instruction:
In this task you will be given a text passage from a trivia quiz. You should choose the category this question belongs to from these categories: History, Science, Social Science, Fine Arts, Literature. You can only choose one category, so if in doubt, please choose the closest match.
question:
Several of his early works, including such operas as Cleonice, Demofoonte, and Artaserse, were written with librettist Pietro Metastasio. He had begun composing an opera based on the Song of Roland, but the discovery that Niccolo Piccini was given the same libretto to work on sparked a rivalry in the Parisian press and motivated him to compose Armide. Collaboration with the librettist Calzabigi resulted in the composition of the ballets Semiramide and Don Juan, as well as an opera featuring the "Dance of the Blessed Spirits" and another in whose preface he declared his intent to "restrict music to its true office of serving poetry. " FTP, identify this German classical composer of "reform" operas such as Alceste and Orfeo et Euridice.
answer:
Fine Arts


question:
In 1997 Edwin Hall wrote a book about this work which discussed the inclusion of St. Margaret emerging from the belly of a dragon, which can be seen carved above the back of a chair, to argue that Erwin Panofsky's influential interpretations are too simplistic. Commissioned by its subject, a counselor to the Duke of Burgundy who made his money as a silk merchant, the year and the artist's signature can be seen above the mirror whose reflection depicts the artist himself. That artist would go on to paint other famous portraits like The Madonna with the Chancellor Rolin. Filled with details like a lit candle, a little dog, and a pair of discarded clogs, FTP, identify this work that depicts a man dressed in dark heavy wool and a big hat holding the hand of his betrothed, a painting by Jan van Eyck.
answer:
Fine Arts


question:
One ruler of this polity diluted his power by placing his brother Pacorus in control of a region of Atropatene and attempted to the found the anti-Greek town of Vologesias. An earlier king of this empire may have partially ruled with his son, also named Pacorus, and killed his father before the latter could respond to the occupation of Orsoene and Gordyene. That king, Orodes II, also put to death, the victorious general in a battle over Gaius Cassius Longinus and others. Its first capital was likely centered at Dara, and this polity's rule was ended by Ardashir I. Before that, one king of this polity defeated Artavases of Armenia but was himself defeated by the Scythians; that man was Mithridates the Great. Defeating Marcus Licinius Crassus at the battle of Carrhae, for 10 points, name this Mesopotamian empire, a rival of Rome.
answer:

History