Yet More Opera Summaries in Four Words Quiz

Answer: Elektra

Strauss's opera, based on Greek myth and the plays of the "Oresteia", focuses on the title character, who seeks revenge on her mother for conspiring to kill her husband, Elektra's father. Elektra has gone insane from her father's murder: even her brother doesn't recognize her when he returns.

The orchestra calls for 110 musicians and the use of the tambourine, the glockenspiel, and castanets.

Answer: Pelleas et Melisande

At the start of Claude Debussy's only opera, Golaud meets a mysterious woman, Melisande, in a forest. Months after marrying her, he knows nothing more about her than when he met her, including why she's always sad and where she came from (the audience never finds out either). Complications arise when his half-brother Pelleas falls in love with her.

Answer: The Merry Widow

A man is in love with a wealthy widow and wants to marry her, but doesn't want to appear that he's seeking her fortune when all he wants is her. Meanwhile, there's a subplot about a flirtation between a count and a married woman; he writes "I love you" on a fan, which gets lost, and wacky hijinks ensue. Being a comedy, all ends well. This German operetta was composed by Franz Lehar.

Answer: Tamerlano

Handel wrote this 18th century opera. King Andronico and Asteria, daughter of a sultan, are lovers. Tamerlano, the Tartar Emperor, wants to marry Asteria and give Andronico his own fiancee, Irene. Asteria sees this as a betrayal by Andronico, and much scheming occurs. Needless to say, I got confused watching it.

The parts of Tamerlano and Andronico were originally written for castrati (castrated males), so those roles today are performed by sopranos or countertenors.

Answer: Le Grand Macabre

Death (Nekrotzar) arrives to bring about the apocalypse. Unfortunately for him, he doesn't count on everyone else being so hedonistic that they just don't care. Among all the sex and partying, Nekrotzar himself gets drunk, and the end of the world doesn't go as he planned.

I don't know about the original version by Gyorgy Ligeti, but the English version I saw had a lot of profanity in it, including a section where two characters insult each other with creative, alliterative swearing. If you ever wanted to hear a lot of swearing in opera, this is it. While the opera was weird in a way I didn't like, I appreciated the theme: we're all going to die someday, so stop worrying about it and enjoy life while you can.

Answer: The Flying Dutchman

Wagner's opera was originally intended to be performed straight through with no intermission (the same as the four-scene "Das Rheingold"), but some productions divide it into three acts. Erik, the titular sailor, is doomed to sail the Earth until he gains a woman's love and is never betrayed. Senta ensures this by pledging eternal love, then committing suicide. One production from Bayreuth in the 1980s depicts the drama as taking place in Senta's mind.

Answer: La Boheme

Puccini's opera is very loosely based om Henri Murger's book "Scenes de la Vie de Boheme". Rodolfo, one of a group of starving artists, falls in love with Mimi, a seamstress who has tuberculosis. One of the world's most popular operas, "La Boheme" provided the basis for the musical "Rent". I suppose my terse summary of this opera could also be applied to "La Traviata", whose protagonist also dies of tuberculosis.

There's a "missing act" between acts II and III where it's explained why Rodolfo feels jealous and why the happy couple from act II is now estranged. The libretto was written, but Puccini never scored any music for it.

Answer: Apollo et Hyacinthus

Mozart wrote this first opera of his at age eleven. All seven roles would have been played by men or boys at its debut; now, because of the shifting vocal ranges, there's a good chance that four of them will be played by women (and there's only one female character). Apollo, Hyacinthus, and Zephyrus are often played by women, or possibly countertenors. Apollo wishes to wed Melia, but Zephyrus also has his eyes on her, and the death of Apollo's great friend Hyacinthus causes a rift between Melia and Apollo.

Answer: Otello

One of Verdi's several Shakespeare operas, "Otello" is based on "Othello" and follows the same plot as the play. Iago despises Otello for not promoting him to a position he thinks he deserves and sets out to ruin Otello's loving marriage to Desdemona. Verdi also wrote operas based on Shakespeare's "Macbeth" and "The Merry Wives of Windsor".

Answer: Sands of Time

Peter Reynolds composed this incredibly short opera and Simon Rees wrote the libretto. It lasts between three and four minutes and set a Guinness world record for the world's shortest opera when is debuted in 1993. The idea was to present a full opera with the usual components, but to condense them all. And what's it about? A couple argue while boiling an egg. (The opera is meant to last the same amount of time it takes to soft-boil an egg.)

By contrast, "Einstein on the Beach" tops four hours, "Die Meistersinger" runs four-and-a-half to five hours, and the four operas that make up "Der Ring" altogether take between thirteen and seventeen hours to perform, depending on the conductor's pacing.