Opera Trivia

Select the correct answer from among the choices given.

Constructive criticism is welcome. Subscribe to get a notification when I release a new quiz.

I’m not sure how much of an appetite there is for opera-themed quizzes, so please leave a comment if you want more.
Quiz by
arjaygee
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Last updated: May 18, 2024
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First submittedAugust 18, 2023
Times taken117
Average score46.7%
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1. Which opera does NOT have a principal character named Elvira?
Don Giovanni
I puritani
La favorita
Ernani
2. What is the name of Cio-Cio-San’s maid in Madama Butterfly?
Kawasaki
Harley
Yamaha
Suzuki
3. Which is an opera composed by Gioacchino Rossini?
La mère coupable
Assedio di Firenze
Le nozze di Figaro
Il barbiere di Siviglia
4. Where does the opera Norma take place?
The outskirts of the city of Rome
An unspecified location in Scandinavia
Anglo-Saxon England
Gaul
5. Which character sings «Nessun dorma» in the final act of Turandot?
Rinuccio
Cavaradossi
Calaf
Rodolfo
6. Which Valkyrie role did Wagner write for a contralto?
Waltraute
Roßweiße
Schwertleite
Ortlinde
7. Which of the following did NOT compose an operatic retelling of the Faust legend?
Berlioz: La damnation de Faust; Busoni: Doktor Faust; Gounod: Faust.
Charles Gounod
Robert Schumann
Hector Berlioz
Ferruccio Busoni
8. John Adams (1947- ) composed which opera?
Samuel Barber composed an opera (arguably better known) of the same name.
The Ice Break
Antony and Cleopatra
Maria Golovin
The Prodigal Son
9. Which musical number can you hear in a standard performance of Carmen?
Escamillo sings «Votre toast, je peux vous le rendre» (The Toreador Song) in Act II.
The Flower Duet
The Bell Song
The Toreador Song
The Macarena
10. In an 1831 Bellini opera, one of the principal characters sings an aria cantabile while she is …
Amina, the main protagonist in La sonnambula is sleepwalking when she sings «Ah, non credea mirarti». Luckily, she wakes up in time to sing the cabaletta «Ah, non giunge».
Offstage
Asleep
Dying
Drunk
11. Carlisle Floyd’s opera Susannah takes place in which U.S. state?
Oklahoma
Tennessee
Kentucky
North Carolina
12. The Kitchen Boy in Dvořák’s Rusalka is usually performed by …
A mezzo-soprano
A lyric tenor
A treble
A non-speaking actor
13. Which of the following is NOT known to have composed an opera based on one of Shakespeare’s plays?
Britten: A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Thomas: Hamlet; Verdi: Macbeth, Otello, Falstaff.
Ambroise Thomas
Ottorino Respighi
Giuseppe Verdi
Benjamin Britten
14. In this one-act opera, a troubled woman discloses (during a telephone conversation) her recent suicide attempt.
La voix humaine (Francis Poulenc)
Sancta Susanna (Paul Hindemith)
The Telephone (Gian Carlo Menotti)
Night (Lorenzo Ferrero)
15. Richard Wagner had a son who was also an opera composer. What was the son’s name?
Tristan Wagner
Siegfried Wagner
Sigmund Wagner
Walther Wagner
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4 Comments
+1
Level 90
Sep 20, 2023
Cool first quiz, but hard!!! I only got four right. Also try Famous Operas!
+1
Level 77
Sep 20, 2023
Thank you. I had a lot of fun putting this together, but I thought it had been removed from the site because it had so few takers. Last time I checked, it wasn’t showing up in the search.

How did you come across it?

+1
Level 68
Apr 8, 2025
I would like more opera quizzes but easier. Maybe ask about major composers, their best known works, and main characters.
+1
Level 77
Apr 8, 2025
I currently have no plans to design more opera quizzes, as opera is among the least popular quiz topics on this site.

Almost every composer mentioned in this quiz is considered a “major opera composer” in this article, and nearly every opera referenced is on this list of prominent operas, so I’m not quite sure how to interpret the rest of your comment.