It’s Wednesday, my friends! Here’s today’s Final Jeopardy (in the category Classical Composers) for Wednesday, May 26, 2021 (Season 37, Game 173):
Monsieur Crescendo & Signor Vaccarmini (“Mr. Racket”) were derisive nicknames for this composer whose last opera dates from 1829
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s contestants:
Nibir Sarma, a junior at the University of Minnesota from Eden Prairie, Minnesota
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Jason Zuffranieri, a math teacher from Albuquerque, New Mexico
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Jennifer Quail, a wine tasting consultant from Dowagiac, Michigan
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Andy’s Pregame Thoughts: Who will join Sam and Veronica in the finals? The prediction model thinks Jennifer has the best chance; if she does win, it will be the first final with two women since 1993. Jason and Nibir are both more than capable of pulling off a victory if things break the right way for them, though. Jason will need to bounce back after a very rough quarterfinal; that being said, Austin Rogers had a similar quarterfinal performance in 2017 and Austin won his semifinal.
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(Content continues below)
Correct response: Who is Gioachino Rossini?
More information about Final Jeopardy: (The following write-up is original content and is copyright 2021 The Jeopardy! Fan. It may not be copied without linked attribution back to this page.)
Even though he lived until 1868, Rossini stopped composing operas after the premiere of 1829’s William Tell. Speculation continues nearly two centuries later as to why; there may be a number of reasons, including ill health, changing political times (Rossini had to sue to regain his French pension following the July Revolution in 1830 and the overthrow of Charles X), and a possible burnout—Rossini told Wagner in 1860 that he’d been exhausted and then he, less than thrilled about changing singers and singing, “judged that I had something better to do, which was to keep silent.” Rossini returned to music in the 1850s in Paris, hosting Saturday evening musical gatherings.
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Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Tonight’s results are below!
Scores going into Final:
Jennifer $15,000
Jason $13,400
Nibir $2,800
Tonight’s results:
Nibir $2,800 – $2,799 = $1 (Who is Verdi?)
Jason $13,400 + $7,000 = $20,400 (Who is Rossini?)
Jennifer $15,000 + $14,999 = $29,999 (Who is Rossinni?) (Finalist)
Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
Jason $4,800
Jennifer $4,200
Nibir $3,400
Opening break taken after: 15 clues
Daily Double locations:
1) YOUNG PEOPLE’S LITERATURE $400 (clue #7)
Jennifer -200 +1000 (Jason 1800 Nibir 200)
2) U.K. PLACES $1200 (clue #7)
Nibir 3000 -3000 (Jennifer 5400 Jason 11600)
3) THE ANCIENTS SPEAK $1600 (clue #21, $4800 left on board)
Jason 16800 -5000 (Jennifer 14200 Nibir 2000)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: -30
Unplayed clues:
J! Round: None!
DJ! Round: None!
Total Left On Board: $0
Number of clues left unrevealed this season: 188 (1.09 per episode average), 2 Daily Doubles
Game Stats:
Jennifer $14,400 Coryat, 19 correct, 2 incorrect, 29.82% in first on buzzer (17/57), 3/3 on rebound attempts (on 8 rebound opportunities)
Jason $18,400 Coryat, 23 correct, 4 incorrect, 36.84% in first on buzzer (21/57), 4/5 on rebound attempts (on 8 rebound opportunities)
Nibir $5,800 Coryat, 11 correct, 7 incorrect, 28.07% in first on buzzer (16/57), 1/1 on rebound attempts (on 4 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $38,600
Lach Trash: $3,200 (on 5 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $12,200
Jennifer Quail, career statistics:
298 correct, 30 incorrect
19/23 on rebound attempts (on 49 rebound opportunities)
44.91% in first on buzzer (278/619)
16/16 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $32,100)
10/11 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $20,564
Jason Zuffranieri, career statistics:
617 correct, 49 incorrect
41/45 on rebound attempts (on 85 rebound opportunities)
46.18% in first on buzzer (556/1204)
34/43 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $96,305)
13/22 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $23,455
Nibir Sarma, career statistics:
124 correct, 28 incorrect
4/4 on rebound attempts (on 18 rebound opportunities)
38.76% in first on buzzer (131/338)
7/11 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $21,895)
2/6 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $14,933
Andy’s Thoughts
- Thanks to Jay Johnson for his assistance with today’s game, after Houston was partly pre-empted.
