Madrid Pub Quiz

Copyleft: feel free to use these questions in your quizzes. This is not a game, there’s no scoring, and questions are provided as a service only. Some answers are a little lengthy as players requested clarification. “NEW” means less than a month old. Spanish flags denote Spanish-based questions.

Music

102 questions in this category

Why did Toscanini put down his baton and walk out in the middle of act Ⅲ during the premiere of Puccini’s Turandot at La Scala in 1926?
Because Puccini had died leaving it unfinished: “Qui finisce l’opera, perché a questo punto il maestro è morto”.
Which three tenors formed the Three Tenors?
José Carreras, Plácido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti
What was the title of the Eurythmics only number one hit in the UK?
‘There Must Be an Angel (Playing with My Heart)’. ‘Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)’ only made it to number 2 in the UK although it achieved #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States
With thanks to Mr Lucky for fine tuning the question
In Shanghai in 2000, the biggest ovation was when a soldier “swept a trail of road apples” behind an elephant, camels, horses… which opera was it?
Aida, by Giuseppe Verdi.
Who composed the symphonic sketches known as ‘La Mer’?
Claude Debussy
With thanks to Mike Mooney from Leeds for correcting this question
Which chant, traditionally performed before certain sports events, starts with the following words (in its own language):
“It is death, it is death, it is life, it is life (bis) - This is the hairy man - Who brought the sun and caused it to shine”
The Ka Mate, the traditional Haka performed by the All Blacks
With thanks to Lynda Finn in New Zeland for fine tuning the question
Who wrote the song ‘White Christmas’ (made famous by Bing Crosby)?
Irving Berlin
Who recorded the 70s disco song ‘You’re My First, My Last, My Everything’?
Barry White
A cappella is vocal music without instrumental accompaniment, but what does it mean?
As in chapel or in church
With thanks to Anthony Anchors for fine tuning the answer
Who skipped the light fandango with sixteen vestal virgins?
Procol Harum in a Whiter Shade of Pale
U2 is the best selling music act from Ireland but who is the most successful (in terms of record sales) individual performer (2011)?
Enya (Eithne Ní Bhraonáin)
Who was the lead singer of the band Them in the 1960s and has had a very successful solo career ever since?
Van Morrison
What kind of musical instrument is a bodhrán?
A frame drum
Which band started life as ‘Feedback’ and then became ‘The Hype’ before settling on their current name?
U2
Who had a chart hit in 1981 with Vienna?
Ultravox
What are bow strings made of?
Horse tail hairs
Which group backed Martha Reeves?
The Vandellas
Who sang ‘Walk on the Wild Side’ in 1973?
Lou Reed
How many strings has a balalaika?
Three or sometimes three pairs
In which Puccini opera do friends ply their landlord with drinks to avoid paying the rent?
La Bohème
Who holds a trumpet on the Sgt. Pepper album?
Ringo
Who had a 1993 album called ‘Diva’?
Annie Lennox
This is a Spanish-based question What is the name of the musical based on the group ‘Mecano’?
Hoy no me puedo levantar
Who is Vincent Furnier better know as?
Alice Cooper
Which musical instrument did Karen Carpenter play?
Drums
Percussionists have strange demands made of them by composers – to operate tape recordings of nightingales or to bash Rolls Royce springs, for example. In ‘The Rite of Spring’ a percussionist must drop a tambourine absolutely flat on the floor, so it does not roll. Which composer made this unreasonable demand?
Igor Stravinsky (17 June [O.S. 5 June] 1882 – 6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship.
This is a Spanish-based question A distinguished Spanish classical guitarrist, who played an unusual instrument with several extra strings, died recently. What was his name?
Narciso Yepes
Against the advice of her friends, Carmen (in Bizet’s opera) leaves the bullring to see Don José outside. What is the result of the meeting?
He kills her
Chuck Berry wrote the first song that The Rolling Stones recorded. Which was it?
Come On, in 1963
Elvis Presley had a hit with a Carl Perkins song. Which one?
Blue Suede Shoes
Haydn’s catalogue contains 104 symphonies, Mozart’s 41. How many did Beethoven and Schubert write each? (They wrote the same number.)
Nine
How many hours from Tulsa was Gene Pitney in 1963?
24
If a violinist broke her G-string, she would have three strings left. Name the note to which any of them is tuned.
