Trivia quiz game!

[(poco) Sforzando]

You're a real pain in the ass, Mr. Sforz, if you'll excuse my French! 

The only curtain line that might fit your criterion is Nick Shadow's "Sweet dreams, my master! Dreams may lie / But dream! For when you wake, you die." at the end of Scene 2 of Act One and it might allude to Mercutio's "That dreamers often lie". Other than that I can find nothing and if that doesn't answer your question, I give up in despair... 

Now, since you seem to revel in this kind of cultural detectivism here's one for you, which I think of as a revenge for all the trouble you caused me with your Shakesperean quizzzes ( ):

Now, now, Mr. Florestan. You're under no obligation to answer, and the other opera I have in mind has an Italian libretto. And there are, after all, only so many curtain lines in TRP. But the Auden/Shakespeare allusion struck me so forcibly that I thought it intentional; however, obviously these things will register differently on each of us. As for your Tennyson question, to trace five complete steps has so much variability that I must decline the attempt.

[Florestan]

Now, now, Mr. Florestan. You're under no obligation to answer,

Hey, had I not wanted to answer, I wouldn't have spent that much time searching for an answer!  And please don't take me wrong: it was a real pleasure and in the process I discovered a marvelous work to which I have paid little, if any, attention before: The Rake's Progress. Thank you.

and the other opera I have in mind has an Italian libretto.

Which other opera? I thought we settled on TRP. Do you mean there is another Stravinsky opera that contain a Shakesperean allusion? 

And there are, after all, only so many curtain lines in TRP. But the Auden/Shakespeare allusion struck me so forcibly that I thought it intentional; however, obviously these things will register differently on each of us.

Of course. Now please disclose the allusion. I can't figure it out by myself and I am only too eager to know it.

As for your Tennyson question, to trace five complete steps has so much variability that I must decline the attempt.

And yet the variability is severely restricted. Even if you know nothing of Mazzorbo, googling it will surely set you on an unmistakable path. 

[Florestan]

Has to be Schumann, then.

Himself. 

By the age of 18, two years before that fateful hand injury that triggered his interest in composition he had wrote two novels (one left unfinished) and several other stories, all heavily influenced by the German writer Jean Paul.

So, we have Brian, amw and Sforzando as winners, but since amw was the only one to offer one single - and correct - name, as opposed to the other gentlemen who offered two, only one pf which was correct, I nominate him as THE winner.

Your turn, amw.

[(poco) Sforzando]

Which other opera? I thought we settled on TRP. Do you mean there is another Stravinsky opera that contain a Shakesperean allusion? 

You're right. I had forgotten how I phrased the original question:

"But here's a bonus, and it's really, really hard, much harder than even the Berlioz question no one has gotten yet: In what Stravinsky opera does the librettist (or one of the librettists) briefly allude to a line from a Shakespearean tragedy already mentioned in this thread? You have to identify not only the opera, but the actual line."

The Stravinsky opera is TRP, and the librettists Auden/Kaufman allude to Othello at the close of Act II (which by process of association, had me thinking of Verdi's Otello). The curtain line in Act II Scene II, "My wife? I have no wife! I've buried her!" - after Rakewell "smothers" Baba the Turk by throwing his wig over her face to stop her from talking - reminded me of Othello's line after he smothers Desdemona: "My wife, my wife! what wife? I have no wife."

Oh well. Perhaps it is only coincidence.

I'll see what I can do with your Tennyson question.

[Florestan]

The Stravinsky opera is TRP, and the librettists Auden/Kaufman allude to Othello at the close of Act II (which by process of association, had me thinking of Verdi's Otello). The curtain line in Act II Scene II, "My wife? I have no wife! I've buried her!" - after Rakewell "smothers" Baba the Turk by throwing his wig over her face to stop her from talking - reminded me of Othello's line after he smothers Desdemona: "My wife, my wife! what wife? I have no wife."

Hah! Excellent! Yes indeed, now that you put it this way it's obvious.

Well, what can I say? You are a real Shakespeare connoisseur, and you pay close attention to operatic librettos.  Congratulations!

I'll see what I can do with your Tennyson question.

Do not take the "revenge" part seriously, it was only a joke. Actually, that question was my first option for this thread but then I changed my mind when typing.  At first sight it might seem odd and as arcane as it gets but in reality it's quite straightforward. 

[amw]

Your turn, amw.

Oh damn, I forgot about this.

I guess I'll do an easy one so the thread moves on... So a lot of composers titled their symphonies, or had titles assigned by publishers. Mozart's Jupiter, Haydn's Clock and Military and many more, etc. However it seems to have taken until the early nineteenth century for composers to do away with numbers and use only titles. Famously Berlioz—Symphonie fantastique, Harold in Italy, Roméo et Juliette & the Grande Symphonie Funèbre et Triomphale. Somewhat obscurely, Berwald: the sérieuse, capricieuse, singulière, and naïve Symphonies. Can anyone name a composer who wrote more than four unnumbered symphonies? (There may be multiple possible answers.)

[Brian]

Symphony in E flat
Symphony in C
Symphony in Three Movements
Symphony of Psalms
Symphonies of Wind Instruments

Also we should maybe rule out composers before or contemporary with Mozart and Haydn who didn't bother with numbers, or whose publishing histories are so messy that numbers are no longer used. Otherwise I can start just naming names.

John Adams probably fits, but he would also probably deny that works like Harmonielehre count as symphonies.

