Music Trivia Questions and Answers With Topics: Capitol Records, Madame Butterfly, Bill Haley and the Comets, Pearl Jam, Chet Atkins, Dizzy Gillespie, Irving Berlin's "White Christmas", and More!

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Free music trivia questions and answers including Capital Records, Bill Haley, Dizzy Gillespie, Pearl Jam, Glenn Miller and more.

Music trivia questions and answers.

Who invented the saxophone?
A: Adolphe Sax--he patented it in 1846.

What is Fats Domino's real first name?
A: Antoine.

What famous opera was inspired by a short story written in 1898 by Philadelphia lawyer John Luther Long?
A: Madame Butterfly, by Puccini.

What record album was the first ever to be taken directly from a film's musical soundtrack?
A: Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, in 1937.

What sticker message did Capitol Records added to a recording of Delibes' opera Lakme in 1988 in a bid to boost sales among buyers not ordinarily interested in classical music?
A: "Includes the Flower Duet from the British Airways TV commercial."

Who wrote Yale's "Bulldog" song?
A: Cole Porter, in 1911, when he was a student there.

How many of the 107 musicians in the new York Philharmonic Orchestra play second violin?
A: 16.

What singer--called Clara Ann Fowler at birth-- adopted the name of the milk company that sponsored her first radio show?
A: Patti Page.  The company was the Page Milk Company of Tulsa, Oklahoma.

What recipe is recited in the play Cyrano de Bergerac?
A: The recipe for tart almandine--it's recited by Ragueneau.

Which of U2's songs is a tribute to Martin Luther King Jr.?
A: Pride (In the Name Love).

What is the only sound heard on the record The Best of Marcel Marceau?
A: Clapping, after 40 minutes of silence.

What popular band is named for a hallucinogenic treat made by a member's grandmother?
A: Pearl Jam.  It's named for lead singer Eddie Vedder's grandmother Pearl and the hallucinogenic preserves she made from peyote.

What led jazz great Dizzy Gillespie to redesign his trumpet so it had an upturned bell?
A: He liked the slightly muted sound of his trumpet after comic James "Stump" Cross fell on it, bending the bell to a 45 degree angle.  After the accident, Gillespie had his trumpet custom made--with an upturned bell.

What stringed instrument was the first to have a keyboard?
A: The clavichord, which was developed around 1400.

When he was six years old, what did country singer Chet Atkins use to string his first musical instrument--an old, discarded ukulele?
A: Wire from a screen door.

What was American rock star Eddie Money's surname at birth?
A: Mahoney. He changed it in hopes the name Money would bring him fame and fortune.

Who was the first person ever awarded a gold record?
A: Glenn Miller, for "Chattanooga Choo-Choo.

Bing Crosby's recording of Irving Berlin's "White Christmas" is the best-selling pop record of all time. What rock 'n' roll single is in second place?
A: "Rock Around the Clock," by Bill Haley and the Comets. The 1954 hit has sold 25 million copies to Crosby's 170 million plus.

What instrument did "King of Jazz" orchestra leader Paul Whiteman play when he launched his musical career with the Denver Symphony?
A: The viola.