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Russian Operas Trivia Quiz

This quiz deals with the operas written by such composers as Tchaikovsky,Rimsky-Korsakov, Igor Stravinsky. May be less sentimental than some other opera-music, but certainly not less impressive. How well do you know the Slavic operas?

A multiple-choice quiz by flem-ish. Estimated time: 5 mins.

Author
flem-ish

Time
5 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
75,821

Updated
Dec 03 21

# Qns
10

Difficulty
Average

Avg Score
6 / 10

Plays
344

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 10

1. In Pyotr Iliych Tchaikovsky's 'Eugene Onegin' we have a not uncommon initial situation of two daughters of rich landowners being bored to death at the beginning of the story. Things change when their neighbour Lensky turns up with a friend of his, a young man from the town that may qualify as the Russian cultural equivalent for Paris:__________ Hint

St Petersburg

Novgorod

Moscow

Omsk

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Question 2 of 10

2. In Eugene Onegin Olga finds happiness with her neighbour the poet Lensky, but Tatyana gets a negative response from Lensky's friend Onegin. Things explode when Onegin kills Lensky in a duel. What had happened? Hint

Onegin had insulted Lensky by dancing all evening with Olga only

Onegin had publicly ridiculised Lensky's poetry

Onegin had slandered Olga

he had called Lensky a man of words not of revolutionary action

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Question 3 of 10

3. After killing his friend Lensky in a silly duel Onegin has to leave Russia. When he can return again, Tatyana is married and has become the Princess Gremina. Exile has taught Onegin that he does love Tatyana. How does she respond to his changed feelings? Hint

torn between love and duty Tatyana kills herself

passion overcomes duty and the two lovers run off to France and to poverty

she nobly rejects his changed feelings and stays faithful to her husband

they cleverly start a shocking menage a trois

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Question 4 of 10

4. Just as in 2 other operas of his ('Mazepa' and 'the Queen of Spades'), Tchaikovsky found the plot of 'Eugene Onegin' in the works of : _______________ Hint

Alexander Pushkin

Boris Pasternak

Leo Tolstoy

Fyodor Dostoyevski

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Question 5 of 10

5. In 'the Queen of Spades' Prince Eletzky wants to marry Liza, the adoptive daughter of a rich old gambling-addicted countess.Alas for him she is love with somebody else, a young officer called Herman. Herman's chances get a severe blow when he involuntarily causes the death of the countess. What happens? Hint

When startled with a pistol, the Countess gets a fatal heart attack.

Hermann's galloping horse causes a fatal coach accident.

The Countess breaks her neck when Hermann involuntarily pushes her off a stairs.

Hermann's galloping horse pushes the Countess into a lake.

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Question 6 of 10

6. After her death, the Countess seems to pursue Herman with her 'revenge'. Suddenly all Herman's good luck is over and he loses both Lisa and all the money he had collected by gambling. What concrete events bring him down? Hint

Playing "pique-dame" instead of "as de pique" as the countess had recommended, he loses all his money

Lisa gets under the spell of the Countess' spirit and turns mad

The Countess's testament disinherits Lisa if she marries Hermann

Playing the three, the seven and the ace of spades, Hermann loses all his money

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Question 7 of 10

7. Which of these characters runs a brothel in one of Igor Stravinsky's operas? Hint

Mother Goose

Anne Truelove

Tom Rakewell

Nick Shadow

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Question 8 of 10

8. Which of these works of art was the source of inspiration for one of Stravinsky's Operas? Hint

Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress

Hogarth's Marriage A La Mode

Henry James's The Turn of the Screw

Hogarth's The Rake's Progress

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Question 9 of 10

9. Few composers have written such brilliant musical fairy tales as Rimsky Korsakov. Apart from a composition such as 'Scheherazade', Rimsky-Korsakov also wrote the fantastic opera 'Sadko'. In it a man visits the submarine realm of the 'Emperor of the Sea', whose daughter Wolchowa falls in love with him. Into what does she have to change to be able to bring him back to his old town of Novgorod ? Hint

a river

a seahorse

a mermaid

a dolphin

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Question 10 of 10

10. Rimsky Korsakov got in trouble with the Russian authorities when he wrote an opera in which a foolish Russian Czar is cheated by an astrologer in searching a magic animal that he later will have to hand over to the astrologer in exchange for a very seductive but totally unreliable woman. The pretty woman ultimately lets the Czar down and goes and lives with the astrologer. What was the magic creature that originally was meant to protect the Czar from all danger? Hint

The Golden Duck

The Golden Goose

The Golden Cockerel

The Golden Squirrel

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

Answer: St Petersburg

Omsk is an old town in Siberia. Novgorod (the name literally means NEW town..)is also very ancient.Sometimes called the Russian Florence. Also Russia's oldest capital from where the Prince Rurik dynasty kept law and order in all of Russia. Important medieval international trade centre. Later replaced by St. Petersburg and Moscow as centres of the Tsar's administration.

Answer: Onegin had insulted Lensky by dancing all evening with Olga only

The initial atmosphere is not unlike Anton Chekhov's plays about educated boredom in pre-revolutionary Russia: 'The Three {Sisters';} 'The {Seagull';} 'The Cherry Orchard'.

Answer: she nobly rejects his changed feelings and stays faithful to her husband

Duels were a typical ingredient of end of nineteenth century literature. Pushkin himself was killed in a duel when in 1837 he felt compelled to defend the honour of his wife Natalia Goncharowa.

4. Just as in 2 other operas of his ('Mazepa' and 'the Queen of Spades'), Tchaikovsky found the plot of 'Eugene Onegin' in the works of : _______________

Answer: Alexander Pushkin

An alternative name for 'Queen of Spades' is 'Pique-Dame'.

Answer: When startled with a pistol, the Countess gets a fatal heart attack.

It's obvious that though in love with Liza, Herman is also obsessed with the countess. After her death, he will have but only one interest any more: the gambling table. The effect is that Liza feels lonely and commits suicide. It's however only after the incident in the casino that Herman hears of her death.

Answer: Playing the three, the seven and the ace of spades, Hermann loses all his money

Also in Dostoevsky's work gambling is an important theme. E.g. in 'The Gambler' (1866)

7. Which of these characters runs a brothel in one of Igor Stravinsky's operas?

Answer: Mother Goose

Nick Shadow is the Devil in that {opera;} Tom Rakewell is of course 'the Rake'. Goose was a codename for syphilis.

8. Which of these works of art was the source of inspiration for one of Stravinsky's Operas?

Answer: Hogarth's The Rake's Progress

William Hogarth lived from 1697 till 1764. Among his other famous works are: 'Beer Street and Gin {Lane';} 'A Harlot's Progress' {;} 'Four Prints of an {Election';} 'The Four Times of Day'. Stravinsky was born in Oranienbaum near St. Petersburg (1882) and died in New York (1971).

Henry James' 'The Turn of the Screw' (1898) was made into an opera by Benjamin Britten and first performed in 1954.

Answer: a river

The river is the Volkhov which takes its waters from Lake Ilmen.

Answer: The Golden Cockerel

The cockerel was to crow every time there was danger. His beak would always be turned towards from where the danger was coming. But of course the foolish Czar soon was much more interested in the playgirl pretty woman that crossed his path, and brought an end to his luck.

At the end of the opera the astrologer and the pretty woman return for an epilogue in which they tell the audience that all they have seen was but a dream. Only what she and the astrologer stand for is real nl. deceit.

Source: Author flem-ish

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