Benjamin Britten Quiz Questions and Answers
Q1. In which year was Benjamin Britten born?
A. 1900
B. 1913
C. 1925
D. 1930
Answer: B. 1913
Q2. What is the full name of Benjamin Britten?
A. Benjamin Edward Britten
B. Benjamin James Britten
C. Edward Benjamin Britten
D. James Edward Britten
Answer: C. Edward Benjamin Britten
Q3. Which instrument was Britten primarily known for playing?
A. Violin
B. Piano
C. Clarinet
D. Cello
Answer: B. Piano
Q4. Which of Britten’s operas is based on a novella by Herman Melville?
A. Peter Grimes
B. The Turn of the Screw
C. Billy Budd
D. A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Answer: C. Billy Budd
Q5. In which English county was Britten born and later established a famous music festival?
A. Suffolk
B. Sussex
C. Norfolk
D. Kent
Answer: A. Suffolk
Q6. What is the name of the music festival Britten co-founded with Peter Pears in 1948?
A. Glyndebourne Festival
B. Aldeburgh Festival
C. Edinburgh Festival
D. Proms Festival
Answer: B. Aldeburgh Festival
Q7. Which of Britten’s works is a set of orchestral variations inspired by a work written by him?
A. Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge
B. The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra
C. Sinfonia da Requiem
D. War Requiem
Answer: A. Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge
Q8. Who was Britten’s lifelong partner and a frequent collaborator in his musical works?
A. John Ireland
B. Peter Pears
C. Ralph Vaughan Williams
D. Imogen Holst
Answer: B. Peter Pears
Q9. Which of Britten’s operas premiered at the Sadler’s Wells Theatre in 1945?
A. Peter Grimes
B. The Rape of Lucretia
C. Albert Herring
D. Gloriana
Answer: A. Peter Grimes
Q10. What is the subtitle of Britten’s ‘The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra’?
A. Orchestral Suite No. 1
B. Symphony for Young Musicians
C. Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Purcell
D. Introduction to Classical Music
Answer: C. Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Purcell
Q11. Which Britten opera is based on a short story by Henry James?
A. Owen Wingrave
B. The Turn of the Screw
C. Death in Venice
D. Curlew River
Answer: B. The Turn of the Screw
Q12. For which monarch’s coronation was Britten’s opera ‘Gloriana’ composed?
A. Queen Elizabeth II
B. King George VI
C. King Edward VIII
D. Queen Victoria
Answer: A. Queen Elizabeth II
Q13. Which of Britten’s works is a large-scale choral and orchestral piece commemorating the fallen of World War II?
A. Sinfonia da Requiem
B. War Requiem
C. Spring Symphony
D. Cantata Academica
Answer: B. War Requiem
Q14. Which poet’s texts did Britten frequently set to music in his song cycles?
A. T.S. Eliot
B. John Keats
C. W.H. Auden
D. William Wordsworth
Answer: C. W.H. Auden
Q15. What is the name of Britten’s chamber opera premiered in 1946, based on a Greek myth?
A. The Rape of Lucretia
B. Dido and Aeneas
C. Orpheus and Eurydice
D. Ariadne auf Naxos
Answer: A. The Rape of Lucretia
Q16. Which of Britten’s operas is a comedic work set in a small English village?
A. Paul Bunyan
B. The Little Sweep
C. Albert Herring
D. Noyes Fludde
Answer: C. Albert Herring
Q17. Which composer was a significant early influence on Britten’s musical style?
A. Gustav Mahler
B. Frank Bridge
C. Igor Stravinsky
D. Arnold Schoenberg
Answer: B. Frank Bridge
Q18. What is the name of Britten’s opera based on Thomas Mann’s novella, premiered in 1973?
A. Death in Venice
B. Owen Wingrave
C. The Burning Fiery Furnace
D. The Prodigal Son
Answer: A. Death in Venice
Q19. Which of Britten’s works is a series of church parables, including ‘Curlew River’?
A. The Sacred Cantatas
B. The Parables for Church Performance
C. The Liturgical Dramas
D. The Passion Plays
Answer: B. The Parables for Church Performance
Q20. Which Shakespeare play did Britten adapt into an opera in 1960?
A. The Tempest
B. Macbeth
C. A Midsummer Night’s Dream
D. Romeo and Juliet
Answer: C. A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Q21. In which city did Britten spend time during the 1930s, collaborating with W.H. Auden?
A. Paris
B. New York
C. London
D. Vienna
Answer: B. New York
Q22. What is the name of Britten’s operetta written for children, premiered in 1949?
A. The Little Sweep
B. Noyes Fludde
C. The Golden Vanity
D. The Children’s Crusade
Answer: A. The Little Sweep
Q23. Which of Britten’s operas was written for television broadcast in 1971?
A. The Turn of the Screw
B. Owen Wingrave
C. Billy Budd
D. Death in Venice
Answer: B. Owen Wingrave
Q24. Which folk song tradition heavily influenced Britten’s compositional style?
A. American folk songs
B. Irish folk songs
C. English folk songs
D. Scottish folk songs
Answer: C. English folk songs
Q25. Which of Britten’s works is a setting of poems by Arthur Rimbaud?
A. Les Illuminations
B. Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings
C. Nocturne
D. On This Island
Answer: A. Les Illuminations