Illinois Open 2021 - Errata

[Auroni]

Point out errors with questions here. Keep the commentary/philosophical discussions of the questions in the Specific Questions thread. If you want to save two seconds navigating to another thread to download the packets, here they are yet again. Do not share these packets with anyone who does not have access to the subforum.

[Sean]

I negged on the Sistine Madonna tossup in round 2 with Lamentation of Christ, mistaking an article I read on Holbein's Dead Christ with Mantegna's painting. Here's an article that references Dostoyevsky standing on a chair to view Holbein's Dead Christ (I think I first read a different article a while back, perhaps something related to one of his novels, but I couldn't find that one): https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/201 ... s-empathy/

I suppose it's possible Dostoyevsky climbed on a chair to view multiple paintings, but Holbein's Dead Christ seems more known for it, from what I can tell.

[naan/steak-holding toll]

I negged on the Sistine Madonna tossup in round 2 with Lamentation of Christ, mistaking an article I read on Holbein's Dead Christ with Mantegna's painting. Here's an article that references Dostoyevsky standing on a chair to view Holbein's Dead Christ (I think I first read a different article a while back, perhaps something related to one of his novels, but I couldn't find that one): https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/201 ... s-empathy/

I suppose it's possible Dostoyevsky climbed on a chair to view multiple paintings, but Holbein's Dead Christ seems more known for it, from what I can tell.

I almost made this neg as well, but figured that clue wouldn't be first line in a tossup on Holbein's Dead Christ because it's so famous / there were some details that didn't quite match Dead Christ. I still think it'd be advisable to put an explicit exclusionary clue i.e. "it doesn't show a dead Jesus" or something.

[machgielis]

19. In one opera, a character declares her attempt to stop a beheading by seducing a character with this title in the aria “Non disperar chi sa?” Antonio Vivaldi’s first opera centers around a character with this title “in villa,” and describes that character’s attempts to woo the flirtatious Cleonilla. A character with this title confronts Curio in the aria “Va tacito e nascosto.” In an aria from an opera about a character with this title, a call and response between a soprano and a (*) basset horn occurs as a character considers confessing to an act of arson in the aria “Non piu di fiori.” Vitellia tries to plot the murder of a character with this title, but ends up asking her lover Sesto to burn down a Capitol building. For 10 points, name this title held by the protagonists of Ottone in Villa, La Clemenza di Tito, and Giulio Cesare in Egitto.
ANSWER: Roman emperors [or emperor of the Roman Empire; or Imperator; or Augustus; or Caesar; prompt on emperor alone]
<JW, Opera, 2>

The protagonist of Giulio Cesare never reigned as a Roman "emperor," was not called Augustus, and did not use Caesar as a title (it was simply part of his name). Imperator is correct, but it would be extremely pedantic to make it the primary answerline. Although there exist other titles that all the men held (pontifex maximus, probably consul too), no one would give them after identifying Otho or Titus.

[Iain.Carpenter]

19. In one opera, a character declares her attempt to stop a beheading by seducing a character with this title in the aria “Non disperar chi sa?” Antonio Vivaldi’s first opera centers around a character with this title “in villa,” and describes that character’s attempts to woo the flirtatious Cleonilla. A character with this title confronts Curio in the aria “Va tacito e nascosto.” In an aria from an opera about a character with this title, a call and response between a soprano and a (*) basset horn occurs as a character considers confessing to an act of arson in the aria “Non piu di fiori.” Vitellia tries to plot the murder of a character with this title, but ends up asking her lover Sesto to burn down a Capitol building. For 10 points, name this title held by the protagonists of Ottone in Villa, La Clemenza di Tito, and Giulio Cesare in Egitto.
ANSWER: Roman emperors [or emperor of the Roman Empire; or Imperator; or Augustus; or Caesar; prompt on emperor alone]
<JW, Opera, 2>

The protagonist of Giulio Cesare never reigned as a Roman "emperor," was not called Augustus, and did not use Caesar as a title (it was simply part of his name). Imperator is correct, but it would be extremely pedantic to make it the primary answerline. Although there exist other titles that all the men held (pontifex maximus, probably consul too), no one would give them after identifying Otho or Titus.

While I acknowledge that Julius Caesar was never a Roman emperor, in the opera the libretto repeatedly refers to him as emperor.

c.f. these quotes from the recitative in the final scene:

NIRENUS
(to Caesar)
Curius is he victor her, Egypt is yours;
in these shores by the sea
all acclaim Caesar
as lord of the world and Roman emperor.

[...]

