Amahl and the Night Visitors

An oPerAtic HoLiDAY MirAcLe

American equity is the premier presenting Sponsor for Amahl and the Night Visitors menotti’s humble story of a shepherd boy and his mother has become the most performed opera in the world

in 1950 the National broadcasting corporation commissioned italian composer gian-carlo menotti to write an opera for live broadcast on the fledgling new medium of television. on christmas eve of the following year, Amahl and the Night Visitors premiered on Nbc. it was the first opera expressly commissioned for television, and as such it marks an important milestone in operatic history. The 55-minute work is a lyrical interpretation of the christmas legend of the Three Kings and has gone on to become the most frequently performed opera in history.

menotti grew up with the european tradition of the Three Kings bringing gifts to children on epiphany. Various stories and legends, many of them humorous, came to be associated with the Kings who, by the eighth century, had been identified as melchior, balthazar and Kaspar.

“my favorite King,” menotti once wrote, “was King melchior because he was the oldest and had a long white beard. my brother’s favorite was King Kaspar, whom he insisted was a little crazy and quite deaf. i don’t know why he was so sure about his being deaf. i suspect it was because dear King Kaspar never brought him all the gifts he requested.” “To these Three Kings,” menotti continues, “i mainly owe the happy christmas seasons of my childhood and i should have remained very grateful to them. instead i went to America and soon forgot all about them, for here at christmas one sees so many Santa clauses scattered all over town.”

The opera introduces a widowed shepherd woman and her crippled son Amahl who are out of food, wood for the fire, and oil for their lamp, and will have to go begging the next day. Suddenly, the Three Kings, who are following a star to bethlehem, arrive at their cottage needing a place to stay for the night. in the ensuing scenes, the first christmas miracle occurs.

When menotti accepted Nbc’s commission to write a one-hour long opera in english, he found himself uninspired and struggling for ideas. one afternoon while walking gloomily through the rooms of the metropolitan museum of Art in New york, he happened upon a classic painting of the magi (Hieronymous bosch’s “The Adoration of the magi”). The then 40-year-old menotti wrote the story, the libretto (in english), and composed the music.

The original production was staged entirely for television by the composer himself. Amahl and the Night Visitors was the first christmas special to become an annual television tradition. From 1951 until 1966, it was presented on Nbc on or around christmas eve as either a special presentation or as an episode of an existing anthology series. The original 1951 and 1952 Kinescopes have been released on dVd along with the 1955 telecast with William mciver, father of des moines' own matt mciver. both the 1951 and the 1963 productions were recorded by rcA Victor red Seal. The 1951 cast recording is available on compact disc.

Since its first performance, Amahl and the Night Visitors has taken its place with A Christmas Carol, Handel’s oratorio The Messiah, and Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker as a holiday classic. performed on every continent and in many languages, Amahl and the Night Visitors has been seen by more people than any other opera in history. it was written specifically for young imaginations that can easily relate to a child with a head full of dreams, especially around the holidays. it remains an inspiring story of how faith, charity, unselfish love and good deeds can work miracles.

des moines metro opera’s production will be a part of its Second Stages Series and will be performed at the historic Hoyt Sherman place. Founder and Artistic director emeritus robert l. larsen makes a special return to provide stage direction for the production. music director david Neely conducts a wonderful cast that will be headed by Julie makerov (last seen as chrysothemis in Elektra) as the mother, long-time dmmo favorite Todd Thomas as King melchior, and the role of Amahl sung by merrill middle School sixth grader pierce mansfield.

This production is presented in memory of Wendy Waugaman, who was a remarkable president of the des moines metro opera board of directors and a passionate entrepreneur in bringing new audiences to this dynamic art form. American equity is the premier presenting Sponsor, and Wendy’s many friends and colleagues are working together with des moines metro opera to bring this production to the stage in her honor.•

AMAhL AnD the nIght VISItORS gian-carlo Menotti

hoyt Sherman place 7:30pM: December 6 & 7 | 2pM: December 7

Julie makerov MOtheR Todd Thomas MeLchIOR

Making a case for Menotti

gian-carlo menotti was a pulitzer prize-winning italian-American composer and librettist. His professional life was spent in the united States and he usually spoke of himself as an American composer, despite retaining his italian citizenship. He composed 25 operas, almost all in english, wrote his own libretti and usually staged his own works. menotti also founded the "Festival of Two Worlds" summer music festival in Spoleto, italy, in 1958, and directed it for nearly 40 years. in 1977 he helped establish an American offshoot, Spoleto Festival u.S.A., in charleston, South carolina, which still operates today.

His life partner was the celebrated American composer Samuel barber, for whose operas menotti also wrote the libretti and with whom he shared his life until barber's death in 1981. upon menotti's death in 2007, Alex ross, music critic for The New Yorker magazine, wrote the following in his blog "The rest is Noise":

"He was a complex and inconsistent figure whose place in American opera history is nonetheless secure. The Medium, The Telephone, The Consul, and Amahl and the Night Visitors were huge phenomena in their day, holding audiences rapt on broadway and via network television, and they remain part of the repertory of American opera houses today. menotti's operas are, above all, pragmatic in their approach, using an eclectic assortment of styles to address various dramatic situations: Stravinskyan neoclassicism for the bustle of daily life, puccinian melodies for the love scenes, bergian dissonance for the tragedies, hymn tunes and folk melodies as appropriate. They hold the stage better than the works of many more intellectually celebrated figures. Virgil Thomson's review of The Medium is worth noting: 'i have heard it three times and it never fails to hold me enthralled. mr. menotti's libretto and his music form a unit that is deeply touching and terrifying... The play wrings every heartstring, and so does the music. i cannot conceive the whole work otherwise than as destined for a long and successful career.'"•