[amw]

Hmm. I wouldn't think of Symphonies of Wind Instruments as a "symphony" per se because the word is being used in its more archaic form of "sounding together" (at least, so said the composer). I'll give you 4 1/2.

For classical era composers (Vanhal, Beck, Monn, Stamitz et al) who wrote dozens of symphonies whose chronology we can't ascertain with a high degree of accuracy, we still tend to refer to them by catalogue numbers; and moreover they were typically published in sets ("Six Symphonies", "Four Grand Sinfonias", etc) rather than with titles. Not that some of them don't have titles. But it's pretty rare.

Maybe I should come up with a more well-thought-out question.

[Brian]

Maybe I should come up with a more well-thought-out question.

Hey, don't sweat it! I was really irritated with myself for not thinking of more 20th-century composers, so it is indeed a vexatious and therefore interesting question! Definitely know there are several - just can't remember who.

[mc ukrneal]

Hindemith?

[amw]

Mathis der Maler - No. 1 (in G and D-flat)
in E-flat - No. 2
Symphonia serena - No. 3 (in A)
Die Harmonie die Welt - No. 4 (in E)
in B-flat - No. 5
Pittsburgh Symphony - No. 6 (in E)

Possibly the most unnumbered symphonies of a well-known composer born after 1800. :\ Although there might be someone else with more—feel free to remind me if you think of one. Anyway mc ukrneal gets the next question.

[mc ukrneal]

Ok, here we go... Guess who I am...

Although I was famous in my day, I learned to play several instruments, among them the triangle. You probably have seen my works on the stage (you can both sing and dance to my works - though not necessarily at the same time), but not in the concert hall (unless they were works originally for the stage). I wrote no orchestral, instrumental, or chamber works of note, though I did write songs. One of my songs is well known to the Western world and I would be surprised if you didn't know it (Celine Dion and Mariah Carey have recorded a version of it, among others). My career was so sucessful that I became quite wealthy and launched my own business venture. Alas, it failed, but my success in music allowed me to pay off my debts by the time I died. Who am I? And for extra credit - what is the song?

[(poco) Sforzando]

John Adams probably fits, but he would also probably deny that works like Harmonielehre count as symphonies.

At the NY premiere of Naïve and Sentimental Music, Adams was asked if that large symphonic work qualified as a symphony. Quoth he: "Well, I don't know about a symphony . . . . " - the implication of course being that a "symphony" carried connotations of marmoreal grandiosity which his work, of course, totally lacked.

[Brian]

At the NY premiere of Naïve and Sentimental Music, Adams was asked if that large symphonic work qualified as a symphony. Quoth he: "Well, I don't know about a symphony . . . . " - the implication of course being that a "symphony" carried connotations of marmoreal grandiosity which his work, of course, totally lacked.

This saddens me. It also reminds me of the very serious unspoken thought behind Prokofiev's "Homage to Haydn", the Symphony No. 1. Haydn himself would have been flabbergasted to hear the symphony described as connoting "marmoreal grandiosity." Interesting, to me, that restoring Haydnesque wit, lightness, and proportion to the symphony was, in the 20th century, a task for some of the most complex or even tortured musical personalities - Prokofiev, Britten, and such.

[mc ukrneal]

Ok, here we go... Guess who I am...

Although I was famous in my day, I learned to play several instruments, among them the triangle. You probably have seen my works on the stage (you can both sing and dance to my works - though not necessarily at the same time), but not in the concert hall (unless they were works originally for the stage). I wrote no orchestral, instrumental, or chamber works of note, though I did write songs. One of my songs is well known to the Western world and I would be surprised if you didn't know it (Celine Dion and Mariah Carey have recorded a version of it, among others). My career was so sucessful that I became quite wealthy and launched my own business venture. Alas, it failed, but my success in music allowed me to pay off my debts by the time I died. Who am I? And for extra credit - what is the song?

Do I need to add some hints?

[(poco) Sforzando]

Do I need to add some hints?

Let's start here: is the name anywhere on this page?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_songs_recorded_by_Mariah_Carey

[mc ukrneal]

Let's start here: is the name anywhere on this page?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_songs_recorded_by_Mariah_Carey

The song is, but not the composer (that I see). Here's another clue - you won't hear this song year round. In one genre (put on a stage), this composer is a major force, while in another genre, this composer has been nearly forgotten.

[Florestan]

Ok, here we go... Guess who I am...

Although I was famous in my day, I learned to play several instruments, among them the triangle. You probably have seen my works on the stage (you can both sing and dance to my works - though not necessarily at the same time), but not in the concert hall (unless they were works originally for the stage). I wrote no orchestral, instrumental, or chamber works of note, though I did write songs. One of my songs is well known to the Western world and I would be surprised if you didn't know it (Celine Dion and Mariah Carey have recorded a version of it, among others). My career was so sucessful that I became quite wealthy and launched my own business venture. Alas, it failed, but my success in music allowed me to pay off my debts by the time I died. Who am I? And for extra credit - what is the song?

Adolphe Adam and O Holly Night (originally Cantique de Noel).

[mc ukrneal]

Adolphe Adam and O Holly Night (originally Cantique de Noel).

Well done! You get to beguile us once again!

[Florestan]

Well done!

Oh, I just went one step mouseclick further than Sforzando. 

You get to beguile us once again!

When thinking of revolution and advancement in music, this composer's music is perhaps the last to come to mind. Yet he was highly appreciative of revolutionary innovation and staunchly defended it before his largely conservative audience and circle of friends. His name is... ?