1. 

   Giuseppe Verdi was born 200 years ago this week. What's the English equivalent of his name?

   1. John Smith

   2. Gordon Brown

   3. Joseph Green

   4. Jo Bloggs

2. 

   Where is Aida set?

   1. India

   2. Egypt

   3. Greece

   4. Sicily

3. 

   In which three operas is the soprano heroine called Leonora?

   1. Rigoletto, La Forza del Destino, Il Trovatore

   2. La Traviata, Il Trovatore, Nabucco

   3. Il Trovatore, Un Ballo in Maschera, Simon Boccanegra

   4. Il Trovatore, Oberto, La Forza del Destino

4. Verdi's famous Requiem, first performed in 1874, was written to commemorate whose death?

   1. Alessandro Manzoni

   2. Giuseppe Garibaldi

   3. Pope Pius IX

   4. Giachino Rossini

5. 

   Verdi wrote three operas based on Shakespeare (Macbeth, Otello & Falstaff). Which Shakespeare play did he repeatedly express a wish to turn into an opera but never did?

   1. Hamlet

   2. King Lear

   3. Julius Caesar

   4. Romeo and Juliet

6. 

   Which of these is not a Verdi opera?

   1. La battaglia di Legnano

   2. Jérusalem

   3. I due Foscari

   4. Le Donne Mobili

7. Verdi died in Milan in January 1901, the same month as who?

   1. Queen Victoria

   2. Richard Wagner

   3. Otto von Bismarck

   4. Florence Nightingale

8. 

   Which of these Verdi operas does NOT feature a character called Don Carlo?

   1. Giovanna d'Arco

   2. Don Carlo

   3. Ernani

   4. La Forza del Destino

9. 

   Who did Verdi persuade to write the librettos for his last two Shakespearean operas, Otello and Falstaff?

   1. Robert Browning

   2. Lorenzo da Ponte

   3. George Bernard Shaw

   4. Arrigo Boito

10. 

    Verdi's famous tenor aria, La donna è mobile, from Rigoletto, translates loosely into English as -

    1. Your tiny hand is frozen

    2. My wife's on her mobile

    3. Women are fickle

    4. The lady's not for turning

11. 

    At the close of Falstaff, Verdi has his characters sing that the whole world is what?

    1. A joke

    2. A stage

    3. A tragedy

    4. An opera

12. 

    At Verdi's funeral in Milan, it is told that Arturo Toscanini conducted the crowds of mourners in a performance of what?

    1. The Italian national anthem

    2. The chorus of the Hebrew Slaves (Va, pensiero) from Nabucco

    3. The triumphal march from Aida

    4. A Sole Mio

Solutions

1:C, 2:B, 3:D, 4:A, 5:B, 6:D, 7:A, 8:A, 9:D, 10:C, 11:A, 12:B

Scores

1. 5 and above.

   Spear carrier

2. 9 and above.

   Supporting actor

3. 12 and above.

   Leading lady