E (mi ) A (la) D (re)
In which opera do you find Lieutenant Pinkerton?
Madame Butterfly, by Giacomo Puccini
On which LP cover can we read the words: ‘Welcome the Rolling Stones’? (Snow White is also on the cover)
Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
The Beatles had several earlier names. Which wasn’t one of them: ‘The Quarrymen’, ‘Johnny and the Moondogs’, ‘The Silver Beatles’, ‘Rory Storme and the Hurricanes’?
Rory Storme & the Hurricanes. It was Ringo’s band before joining.
The Hard Rock Café is named after one side of an album by which band?
The Doors
With thanks to John Polias for correcting this question
The Who had an entry in the Guinness Book of Records. What for?
The loudest band, in London on May 31 1976, 120 decibels at 50 yards
What comes out of the little tap that drains a French horn (and other brass instruments)?
Water, the result of condensation (not spit or saliva)
What does the Bee Gees name mean?
Bill Gates and Bill Goode (Racetrack promoter Bill Goode saw them perform at Brisbane’s Speedway Circuit and introduced them to Bill Gates who renamed them after his and Goode’s initials)
What is a Gopak?
A lively two beat time Russian or Ukrainian dance
What is a Hurdy-Gurdy?
A pear shaped fiddle having strings that are sounded by the friction of a rosined wheel on the strings which are stopped by keys
What is Eric Clapton’s nickname?
Slowhand
This is a Spanish-based question What is the name of Beethoven’s only opera, set in Spain?
Fidelio
What is the nickname of Haydn’s Symphony no. 101 in D major?
The Clock Symphony
What is the smallest size of a grand piano?
A baby grand
What runs for 2,200 miles from Michigan Avenue in Chicago to Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica, California?
Route 66. Formally U.S. Route 66 or U.S. Highway 66 (US 66 or Route 66), also known as the Will Rogers Highway, the Main Street of America or the Mother Road.
What was Sting before he became a rock star?
A teacher
Where does ‘Tristan and Isolde’ take place?
Cornwall
With thanks to Brian Holt for correcting this question
Who are Moon Unit, Diva, Dweezil, and Ahmet Rodan?
Frank Zappa’s children
Who is Declan Patrick McManus better known as?
Elvis Costello
Who is Steveland Morris better known as?
Stevie Wonder
Who was Janis Joplin referring to when she said “I can’t go out the same year because he’s a bigger star”?
Jimi Hendrix
Which recording company was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. in 1960?
Motown
Who was Derek in ‘Derek and the Dominoes’?
Eric Clapton
“They say the neon lights are bright”. Where according to the song?
On Broadway
Pete Best and Stuart Sutcliffe played with which band?
The Beatles
Who has an album called 461 Ocean Boulevard?
Eric Clapton
‘The Ballad of Mackie Messer’ is the opening and closing lament of The Threepenny Opera (Die Dreigroschenoper) by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill. By what name is it popular in versions by Louis Armstrong, Bobby Darin and others?
Mack the Knife
‘The Ballad of John and Yoko’ was the 17th and last number one hit for the Beatles in the UK and it mentions getting married in a place ‘near Spain’. Where did John Lennon and Yoko Ono get married?
Gibraltar on 20 March 1969. The song was banned in Spain for a time.
Who wrote hits such as ‘Me and Bobby McGee’, ‘Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down’, and ‘Help Me Make It Through the Night’?
Kris Kristofferson
Tom Tom Club was formed by two members of which famous band?
Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz of Talking Heads
Who had their first major hit in 1965 with “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling”?
The Righteous Brothers
The name of which musical instrument derives its name from the Greek for ‘wood’ and ‘voice’ meaning ‘wooden sound’?
Xylophone (from the words ξύλον – xylon – ‘wood’ and φωνή – phōnē – ‘sound, voice’ literally meaning ‘sound of wood’.)
Which British singer sang at JFK’s inaugural ball and the 2007 Glastonbury Festival, and is the only person so far to have sung the theme song on more than one James Bond film (3 times)?
Shirley Bassey (sang on Goldfinger, Diamonds Are Forever, and Moonraker)
Which song tells the story of an itinerant worker making tea at a bush camp and taking a sheep to eat? When the sheep’s owner arrives with three policemen, he drowns himself in the watering hole and goes on to haunt the site.
