Verdi's "Otello" Trivia Quiz

Answer: Giocchino Rossini

Though it has been all but eclipsed by Verdi's opera, which is truer to Shakespeare, Rossini's 1816 version is not without its merits. The plot departs from Shakespeare in several respects; Roderigo, a pathetic character in Shakespeare, is here the son of the Doge, whom Desdemona's father (named Elmiro in this version) wants her to marry instead of Otello. Otello and Desdemona never marry in this version; her father refuses his consent, and there is no elopement. Iago's role is greatly reduced, Cassio is nonexistent, Desdemona dies by stabbing rather than suffocation or strangling, and Iago is killed (offstage) for his treachery.

There are passages of great lyric beauty, most notably Desdemona's "Willow song" (more conventional and not as deeply moving as Verdi's, but quite beautiful and touching nonetheless).

The final confrontation between Otello and Desdemona, which features an orchestral crescendo similar to that used in Basilio's "La Calunnia" in "Barbiere", is surprisingly powerful in its way, though the opera's finale is nowhere near as devastating as Verdi's.

Answer: True

Verdi, who always seemed to identify with the baritone roles in his operas (notably Simon Boccanegra, Rigoletto, Di Luna, Renato, and Falstaff) was fascinated by the dual nature of Iago; outwardly, a devoted friend to both Otello and Cassio, but inwardly consumed with hatred for both and pledged to their mutual destruction.

Many of Verdi's greatest characters possess such a Jekyll-and-Hyde persona; Rigoletto, who is an amoral procurer for the Duke of Mantua, but privately an overprotective and adoring father to Gilda, Azucena (in "Il Trovatore"), who loves Manrico as a son, but will sacrifice him to avenge her mother, and Aida, who equally loves her native country and the Egyptian captain Rhadames and is consequently torn between the two, are but three notable examples.

Answer: Montano

Montano, Otello's predecessor as governer of Cyprus, appears prominently in the first act. His attempts to discipline the drunken Cassio results in swordplay between the two in which Montano is wounded. Otello's rage over this incident prompts his angry dismissal of Cassio as his captain; this is Iago's first triumph in the opera and paves the way to set the rest of his plan into motion. For the operatic version of Shakespeare's play, Boito trimmed the plot considerably to center the action on the three principles: Otello, Desdemona, and Iago. Emilia, Cassio, and Rodrigo, while still quite important to the action, are noteably less prominent than in the play. Bianca, Cassio's rather wanton girlfriend, is mentioned, but never seen or heard; the subplot between her and Cassio does not exist in the opera. Gratiano and Lodovico, the two Venetian noblemen who appear as emissaries to Othello in Cyprus, are consolidated into a single emissary- Lodovico -in Act III. Brabantio, Desdemona's father, who bitterly opposes her marriage to Othello and warns the latter that "She has deceiv'd her father and may thee" (a statement that later comes back to haunt Othello when he believes Desdemona unfaithful) has been cut from the story altogether.

Answer: The Act I love duet "Gia Nella Notte Densa"

Although Othello and Desdemona have no extended love scene in the play, parts of the text of the love duet are taken from the play, pieced out with Boito's own dialogue. The line "E tu m'amavi per le miei sventure, ed'io tamavo per la tua pieta", for example, paraphrases Othello's line in Act I, scene 3: "She lov'd me for the dangers I had pass'd, and I lov'd her that she did pity them." "Fuoco di Gioia", which provides a much needed lighthearted moment in Act I, after the storm and before the riot initiated by Iago, has no equivalent in Shakespeare.

The "Credo" is also purely Boito's creation, an attempt to verbalize Iago's "motiveless malignancy". The "Ave Maria", whose text combines the traditional prayer (in Italian) with touching petitions for variously afflicted people, was created by Boito out of necessity.

In the play Desdemona's "Willow" song and her murder by Othello occur in two separate acts (the "Willow" song scene is the final scene of Act IV; the murder occurs in the second scene of Act V). Before the murder, Othello asks her if she has prayed and she replies that she has. Since, in the opera, these two scenes are combined into one, it is necessary for Desdemona to be seen to pray before retiring to bed.

Answer: Desdemona has no further lines after the murder.

