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Opera and Music Drama in the 19th Century;

You can answer the questions in any order. This script will give you a hint if you are wrong.

1. All of the following were composers of early 19th century French opera except :

Spontini
Meyerbeer
Cherubini.
F. Couperin

2. All of the following are characteristics of French grand opera except:

use of a historical subject
extensive use of the chorus
emphasis on ballet segments
eventual tragic ending

3. Opéra bouffe satirized France in the mid-19th century. Its founder and the composer of Orpheus in the Underworld is:

Jacques Offenbach
Arthur Sullivan
Johann Strauss the Younger
Sigmund Romberg

4. All of the following are examples of French lyric operas except:

Gounod's Faust
Thomas's Mignon
Campra's L'Europe galante
Saint-Saëns Samson et Dalila

5. Bizet's Carmen is classified as an opera comique because:

it contains spoken dialogue.
it contains humorous scenes in the cigarette factory.
its characters come from the lower classes.
none of the above

6. Italian opera, unlike German and French opera, has historically been dominated by melody.

True
False

7. Opera buffa is characterized by all of the following except:

use of characters from the commedia dell' arte
important bass roles
important ensemble finales
no spoken dialogue

8. All of the following are opera buffe by Rossini except:

Semiramide
La Cenerentola
La gazza ladra
Il barbiere di Siviglia

9. Rossini is particularly famous for all of the following except:

the Rossini crescendo
buffo arias
ensemble finales
almost constant use of 3/4 meter

10. An Italian composer who is most famous for an opera set in Scotland is:

Rossini
Bellini
Donizetti
Verdi

11. An Italian composer who is most famous for an opera set in Roman Britain is:

Rossini
Bellini
Donizetti
Verdi

12. All of the following Verdi operas are from his early nationalist period except:

Aïda
Nabucco
Macbeth
I Lombardi

13. Verdi's middle period opera deal with more personal stories than his earlier works. He is especially concerned with the relationship between parent and child. All of the following treat that issue except:

La Traviata
Rigoletto
Il Trovatore
Otello

14. Verdi's Otello differs from his earlier operas in the following ways:

It is his first use of a story by Shakespeare.
Its music is continuous, not broken up into distinct sections.
It uses recurring musical motives.
It contains a prayer scene.

15. Verdi's Falstaff is the supreme example of opera buffa.:

True
False

16. The ancestor of the German Romantic opera was the liturgical drama:

True
False

17. German Romantic opera was influenced by all of the following except:

nationalism
Romantic elements in French opera
the English masque
the Singspiel

18. The most famous of early German Romantic operas was:

Weber's Der Freischütz
Wagner's The Flying Dutchman
Meyerbeer's La Juive
Weber's Oberon

19. All of the following are characteristic of German Romanticism except:

fascination with the supernatural
interest in stories from the distant past
adherence to classical symmetry in composition
emphasis on the power of nature

20. A Wagner opera that deals with a ghost searching the world for salvation is:

Lohengrin
The Flying Dutchman
Seigfried
Rienzi

21. Wagner admired all of the following composers except:

Mozart
Verdi
Bach
Weber

22. Wagner is famous for all of the following except:

rich orchestration
coloratura arias
full choruses
use of the leitmotiv

23. Wagner wrote the texts for all of his operas:

True
False

24. The theme of finding love's fulfillment in death is central to:

Das Rheingold
Tristan und Isolde
Die Feen
none of the above

25. The Ring of Nibelungen is Wagner's great cycle of four music dramas. One of its overarching themes is the destruction brought on by greed.

True
False