Contestant photo credit: jeopardy.com
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Although I like to think I know more about opera than the average American — which isn’t saying a whole lot — I could not come up with an answer in thirty seconds. Like most of the FJ clues in the tournament it’s one that, even if you don’t know the answer, you could be expected to work out. From the Italian nickname the composer is most likely Italian, and 1829 is too early for Verdi or Puccini. That pretty much leaves Bellini, Donizetti, and Rossini. Bellini died young and Donizetti wasn’t all that controversial, so that leaves Rossini as the likely answer. This FJ could very well determine the winner. No predictions today.
I went with Verdi because my knowledge of opera is not well enough to know that 1829 was too early.
Gregory…I too finally got it but not even close to the 30 second window. As a lifelong musician (primary trumpet), I have some decent opera knowledge but Rossini was a logical guess. I’m guessing only one correct answer tonight.
You were correct, if we penalize Jennifer for spelling 🙂 I had forgotten that Rossini worked primarily in Paris, so the nickname Monsieur Crescendo was also significant. Rossini later turned to writing about food and cooking, which may have accelerated his demise.
With part of the clue being Mr. Racket, my first thought was The Lone Ranger and then The William Tell Overture. LOL
I heard once that you know if you’re a sophisticate if you can listen to The William Tell Overture and not think of the Lone Ranger.
I remember who said that; it was Captain Stubby with Charles Homer Bill.
So we have Sam, Veronica, and Jennifer. This should be a fantastic finale.
Congrats to Jennifer, Sam and Veronica for making Finals! No clear favorite as I see, since Sam and Veronica are playing so well, though Jennifer deserves to be at least a slight favorite. In Veronica we have a second consecutive super librarian after Emma did so well in the last TOC. And a rematch after such a close QF between Sam and Veronica – wonder when the last time competitors in the same QF met in the Finals?! Should be a good Finals!
2017 – Alan Lin and Austin Rogers played in the same quarterfinal.
Jason’s daily double wager put him in a place where if he got it right, he still probably wouldn’t have had a lock going into FJ, but getting it wrong almost certainly set him to be second going into FJ. As an armchair quarterback, I say he should’ve wagered low.
I was thinking same thing. 2401 to 2500 was the most likely correct amount. Gives him enough to cover her going into final jeopardy.
If he would have gone low enough to still stay in the lead with a wrong answer, he wins the game. I thought he was going to bet about $2K.
This should be a very competitive final between Sam, Veronica, and Jennifer. My mom listens to a lot of classical music but I could recommend rossini to her. Furthermore, Even though jason got this right as well, He would have had a lock on the game if he bet it all. Verdi didn;t really arrive till later on. As a fan of classical music, this definitely is easy as pie.
“He would have had a lock on the game if he bet it all.”
No?
Buzzy’s outstanding pace moving the game along means there are almost no unplayed clues in games he MCs. I suspect the producers like that.
Andy stated last week that all clues must be played in quarterfinal games in fairness to contestants vying for the four wild card spots. Not sure the same is true of the semifinals and finals. You are right, though, that the best thing about Buzzy is that he keeps the game moving.
It’s also a TOC so you would expect there would be fewer triple stumpers and incorrect answers to slow the game down. That being said Buzzy’s games have been great!
The clash of the titans between Jennifer and Jason became a reality. Jason seemed to be narrowly the best player today; in those cases I think it’s almost best to bet really low on the dd to essentially take it out of play. Anyway, I think Sam is the slight favorite in the finals.
A fun fact for all the trivia nerds out there is that Rossini was born on Leap Day in 1792. I don’t know if this would’ve helped or hurt me in a game; 37 is early to write your last opera but then again, people didn’t live that long back then.
Wish Jason could have won. He should be back for the next all time tourney though if they ever do one.
Did anyone else think of the Surprise Symphony and say Haydn?
Looking forward to a great final — seems evenly matched and “anybody’s ball game.”
One nagging thought — it seems a little unfair that either a 19-match or an 8-match winner would definitely be eliminated before the final. With Jason and Jennifer in the same semi, one was going to be out. It seems as if such superb regular-season play didn’t matter as much as whatever criteria was used to come up with the three semifinal groupings. It would have been great as a fan to have seen a potential final of two 8-game winners and a 19-match winner!
To use a sports analogy, it’s as if the No. 1 seed in the NBA’s Eastern Conference was matched up with the second or third seed instead of the eighth (lowest) seed. Perhaps not a perfect comparison, but it just seems that regular-season play should be taken into account more than it seems to have been this time around on Jeopardy!.
This is such a great TOC after a tough few months without Alex. Each of the champions has been excellent and the games have all been so fun to watch. But, to me, Buzzy is the big winner. He is such a natural in every way – spot on pronunciation despite some incredibly difficult words, fast with his responses to the questions/answers, and very personable as he chats with the contestants and reads the clues. I’m one of many people rooting for him to be named permanent host.