Which Opera Are They From? 2 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Boris Godunov

By Modest Mussorgsky. It exists in an unusually large number of versions, including two by the composer himself dating from 1869 and 1874, as well as later revisions and re-orchestrations by Rimsky-Korsakov and Shostakovich. Ippolitov-Ivanov also had a go at parts of it. Present day opinion is much more favourable towards the raw power and concision of Mussorgsky's first version, which was originally rejected by the Imperial Theatres and not performed until 1980.

Answer: Rigoletto

By Giuseppe Verdi. First performed on 3 November 1851 at the Teatro la Fenice in Venice. Interestingly, it was originally known as "La Maledizione" or "The Curse"; only later did Verdi give it the name of one of the leading characters.

Answer: Pagliacci

By Ruggero Leoncavallo, first performed in 1892. A one-act opera, it is usually performed in a double-bill with Mascagni's "Cavalleria Rusticana". The name translates as "Clowns".

Answer: Yan Tan Tethera

By Harrison Birtwistle (1986). It also contains a chorus of sheep. The name comes from an old Northern England sheep-counting system, "Yan Tan Tehera" being "One Two Three".

Answer: Madama Butterfly

Puccini's popular opera was first performed in February 1904. The first night was a disaster, and Puccini immediately withdrew and reworked it. At its second "premiere" three months later, it was a huge success, and has remained justifiably popular ever since.

Answer: La Sonnambula

Vincenzo Bellini (1831). The opera's run of performances in 2002 at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden enabled London opera critics to wheel out the crusty old joke about the hero sharing his name with a famous Fleet Street wine bar (El Vino, for those not personally acquainted with this particular watering-hole, which happens to be only a short stagger away from Covent Garden itself).

Answer: Four Saints in Three Acts

Virgil Thomson (1933). The characters also include Saint Stephen, Saint Plan and a second Saint Teresa, which (in case you hadn't noticed) makes Seven Saints in all. It also has four Acts. But then what do you expect if you get Gertrude Stein to write your libretto?

Answer: Les Contes d'Hoffmann

Or "The Tales of Hoffmann", by Offenbach. His last work, left incomplete at his death in 1880. The four characters here, all villains, are often sung in performance by the same bass/baritone singer.

Answer: The Trojans

Hector Berlioz, composed in 1856-8, and lasting some five and a half hours in performance. The composer never saw it performed in its entirety. In 1863 he was persuaded to divide it into two operas: "The Capture of Troy" and "The Trojans at Carthage", of which only the second was performed during his lifetime.

The complete opera was not given until 1890, and even then still in two parts on successive evenings. The first complete performance in one evening was, extraordinarily, not until 1969, when Scottish Opera performed it in Glasgow, sung in English.

Answer: Alcina

Handel's "Alcina" was first performed at Covent Garden, London, in 1735. Handel often named his operas after one or other of the protagonists, and it can be easy to get them confused. Verdi's first opera was called "Oberto", but that's another story altogether...

Answer: Cosi Fan Tutte

Mozart, 1790. These characters are the two sisters and the officers who are in love with them. The opera's title translates roughly as "They're all like that", referring to the fickleness of women. Many modern productions try to get around the mysogeny inherent in the text, but it's all there in the music, and there's not much anyone can do about that...

Answer: Parsifal

Wagner's last opera (1882). Described by him as a "Bühnenweihfestspiel" - roughly translated as "stage-consecrating festival drama" - Wagner placed a 30-year ban on performances ouside Bayreuth, in order (he said) to prevent it degenerating into mere amusement for opera-goers.

His wife Cosima upheld this ban after his death, and it was not officially performed elsewhere until 1914, in Frankfurt. In fact, unofficial and concert performances had already taken place, including in London in 1884.

Answer: Akhnaten

Philip Glass (1984). The third of his three "portrait" operas, the others being "Einstein on the Beach" and "Satyagraha". Akhnaten himself was the first monotheist pharoah, encouraging the worship of the abstract god "Aten" rather than multiple gods represented by idols. The opera ends with Akhnaten dead and the old order restored.

Answer: The Love for Three Oranges

Serge Prokofiev, first performed in Chicago in 1921. Based on a play by Carlo Gozzi, who also wrote the original "Turandot". "Oranges" is fondly remembered by UK operagoers for Richard Jones' 1980s production, which featured "scratch-n-sniff" cards for the audience.

It was a delightful idea, but I recall there was very little difference between the scent of the oranges and of the demon Farfarello breaking wind...

Answer: Die Fledermaus

Johann Strauss (1874). The English translation is "The Bat". The title refers to an incident that occurred many years before the opera begins, in which Dr Falke is tricked into wandering the streets dressed as the eponymous flying mouse.