Welcome to the Opera round of the Noblesse Oblige Triviathon!

Please answer the following questions and submit your answers by email.

01. Donizetti called Rossini a "lazy fellow" for taking HOW long, to compose the music for "The Barber of Seville"?

02. This opera is probably most famous for its orchestral intermezzo, about two thirds of the way through...

03. ...and is usually, in performance, paired with which other opera?

04. Put a name to Wagner's "Valkyrie".

05. In "The Marriage of Figaro", what unlikely coincidence saves Figaro from being forced to marry Marcellina against his will?

06. How many different versions of the orchestral overture, did Beethoven write to his only opera "Fidelio"?

07. Verdi collaborated with WHICH librettist, on two of his operas based on Shakespeare plays?

08. ...and which secretive organisation is parodied in Mozart's "Magic Flute"?

09. How many Spanish women did Don Giovanni boast of having seduced, in the opera of that name?

10. When the crowds chanted "Viva Verdi" in Italy, who ELSE were they supporting (other than the composer, but with his apparent approval), against the foreign-dominated authorities?

11. Name Wagner's most famous aristrocratic patron.

12. Which English playwright is alleged to have said of his musical collaborator, "No man has a higher opinion of him than I do... and I think he is a dirty little beast"

13. In Handel's "Xerxes", who or what does the title character sing his most famous aria to?

14. In Donizetti's "Elisir d'Amore", what is the actual elixir of love in reality?

15. What football (soccer to Americans) position did Luciano Pavarotti have ambition to play as?



Identify these operas.


16. Tart with a heart meets toyboy, then dumps him for his own good.

17. Opera diva stabs police chief after her lover is tortured for sheltering a political prisoner.

18. Another political prisoner here, but this one is released after his wife tracks him down, and his jailer is brought to justice.

19. Following a drunken bet, two couples end up married to the wrong partners.

20. The lives and loves of four students.

21. War hero driven to fits of jealous rage by his subaltern's insinuations about his wife's conduct.

22. Fancy dress ball in which the biggest scandal ensues from a man dancing with his own wife.

23. Arranged marriage falls flat when the wife prefers her husband's nephew after a drink.

24. Court jester's revenge goes wrong when his daughter ends up as the victim.

25. Gypsy girl murdered after dumping soldier for bullfighter.