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Quiz about Russian Operas
Quiz about Russian Operas

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.
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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
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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


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


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


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


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


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


Question 7 of 10
7. Which of these characters runs a brothel in one of Igor Stravinsky's operas? Hint


Question 8 of 10
8. Which of these works of art was the source of inspiration for one of Stravinsky's Operas? Hint


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


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



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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
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:__________

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.
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?

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'.
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?

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'.
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?

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.
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?

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.
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 ?

Answer: a river

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

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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