In the play, Iago comes upon Emilia as she is retrieving the handkerchief for Desdemona and physically forces her to give it to him. In the opera, he is even more daring- wresting the token from Emilia practically under the noses of the distracted Otello and Desdemona during the great Act II quartet.

In both the play and the opera, Desdemona dies protesting her innocence to a devastated Emilia (though she protects Otello to the last; when Emila asks who did this to her, she incredibly replies "Nobody- I myself."). Boito's libretto leaves out the murder of Emilia who, in the play, dies singing Desdemona's "Willow Song" (in the Zeffirelli production performed at the Met through the 1970s and '80s, Iago did quickly stab Emilia before his escape, but the libretto gives no such direction). Iago makes no further appearances after the revelation of his villany; Otello's great death scene "Niun mi Tema" follows directly upon his escape.

Answer: Cyprus

Boito omitted the earlier Venetian scenes of the play and kept the action entirely in Cyprus, where Othello is Duke. Rossini's version, on the other hand, is set entirely in Venice.

Answer: There are no large ensembles.

Act III does, in fact, contain a very large ensemble, beginning with Desdemona's heartbroken "A terra. Si! Nell' livido fango" after her manhandling and humiliation by Otello. This ensemble builds in intensity to Otello's outburst "Fuggite!". The Cabaletta (a fast aria, usually featuring coloratura of some kind, which follows a slower aria or cavatina) was a device Verdi seems to have abandoned after "La Traviata".

The opera has no overture, we are thrown suddenly into the storm scene with the orchestra's powerful opening glissando.

The opera ends very quietly and gravely with Otello's final, dying plea "Un altro bacio..." ("Yet one more kiss...").

Answer: The kiss

Verdi's move away from the static formulas which had long defined Italian opera was seen by some as a betrayal of Italian operatic tradition and a slavish imitation of the more homogenous music drama which Wagner was pioneering in Germany. Verdi was especially sensitive to this type of criticism and assidously avoided anything that smacked of Wagnerianism.

In "Otello", however, he could not resist repeating the music of the kiss ("Un bacio") from Act I in Act IV, where Otello kisses the sleeping Desdemona and, again, at the end of the opera, when Otello dies "upon a kiss". Previously, in "Don Carlo", Verdi had achieved a similar effect by poignantly quoting the "friendship" theme from the duet between the title character and Roderigo, the Marquis of Posa in Act II during the latter's death scene later in the opera.

Answer: Otello's ship is coming into harbor in a storm.

The opera begins with a storm at sea; an anxious crowd onshore watches in terror as Otello's ship approaches the harbour and prays for its safe landing. Iago and Roderigo stand apart, the former expressing the hope that the raging sea will be the ship's tomb. Cries of "E' salvo! E' salvo!" greet the arrival of the ship, damaged but still intact, into the harbour; whereupon Otello sings the great "Esultate", proclaiming the Venetians' victory over the Turks.

Answer: The Pleiades and Venus.

As they retire into the ducal palace, Otello sings "Gia la pleiade ardente in mar discende" ("Now the ardent Pleiades descend into the sea"). Desdemona replies that it is late ("Tarda e la notte"). Just before they go off, Otello exclaims "Vien, Venere splende!" ("Come, Venus shines!").

Answer: Both of these

In the finale of "Falstaff", Boito paraphrases Jacques' "All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players" as "All the world's a comedy. Each man is a born comedian (or clown)" ("Tutto nel mondo e burla. L'uom e nato burlone"). In the "Credo", Iago refers to life as "so much mockery" ("After so much mockery comes Death"-"Vien dopo tanta irrision la Morte"). Earlier in the "Credo", Iago states "I believe the honest man a mocking actor" ("Credo che il giusto e un istrion beffardo").

Answer: Mandolin

The use of the mandolin in this charming chorus gives a folk-like character to the piece, which is the last carefree music we hear before the tragedy initiated by Iago begins to unfold.

Answer: The vocal line, for the first half of the piece, consists of only a few notes.

The complete brokenness of Otello's soul at this point is reflected in the vocal line of the first half, which consists of only a few notes sung almost in a monotone (some interpreters, notably James Mc Cracken, have abandoned the notes and cried out the words, making it somewhat of a "crie du couer"). Otello is too exhausted by grief and pain to sing at this point, the orchestration tells us of the ongoing turmoil within.

