Mr. Yaphe wrote: "Trends come and go, like deep interest in opera (which is being displaced by symphonic music of the 19th and 20th centuries at the moment). . . ." ==== Having spent this weekend going over questions from ACF Nationals, and having seen the sorts of questions that arose at NAQT Nationals, and a number of other recent tournaments, I'd have to say that not only is symphonic music not on the ascendant, but opera is entrenching itself even more than before. At the ICT, virtually all of the "classical" music questions were based on operas (I only recall three tossups and two bonuses not based on operas in the whole tournament). Similarly, in most of the ACF Nationals packets, besides good questions on Grieg and Respighi, most of the music questions were of the "identify the [usually obscure] opera from [more obscure] clues" type. While admittedly there are a lot more questions that can be asked about operas than there can about non-operatic music, there is a lot more classical music beyond "name the opera" and "name the opera composer." At a certain point, questions on opera devolve into nothing more than literature questions. [In fact, I wouldn't mind, personally, to see plot-based opera questions included in the "literature" or "drama" component of a distribution, rather than the "music" distribution.] </soapbox> --AEI [P.S. On another note, I'd caution against using "given characters, identify the opera" based on Shakespeare plays. Most of the plays have been set more than once, and as a result, unless one is careful, one cannot specify a unique answer. For example, the "Falstaff" question probably had at least two other acceptable answers.]
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