Q 01/05

In Goethe's Faust, Mephistopheles first follows the scholar home from a country walk disguised as which animal?

A) A raven

B) A black cat

C) A poodle

D) A goat

Answer · why

C) A poodle

A poodle trails Faust and his assistant back from their holiday stroll, then swells into a monster in the study before Mephistopheles steps out dresse...

Q 02/05

Which figure of Greek myth does Faust conjure for the Emperor, then pursue and win, in Goethe's Faust Part Two?

A) Helen of Troy

B) Medea of Colchis

C) Ariadne of Crete

D) Circe of Aeaea

Answer · why

A) Helen of Troy

Helen of Troy is at first only a phantom summoned to amuse the court, but Faust falls for the vision and later has a son, Euphorion, with her.

Q 03/05

In Goethe's Faust Part Two, what does Mephistopheles introduce to rescue the Emperor's failing finances?

A) A salt tax

B) Paper money

C) A state lottery

D) Alchemists' gold

Answer · why

B) Paper money

Paper money replaces gold at court, and the Emperor and his advisers promptly squander it: Goethe's satire on the banknotes issued during the French R...

Q 04/05

Which New York institution opened in 1883 with Gounod's Faust and was later nicknamed the Faustspielhaus?

A) The Brooklyn Academy of Music

B) The Manhattan Opera House

C) Radio City Music Hall

D) The Metropolitan Opera

Answer · why

D) The Metropolitan Opera

The Metropolitan Opera chose Faust for its very first night, sung in Italian rather than French, and went on staging it so often that the house earned...

Q 05/05

Which Mississippi blues guitarist is said, in a legend that mirrors Faust, to have met the Devil at a crossroads?

A) Muddy Waters

B) Robert Johnson

C) Howlin' Wolf

D) Charley Patton

Answer · why

B) Robert Johnson

Robert Johnson's crossroads tale was probably borrowed from an older bluesman, the unrelated Tommy Johnson, who first claimed to have traded his soul ...