It is not until the line "Ma, o pianto, o duol", that a melodic vocal line emerges.

The tessitura (range) is not particularly high; it stays mostly in the middle of the voice.

Answer: True

Goaded by Iago's deception, Otello publicly insults, manhandles, and humiliates Desdemona in front of the Venetian ambassador in Act III. He then returns to his ducal throne and is largely silent for the great ensemble that ensues, except for a few terse replies to Iago. During the ensemble, we sense his tension building until he suddenly rises and cries "Fuggite!... Tutti fuggite Otello!"

Answer: A sudden wind rattles the window.

This occurs in the play (and in Rossini's version) as well; Desdemona is singing the prophetic line "Egli era nato per la sua gloria; Io per amarlo e per morir" ("He was born for his glory; I, to love him and to die."). Halfway through the line, she is frightened by what seems to be a beating at the window, followed by a moan. Emilia points out that it is only the wind, and fastens the window. Desdemona then repeats the line of the song in its entirety.

Answer: False

Apart from the words "Ave Maria", the text of the aria is in Italian, making it a more personal prayer than the Latin version would have been. moreover, the lyrical middle section departs completely from the prayer.

Answer: "Un altro bacio"

"Niun mi tema" ("Let none fear me")is the first line of Otello's death scene, which contains the great, tragic line "O Gloria! Otello fu." ("O glory! Otello is finished."). Otello's dying words are "Un altro bacio" ("One more kiss"; many singers never complete the last word). "Ora per sempre addio" is Otello's great farewell to arms, which occurs in the second act.

Answer: Richard Tucker

The great Danish heldentenor Lauritz Melchior performed the role of Otello a number of times during his distinguished career and recorded excerpts from the opera. Regrettably, he was never given an opportunity to perform the role at the Metropolitan Opera. Pavarotti performed the role in a concert performance in 1991 conducted by Georg Solti which was recorded by London records.

Heppner, the current generation's leading interpreter of the Wagnerian repertoire and the more heroic tenor roles, sang his first Otello at the Chicago Lyric Opera in 2001 and was supposed to have repeated the role this past year at the San Francisco Opera, but was forced to bow out due to vocal problems. Shortly before his sudden death from a heart attack in 1975, Tucker had announced his intention of performing Otello, a role he had assidously avoided for many years, as well as the role of Eleazer in Halevy's "La Juive", long a cherished dream of his. Previously, Tucker had adamantly refused even to record "Otello" in its entirety, claiming that it was the ruin of the tenor voice (he had recorded the Love Duet in the 1960s with Eileen Farrell and the Act II Duet "Si, Pel Ciel" in a live concert with Robert Merrill in the 1970s which was recorded by London records). Regrettably, he died before he could fulfill either of these ambitions.

Answer: True

In October of 1894, "Otello" received its Paris premiere, for which Verdi wrote the seven movement "Ballabile". This occured in Act III during the audience with the Venetian ambassador and included an Arabian dance, a Greek dance, a Venetian (Muranese) dance, and an invocation to Allah. Verdi wrote this music reluctantly to fulfill the requirements of the Paris Opera and stated that it should be omitted from subsequent performances. Franco Zeffirelli used it in his film version of "Otello" with Domingo.

Although it has its admirers, most agree that it is best omitted, as it holds up the dramatic action.

Answer: Arturo Toscanini

After the premiere, Toscanini was quoted as saying "'Otello' is a masterpiece. Go on your knees, mother, and say 'Viva Verdi!'". Toscanini, who would become the leading conductor of Verdi's music in the first half of the 20th century, was once called upon to conduct Verdi's "Te Deum" (from the "Quattro Pezzi Sacri") for a concert at which the composer would be present.

When Verdi summoned him to an interview to hear how he would conduct the piece, Toscanini was extremely nervous about one section that had given him tremendous difficulty; he felt strongly that there should be a ritard, yet none was indicated in the score.

When he finally played through the score for Verdi, he found himself unable to avoid making a slight ritard at that point, and was pleasantly astonished when Verdi clapped a hand on his shoulder and said "Bravo!". "But Meastro", Toscanini replied "That passage has given me no end of trouble; you gave no indication of a ritard there." Verdi replied "Can you imagine what some asses of conductors would make of it if I did mark a ritard?!"