Q 01/05

In which Japanese port city does Puccini set Madama Butterfly, in a hillside house overlooking the harbour?

A) Yokohama

B) Nagasaki

C) Kagoshima

D) Hakodate

Answer · why

B) Nagasaki

Nagasaki still marks the link: statues of Puccini and the soprano Tamaki Miura, a famous Cio-Cio-San, stand in its hillside Glover Garden.

Q 02/05

Which 1989 hit musical by the creators of Les Misérables retells the story of Puccini's Madama Butterfly?

A) Miss Saigon

B) Aspects of Love

C) Martin Guerre

D) City of Angels

Answer · why

A) Miss Saigon

Miss Saigon moves the tale to the Vietnam War, trading the sailor and his bride for a United States Marine and a Vietnamese bargirl.

Q 03/05

Which American rock band named its 1996 album Pinkerton after the faithless sailor in Puccini's Madama Butterfly?

A) Pavement

B) Green Day

C) Weezer

D) Nirvana

Answer · why

C) Weezer

Weezer's singer Rivers Cuomo listened to the opera every night after shows, and its sadness pushed him toward a darker second album.

Q 04/05

Why did New York's Metropolitan Opera keep Madama Butterfly off its stage from 1942 through 1945?

A) A singers' strike

B) A copyright dispute

C) A backstage fire

D) War with Japan

Answer · why

D) War with Japan

War with Japan took the opera off the bill; otherwise it has been heard in virtually every Met season since Puccini supervised its first staging there...

Q 05/05

Which patriotic American tune does Puccini quote in Madama Butterfly when Pinkerton raises a toast to his homeland?

A) The Star-Spangled Banner

B) Battle Hymn of the Republic

C) America the Beautiful

D) Hail to the Chief

Answer · why

A) The Star-Spangled Banner

The Star-Spangled Banner rings out as Pinkerton and the consul drink to America, a musical badge Puccini pins on his American characters.