Chapter 40: Multimedia Hits: Verdi and Italian Romantic Opera
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. Which nineteenth-century opera singer made a great impression in America by performing both
opera excerpts and parlor songs?
a. Fanny Hensel c. Giuseppina Stepponi
b. Jenny Lind d. Clara Schumann
2. Italian comic opera is called:
a. opera seria. c. opera buffa.
b. opéra comique. d. Singspiel.
3. Which of the following composed The Barber of Seville and William Tell?
a. Donizetti c. Bellini
b. Bizet d. Rossini
4. The term bel canto refers to:
a. a female singer who performs male roles.
b. the standard form of nineteenth-century Italian arias.
c. a style of singing that features agility and purity of tone.
d. the new melodic recitative of the nineteenth century.
5. Which of the following was a widely beloved Italian nationalist opera composer?
a. Verdi c. Brahms
b. Chopin d. Liszt
6. Verdi’s opera Nabucco was hugely popular in Italy because it:
a. was interpreted as a symbol of Italian independence.
b. had raunchy dance scenes.
c. contained popular tunes.
d. was based on Roman history.
7. How many operas did Verdi write?
a. six c. twenty
b. eight d. twenty-eight
8. Which Verdi opera was commissioned for a performance in Cairo to mark the opening of the Suez
Canal?
a. Il trovatore c. Macbeth
b. Rigoletto d. Aida
9. _____ was Verdi’s last opera, which he completed at age eighty.
a. Macbeth c. Aida
b. Rigoletto d. Falstaff
10. What is the English translation of the title “La donna è mobile”?
a. “the mobile Donna”
b. “Donna is mobile”
c. “Woman is not fickle”
d. “Woman is fickle”
11. The ensemble that follows “La donna è mobile” in Act III of Rigoletto is a(n):
a. duet. c. sextet.
b. quartet. d. octet.
12. Which character dies at the end of Rigoletto?
a. Rigoletto c. Sparafucile
b. the duke of Mantua d. Gilda, Rigoletto’s daughter
13. Which of the following wrote the play that was the source of Verdi’s inspiration for Rigoletto?
a. E. T. A. Hoffmann c. Victor Hugo
b. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe d. Arrigo Boito
14. Who managed Jenny Lind’s 1850 American concert tour?
a. Stephen Foster c. John Sullivan Dwight
b. P. T. Barnum d. Paul Lind
15. What is the setting for Rigoletto?
a. a Renaissance-era ducal court in northern Italy
b. 1850s Rome
c. the Roman senate
d. a rural village in southern France
16. Which character sings “La donna è mobile”?
a. the Duke c. Gilda
b. Rigoletto d. Maddalena
TRUE/FALSE
1. Women achieved prominence during the Romantic era as opera singers.
2. Bellini, the first major composer of Romantic Italian opera, is celebrated for his music for William
Tell.
3. Verdi’s operas stirred a revolutionary spirit within the Italian people.
4. Verdi’s Aida could be viewed as an example of exoticism because of its Egyptian setting.
5. The aria “La donna è mobile” from Verdi’s Rigoletto, is set in simple, strophic form with a refrain.
6. In Rigoletto, Verdi turns away from tuneful melodies to heighten the dramatic action.
7. Verdi worked closely with music publishers to help build a market for his works.
8. A play by Shakespeare inspired Verdi to compose Rigoletto.
9. Before the age of recording, catchy excerpts from operas were marketed in arrangements, whether
for the home or for public spaces.
ESSAY
1. How does Jenny Lind’s career reflect the changing attitude toward women performers during the
nineteenth century?
ANS:
Answers will vary.
PTS: 1 DIF: 3 REF: Essentials: pp. 219–220
TOP: Women in Opera MSC: Conceptual
2. How were Verdi’s operas able to inspire nationalist sentiment?
ANS:
Answers will vary.
PTS: 1 DIF: 2 REF: Essentials: pp. 220–221
TOP: Verdi Opera MSC: Conceptual
3. Why do Verdi’s operas have such enduring popular appeal? Cite examples from the textbook.
ANS:
Answers will vary.
PTS: 1 DIF: 2 REF: Essentials: pp. 220–222
TOP: Verdi Opera MSC: Conceptual