Q 01/05

Which Russian composer predicted Carmen would conquer the world?

A) Mussorgsky

B) Tchaikovsky

C) Rimsky-Korsakov

D) Borodin

Answer · why

B) Tchaikovsky

Tchaikovsky. He heard Carmen in Paris in January 1876 and later wrote that within ten years it would be the world's most popular opera; after a cold s...

Q 02/05

Carmen is based on an 1845 novella by which French writer?

A) Prosper Mérimée

B) Alexandre Dumas

C) Gustave Flaubert

D) Victor Hugo

Answer · why

A) Prosper Mérimée

Prosper Mérimée. He said the tale grew from a story the Countess of Montijo told him in Spain in 1830; her daughter later became the Empress Eugénie.

Q 03/05

Who wrote the libretto of Carmen?

A) Arrigo Boito and Francesco Piave

B) Jules Barbier and Michel Carré

C) Eugène Scribe and Ludovic Halévy

D) Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy

Answer · why

D) Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy

Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy. They were Offenbach's hit-makers, the wits behind La belle Hélène and La vie parisienne: comedy specialists writing ...

Q 04/05

In which Spanish city is Carmen set?

A) Granada

B) Madrid

C) Seville

D) Barcelona

Answer · why

C) Seville

Seville. Bizet never set foot there, or anywhere else in Spain: he built the opera's Spanish sound from borrowed songs and dance rhythms.

Q 05/05

Where does Carmen work when the opera opens?

A) In a cigarette factory

B) In a lace workshop

C) In a tavern

D) At the bullring

Answer · why

A) In a cigarette factory

In a cigarette factory. Its real-life model, a vast royal tobacco works, still stands and has housed a university since the 1950s.