TRIVIA QUIZ RELOADED

[ned]

The Ludwig Rellstab Challenge Cup.

However strange a question may seem, it involves one of our beloved piano composers.

Question 1.  What was Chopin's address when he died? (Hint: It's across the street from the Hotel Ritz, where Princess Diana was staying when she left for her final car ride).

Question 2.  Who was Lucrezia Floriani?

Question 3. Who were Rappo and Madame Esmeralda?

Question 4. The following verse is appended to what piano piece? "Les sons et les parfums tournent dans l'air du soir." What poem is this verse taken from? Name the author.

Question 5. Identify the following individual. He was a 19th century German author, music critic and lawyer. He ended his professional career as the highly respected chief judge of the Prussian supreme court. He also had time to be a composer and to write stories, which inspired Tchaikovsky, Schumann and Offenbach. Who was he? Which pieces of those composers were directly inspired by his works?

Question 6.  Schubert, Schumann and Scott Joplin all died of what disease?
        a. Tuberculosis
        b. Cholera
        c. Syphilis
        d. SARS

[amee]

Question 2: "Lucrezia Floriani" was a novel written by George Sand.  It is thought she depicted herself as Lucrezia Floriani in that book and Chopin was Prince Karol de Roswald.

Question 6: They all died of syphilis.

[rachfan]

Question 4:  Answer:

The phrase "Les sons et les parfums tournent dans l'air du soir" is from a  poem of Charles Beaudelaire.  I don't have the French title, but the English translation would be "Evening Harmony" (probably "Harmonie du Soir"?)  I believe this poem is part of a larger collection entitled "Fleurs de Mal".  

Here is a translation I made about 15 years ago when I was studying Les sons et les parfums (but I'll be darned if I can find the original French version!):

Evening Harmony

Behold, there comes the vibrant hour upon its tige
Each flower a fragrance as well as a flattery;
The sounds and the perfumes swirl in the evening air;
A melancholy waltz and a languid vertigo!

Each flower a fragrance as well as a flattery;
The violin trembles like a grieving heart;
A melancholy, languid and virtiginous waltz!
The sky is sad and beautiful as a majestic altar.

The violin trembles like a grieving heart.
A tender heart, who loathes the vast nothingness and blackness!
The sky is sad and beautiful as a majestic altar;
The sun is itself drowned in its congealed blood.

A tender heart who loathes the vast nothingness and blackness;
All that remains of a vanished luminous collection!
The sun is itself drowned in its congealed blood...
Thy remembrance gleams in me like a monstrance.

--Charles Beaudelaire (who turned in his grave at hearing this translation!)

[rachfan]

Question 6:  The answer is syphilis.

[Helen]

lol rachfan...amee has already answered number 6 in her earlier post.

[rachfan]

Question 5:

The answer is  E. T. W. Hoffmann, 1776-1822.  In the case of Offenbach, there were the "Tales of Hoffmann", Schumann, "Kreisleriana", and Schubert, possibly "Die Shone Mullerin".

[amee]

Question 2:

I think Rappo was Liszt's dog, while Madame Esmeralda was his cat.  Not sure though!

[rachfan]

That she did.  

Of course, amee got on this thread at 6:56, and I didn't arrive until 10:32.  So I did OK considering.  But amee did beat me fair and square.

Congrats, amee!    

[amee]

RachFan,

I agree, the timing is a problem.  Perhaps instead of posting, we could all IM our answers to Ned, and whoever gets the most correct out of all the questions wins the round?  That way everyone has a fair chance instead of first-here-first-serve kind of thing, and will not be limited by only being able to answer questions that others have not answered.

Hehe does anyone know what I mean?

In the meantime, I feel I always learn a lot from you RachFan, and I'd like to thank you for your helpful and knowledgable contributions to this Forum.  They are really inspiring!

And of course, a big thank you to Ned, the awesome coordinator of this Trivia!

[rachfan]

Ned is a formidable quiz master.  I still think amee should win.  I could not have figured out that dog and cat answer in a million years.  Some of these questions are really tough!

[ned]

Thanks for being such enthusiastic competitors!!!  But before you do more high-fives,  please note that there are still two questions that remain unanswered:

1. Chopin's address when he died.
2. The Tchaikovsky piece inspired by a work of ETA Hoffmann.

[ayahav]

E.T.A. Hoffmann also wrote the story "the Nutcracker", after which Tschaikowski composed a ballet...

[rachfan]

OK, OK.  On Chopin's place of death, how about an apartment in the Place Vendome?  

[ned]

RachFan: Yes, it is the Place Vendome. The house number, please. There is in fact a plaque on the outside wall.

[rachfan]

Ay!  What about No. 12?    :-/

[amee]

"The Place Vendôme (originally Place Louis-le-Grand) receives its name from one of the mansions built on the square in 1603 for the Duc de Vendôme, son of Henri IV. Many famous Parisians occupied mansions on the square, including Louis Napoléon and Chopin who died in No. 12 in 1849."

Congrats, RachFan!  No. 12 it is!

[ned]

Great! All questions in this round have now been correctly answered.
Love,
Rappo

[rachfan]

OK, so now we can high-5!  

[amee]

*high 5* and a job well done to everyone!