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Verdi's Operas Trivia Quiz

No name is so closely linked to Opera as Verdi's. This quiz deals with the plots of some of his classics: See how well you remember the 'stories' of those classic operas.

A multiple-choice quiz by flem-ish. Estimated time: 4 mins.

Author
flem-ish

Time
4 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
75,279

Updated
Dec 03 21

# Qns
10

Difficulty
Average

Avg Score
7 / 10

Plays
1000

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 10

1. The story of 'Aida' is situated against the background of a war opposing the Egyptians and the ____________. Hint

Babylonians

Hebrews

Ethiopians

Romans

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Question 2 of 10

2. The great love story is between ___________________________. Hint

the Egyptian princess Aida and a foreign general Radames

the Egyptian general Radames and Aida a foreign princess

the Egyptian highpriest Ramfis and a foreign slave Aida

a foreign King and the Egyptian princess Amneris

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Question 3 of 10

3. How does the opera 'Aida' end? Hint

Aida and Radames are buried alive

the Egyptian throne is taken over by foreign invaders

Aida takes poison and leaves Radames to Amneris

the Egyptian pharaoh and Amneris magnanimously forgive everybody

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Question 4 of 10

4. In 'Nabucco' the Hebrews are defeated at war by ______________. Hint

the Babylonians

the Assyrians

the Romans

the Egyptians

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Question 5 of 10

5. The plot is about two (apparent) sisters in love with the same hero. Whose daughters are they supposed to be ? Hint

Baal's (the foreign high priest's)

Zaccaria's (the Jewish high priest's)

Nabucco's (the foreign King's)

Ismael's (the Jewish King's)

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Question 6 of 10

6. How does 'Nabucco' end? Hint

Nabucco forgives everybody and recognizes the God of the Jews.

Abigail poisons her sister and her sister's lover.

The younger daughter is put to death.

The Jews fight their way out of their encirclement and manage to return to Jerusalem.

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Question 7 of 10

7. In 'Rigoletto' the Duke of Mantua, a rather dissolute nobleman, tries to seduce ______________. Hint

his wife's younger sister

the wife of his most valiant general

the wife of his best friend

the daughter of his court jester

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Question 8 of 10

8. The story ends tragically with the murder of 'a person in disguise'. Who has disguised herself? Hint

Gilda, Rigoletto's daughter

Sparafucile's sister Maddalena

Count Ceprano's wife

Count Monterone's daughter

9. 'La Traviata' is about a 'Fallen Woman', Violetta, who gets the opportunity to break with her life as a courtesan in Paris and start a new life with a simple, poetically-minded young man somewhere on the countryside. Yet ultimately she rejects his offer. Why? Hint

she prefers Paris to the countryside

she discovers she has a terminal disease and wants to spare her lover any trouble

she realises she does not genuinely love the young man

she lets herself be influenced by Alfred's father who has reasons not to like such a marriage

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Question 10 of 10

10. What is the final outcome of 'La Traviata'? Hint

the heroine dies of tuberculosis

the Commune breaks out in Paris and the heroine, running out into the streets, dies under the bullet

the heroine takes poison and dies

the heroine is mortally injured when trying to intervene between a father and his son

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. The story of 'Aida' is situated against the background of a war opposing the Egyptians and the ____________.

Answer: Ethiopians

It is incorrect that the opera was written for the opening of the Suez Canal, but it is a true fact that the work was ordered by the Egyptian authorities as a kind of 'national opera'.

2. The great love story is between ___________________________.

Answer: the Egyptian general Radames and Aida a foreign princess

Aida and Radames are in love. Radames must attack the country his beloved is from. His opponent is her father. Amneris suspects that Aida is in love with Radames but thinks and hopes that he prefers her. When Radames unwittingly betrays some military secrets to Aida and her father, Amneris intervenes.

3. How does the opera 'Aida' end?

Answer: Aida and Radames are buried alive

When Radames is arrested and refuses to become Amneris' lover, his fate is sealed. He is put to death. Aida who had escaped already, returns and chooses to enter of her free will the tomb where Radames is to die. First performance was at Cairo, 24 December 1871.

4. In 'Nabucco' the Hebrews are defeated at war by ______________.

Answer: the Babylonians

'Nabucco' is short for Nebuchadnezzar, the famous Biblical King of the Babylonians. The Jews have been deported to Babylonia. Nebuchadnezzar is also spelled Nabuchodonosor.

5. The plot is about two (apparent) sisters in love with the same hero. Whose daughters are they supposed to be ?

Answer: Nabucco's (the foreign King's)

Abigail and Fenana are believed to be Nabucco's daughters. In actual fact Abigail is NOT Fenena's elder sister, but a slave who was adopted as his child. Both are in love with Ishmael. Fenana had been a prisoner of the Jews and had at that time fallen in love with Ishmael. Fenana is Nabucco's real daughter.

6. How does 'Nabucco' end?

Answer: Nabucco forgives everybody and recognizes the God of the Jews.

A typical 'Deus ex machina': Nabucco is first hit by divine lightning and then by divine light. First performance in Milan, on 9 March, 1842.

7. In 'Rigoletto' the Duke of Mantua, a rather dissolute nobleman, tries to seduce ______________.

Answer: the daughter of his court jester

Rigoletto actively helps his master in 'abducting' girls. Until one day when he is involved in, while blindfolded, abducting his own daughter, Gilda. From then on he is the Duke's ferocious enemy.

8. The story ends tragically with the murder of 'a person in disguise'. Who has disguised herself?

Answer: Gilda, Rigoletto's daughter

Gilda is genuinely in love with the Duke, even though she knows the negative sides of his character. Count Monterone is furious with the Duke because he has seduced his daughter. He curses both the Duke and Rigoletto whom he sees as the Duke's assistant. Count Ceprano's friends have abducted Rigoletto's daughter, who they think is the Duke's mistress anyway. Gilda is released. Rigoletto now shows her that the Duke has other love-affairs too, one of them being Maddalena, the sister of the hired assassin Sparafucile.

He tells Gilda she must disguise herself as a boy and flee to Verona. Rigoletto pays Sparafucile to kill the Duke. When Rigoletto has gone, Sparafucile and Maddalena decide to kill another person than the Duke and put the corpse into a sack which they will hand over to Rigoletto.

They agree to kill the next 'male person' who enters the tavern. Gilda has overheard this conversation and decides to sacrifice herself. First performance Venice 11 March, 1851.

Answer: she lets herself be influenced by Alfred's father who has reasons not to like such a marriage

Alfred's father is afraid that such a marriage will spoil Alfred's sister's chances of marrying the bourgeois young man whose fiancee she is. Violetta takes pity on the father and prefers to sacrifice her own opportunity of finding a good and loving husband. A bit unlikely, but the arias are very nice.

10. What is the final outcome of 'La Traviata'?

Answer: the heroine dies of tuberculosis

The opera was inspired by Alexandre Dumas's novel 'La Dame aux Camelias'. First performance at Venice on 6 March, 1853.

Source: Author flem-ish

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