CAESAR
Most lovely Cleopatra, that diadem
which you see awaits you:
with it I deck your hair.
As Queen of Egypt you will give order
to the people and law to the throne.

CLEOPATRA
Caesar, this kingdom is your gift alone;
as a tributary queen
I will revere the Emperor of Rome.

As such, I will be leaving the primary answerline as Roman emperor, and will add an editor's note explaining this decision. Additionally, I added "accept descriptions like Leader of Rome" to the answerline.

[machgielis]

19. In one opera, a character declares her attempt to stop a beheading by seducing a character with this title in the aria “Non disperar chi sa?” Antonio Vivaldi’s first opera centers around a character with this title “in villa,” and describes that character’s attempts to woo the flirtatious Cleonilla. A character with this title confronts Curio in the aria “Va tacito e nascosto.” In an aria from an opera about a character with this title, a call and response between a soprano and a (*) basset horn occurs as a character considers confessing to an act of arson in the aria “Non piu di fiori.” Vitellia tries to plot the murder of a character with this title, but ends up asking her lover Sesto to burn down a Capitol building. For 10 points, name this title held by the protagonists of Ottone in Villa, La Clemenza di Tito, and Giulio Cesare in Egitto.
ANSWER: Roman emperors [or emperor of the Roman Empire; or Imperator; or Augustus; or Caesar; prompt on emperor alone]
<JW, Opera, 2>

The protagonist of Giulio Cesare never reigned as a Roman "emperor," was not called Augustus, and did not use Caesar as a title (it was simply part of his name). Imperator is correct, but it would be extremely pedantic to make it the primary answerline. Although there exist other titles that all the men held (pontifex maximus, probably consul too), no one would give them after identifying Otho or Titus.

While I acknowledge that Julius Caesar was never a Roman emperor, in the opera the libretto repeatedly refers to him as emperor.

c.f. these quotes from the recitative in the final scene:

NIRENUS
(to Caesar)
Curius is he victor her, Egypt is yours;
in these shores by the sea
all acclaim Caesar
as lord of the world and Roman emperor.

[...]

CAESAR
Most lovely Cleopatra, that diadem
which you see awaits you:
with it I deck your hair.
As Queen of Egypt you will give order
to the people and law to the throne.

CLEOPATRA
Caesar, this kingdom is your gift alone;
as a tributary queen
I will revere the Emperor of Rome.

As such, I will be leaving the primary answerline as Roman emperor, and will add an editor's note explaining this decision. Additionally, I added "accept descriptions like Leader of Rome" to the answerline.

This is a translation and, in principle, could refer to Giulio as anything. The Italian libretto (I looked at the one available here, but you'd really want to look at a print copy from the period to say something truly authoritative) repeatedly (twice) refers to Giulio as "imperator." Now, I'd prefer to have someone who's studied Italian in the baroque look at this, but let's just go with what Italian Wikipedia says. "Imperator," unsurprisingly, seems to mean imperator, a rather common title for someone who had the power to issue orders in Rome. Emperor, on the other hand, would be "imperatore."

More important than all this pedantry is that the question punishes you for having accurate historical knowledge. If you recognized that first clue as Giulio Cesare, you could become extremely confused as to what title the question wants (because Caesar was notably both consul and dictator, and, at least to me, his rule is defined more by charismatic authority than formal powers) and not buzz at all. If you knew that the first clue was about Giulio Cesare and waited until hearing a clue about Ottone, you might become even more confused! At the same time, anyone could just hear "Vitellia," think "hmm that's a Roman name, what's a Roman title... emperor!" and get it right.

[The King's Flight to the Scots]

Here are my two cents, I suppose: it is misleading to write a question with clues about Julius Caesar and ask just for the answer "Roman emperors." But it's not entirely wrong; I believe writers under the Roman empire usually listed him as the first emperor rather than Augustus. Although Augustus did formalize and consolidate the imperial arrangement, he was still legally just "first citizen" (among other titles). His power came from the same place as Julius Caesar's did, i.e. the support of the military. The same holds for the other Julio-Claudians.

That said, in modern sources we generally don't talk about Caesar as an emperor, so it's probably a bad idea to write the common link that way.

[Auroni]

For the sake of clarity and lack of confusion, the tossup has been edited since the MIT mirror to replace every clue pertaining to Giulio Cesare.

[henrygoff]

The Four Horsemen tossup in packet 7 mentions that Keats wrote about negative capability; the very next packet includes a bonus part that partly asks for who wrote about negative capability. These questions should switch packets. Additionally, the Look Back in Anger tossup incorrectly refers to Colonel Redfern and Jimmy Porter as "Colonel Redburn" and "Jack Porter," respectively.