Waltzing Matilda
Who created the ‘Wall of Sound’ music production technique in the 1960s?
Phil Spector
Whose band was called the Tijuana Brass?
Herb Alpert
What was Elvis Presley’s main backup group called?
The Jordanaires
Which was the first posthumous US pop chart no. 1?
‘(Sittin’ on) the Dock of the Bay’ by Otis Redding, recorded three days before his death on December 10th, 1967 and released in January 1968
This is a Spanish-based question Only two Spanish acts have ever reached no. 1 on the US Hot 100. Who?
Los del Rio (Macarena in 1996) and Enrique Iglesias (Bailamos in 1999 and Be With You in 2000)
‘Strumming my pain with his fingers, singing my life with his words’ is the first line of which song?
Killing Me Softly With His Song
What is Paul McCartney’s middle name?
Paul, his first name is James
Which song by whom? “Our galaxy itself contains a hundred billion stars, it’s a hundred thousand light years side to side. It bulges in the middle, sixteen thousand light years thick, but out by us it’s just three thousand light years wide. We’re thirty thousand light years from galactic central point, we go ‘round every two hundred million years. And our galaxy is only one of millions of billions, in this amazing and expanding universe.”
‘The Universe Song’ by Monty Python in ‘The Meaning of Life’.
Which musical opens with the song ‘Food Glorious Food’?
Oliver!
The first line of this song refers to whom? “The most interesting thing about King … is that he was five foot six inches tall at the start of his reign, but only four foot eight inches tall at the end of it”
Charles the First, from ‘Oliver Cromwell’ by Monty Python
How was the 18th Century singer Carlo Maria Broschi better known?
Farinelli
In which two operas does the character ‘Figaro’ appear?
‘The Barber of Seville’ and ‘The Marriage of Figaro’.
What is an Opera Buffa?
A comic opera
Who was Cho-Cho San?
Madame Butterfly
Who were the comedians and the rock group associated with ‘A Night at the Opera’?
The Marx Brothers and Queen
What is known as a Dudelsack or Doedelzak in Germany and the Netherlands, a Biniou or Musette de cour in France, a Zampogna in Italy, or Sackpfeiffe in Switzerland?
Bagpipes
What’s the name of the wind instrument considered to be the national instrument of the Aboriginal people of Australia? It is a hollow tube between 1 and 3 metres long, technically an aerophone.
Didgeridoo (or yirdaki)
What is the name of the hole or holes in a guitar or other string instrument?
Sound hole
Which two singers were killed in a light plane crash in Clear Lake, Iowa, on February 3rd, 1959, together with the Big Bopper and the pilot?
Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens
Bruce Springsteen won an Oscar for which song?
Streets of Philadelphia
Who did Jackie Paper love?
‘Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea and frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lei. Little Jackie Paper loved that rascal Puff and brought him strings and sealing wax and other fancy stuff’.
Which songs open with the line “are you ready Steve, uhuh, Andy, yeah, Mick, ok all right fellers let’s gooooooooooooooooooooooo”?
Ballroom Blitz (by Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman and originally performed by Sweet)
In Bizet’s ‘Carmen’, what is the profession of Escamillo?
Bullfighter
Which style of music was created in the late fifties by Antônio Carlos Jobim and João Gilberto in Brazil?
Bossa Nova
On which record label was The Beatles ‘Hey Jude‘ released?
Apple
Which British singer has the middle name Hercules?
Elton Hercules John
Which jazz trumpeter was nicknamed Satchmo?
Louis Armstrong
What is Bono’s (of U2) real name?
Paul Hewson
This is a Spanish-based question Which Spanish pop star composed the music for the Madrid bid to host the 2012 Olympic Games?
Nacho Cano
The Beatles’ ‘Penny Lane’ was on one side of a Double-A. What was on the other side?
Strawberry Fields Forever
Who recorded the 1970 album ‘Abraxas’?
Santana
Who wrote the opera Turandot?
Puccini
Which band did Ronnie Wood leave to join the Rolling Stones?
The Faces
This is a Spanish-based question Who recorded ‘No es lo mismo’, the best-selling Spanish album in 2003?
Alejandro Sanz
Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash and Roy Orbison all joined Elvis at which recording label in the 50s?
Sun Records
Who composed ‘Die Fledermaus’ (The Bat)?
Johann Strauss