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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 taken115
Average score46.7%
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1. Which opera does NOT have a principal character named Elvira?
I puritani
Don Giovanni
Ernani
La favorita
2. What is the name of Cio-Cio-San’s maid in Madama Butterfly?
Suzuki
Yamaha
Harley
Kawasaki
3. Which is an opera composed by Gioacchino Rossini?
Le nozze di Figaro
Il barbiere di Siviglia
La mère coupable
Assedio di Firenze
4. Where does the opera Norma take place?
The outskirts of the city of Rome
Gaul
Anglo-Saxon England
An unspecified location in Scandinavia
5. Which character sings «Nessun dorma» in the final act of Turandot?
Calaf
Cavaradossi
Rinuccio
Rodolfo
6. Which Valkyrie role did Wagner write for a contralto?
Schwertleite
Roßweiße
Ortlinde
Waltraute
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.
Ferruccio Busoni
Charles Gounod
Hector Berlioz
Robert Schumann
8. John Adams (1947- ) composed which opera?
Samuel Barber composed an opera (arguably better known) of the same name.
Maria Golovin
Antony and Cleopatra
The Ice Break
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 Bell Song
The Flower Duet
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».
Drunk
Offstage
Dying
Asleep
11. Carlisle Floyd’s opera Susannah takes place in which U.S. state?
Tennessee
Kentucky
North Carolina
Oklahoma
12. The Kitchen Boy in Dvořák’s Rusalka is usually performed by …
A mezzo-soprano
A treble
A non-speaking actor
A lyric tenor
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.
Giuseppe Verdi
Ambroise Thomas
Benjamin Britten
Ottorino Respighi
14. In this one-act opera, a troubled woman discloses (during a telephone conversation) her recent suicide attempt.
La voix humaine (Francis Poulenc)
The Telephone (Gian Carlo Menotti)
Night (Lorenzo Ferrero)
Sancta Susanna (Paul Hindemith)
15. Richard Wagner had a son who was also an opera composer. What was the son’s name?
Sigmund Wagner
Tristan Wagner
Siegfried 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 76
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 76
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.