. Hoel tries to set up his friend Corentino to be the victim of the curse; Corentino, in turn, sees through his "friend's" scheme and tries to set up Dinorah. Dinorah, who loves her goat and her betrothed apparently in that order, has taken the sudden loss of the former pretty hard and has been dementedly dancing among the moonlit birches, imagining that her shadow is pursuing her (which, in fact, it is). When Dinorah is nearly drowned, like Ophelia, after falling from a tree branch, Hoel sees the error of his ways and seeks forgiveness. The propitious return of Dinorah's pet goat abruptly restores her sanity, and all ends happily.

"Dinorah" was revived at the Metropolitan Opera during Gatti-Cassazza's regime as a vehicle for the tremendously popular coloratura Amelita Galli-Curci. During rehearsals, Signor Gatti was called upon to mediate a heated dispute between the principal singers, the stage manager, and the conductor. After settling the matter, he was leaving the stage when his eye fell upon the tame goat, placidly grazing on a piece of scenery, to whom he remarked "You're the only sane one here!"

Answer: In the clock

Boris had ordered the assassination of Dmitri, the half brother and heir of Tsar Feodor, Boris' successor. His guilt over this heinous act robs him of the gratifications of power and sovereignty, which he has attained. When a renegade monk named Grigory passes himself off as the dead tsarevitch and is welcomed as such at the Polish court, Boris' position is severely threatened and he becomes consumed by fear. In Act II, he holds an interview with the conniving Prince Shouisky, who whips him into a frenzy of terror by relating stories of the "resurrected" Dmitri and reminding him of the tradition that the dead can walk again. Left by himself, Boris is startled by the chiming of a large clock, among whose moving figures he sees the murdered Dmitri. Consumed with fear, Boris falls to his knees and begs God for forgiveness.

Critic Ernest Newman called the "clock scene" from "Boris" "...One of the most tremendous scenes in all of opera". It was one of the high points of Russian basso Feodor Chaliapin's celebrated portrayals of the title character; in one memorable recording of this scene from a live performance, Chaliapin can be heard throwing a chair at the imagined ghost of Dmitri.

Answer: Paul Hindemith

Hindemith's two principal operas, "Mathis der Maler" (about the 16th century painter Matthias Grunewald) and Cardillac both deal with tortured creative geniuses, the difference being, of course, that Cardillac is fictional and is decidedly more "tortured" than Grunewald. Cardillac creates jewelry of such exquisite beauty that he regards his creations as a part of his soul, and feels that he must reclaim them from his customers, even if it means commiting murder.

When an Officer, who is in love with Cardillac's daughter, narrowly escapes death after an attack by the mad jeweller, he wrongly identifies Cardillac's assistant as his assailant. Consumed with guilt, Cardillac confesses to his crimes and is killed by an angry mob.

The opera, based on a story by E.T.A. Hoffman, was written in 1926, and reflects the era which produced such German cinematic classics as "Nosferatu" and "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari". Hindemith revised the opera in 1952.

Answer: The Devils of Loudun

The opera concerns an actual incident which took place in France during the 1630s, and which anticipated the Salem Witch trials many years later. Father Urbain Grandier, a handsome and decidedly corrupt clergyman, was accused of Devil-worship and of causing the nuns of the Ursuline convent at Loudun to be possessed by demons. In reality, the nuns' hysterical and rather lewd behavior was probably a paid performance; the formidable Cardinal Richelieu, who had been the subject of numerous satirical broadsides by Father Grandier, was providing the convent with considerable financial support. Grandier also incurred the enmity of the convent's prioress, Mother Jeanne; in the opera, she becomes instantly infatuated with the handsome priest and invites him to become the convent's father-confessor (apparently intending that there will be plenty of sins requiring confession). When he coldly refuses, Jeanne sets out to prove the old adage that "Hell hath no fury", and uses her charges to bring about Grandier's downfall by inciting mass hysteria. Grandier was found guilty of practicing witchcraft upon the nuns, as well as numerous other atrocities, and was burned at the stake wearing a shirt which had been impregnated with sulfur to increase his torment. It later emerged that Grandier, though he had been a decided lecher (he admitted to some randy activity under torture), had not gone so far as to collaborate with Satan, and that he had been wrongfully condemned, especially since the nuns were abruptly "cured" of their demonic possession after Richelieu ceased his payments to the convent.

"The Devils of Loudun", written in 1969, was Penderecki's first opera; the gruesome story which furnishes the plot (the libretto is based on a book about the case by Aldous Huxley) is well served by the composer's dissonant, atonal style. Not long after the opera's premiere, a film version of the story appeared entitled "The Devils" and directed by Ken Russell.