The Styrous® Viewfinder: 20,000 vinyl LPs 347: Gian Carlo Menotti ~ Amahl And The Night Visitors

Gian Carlo Menotti ~ Amahl And The Night Visitors

vinyl LP front cover

photo of album cover by Styrous®

Today is the birthday of Italian composer, librettist, director, and playwright Gian Carlo Menotti who was born on December 24, 1911, in Cadegliano-Viconago, Italy, near Lake Maggiore and the Swiss border. He is primarily known for his output of 25 operas.

It seemed elementary to me to write about his opera, Amahl And The Night Visitors, on Christmas Eve for three reasons; first it's about the birth of Christ, second it premiered on his birthday on the 24th of December in 1951, and third, I remember seeing it when it was televised.

Menotti was commissioned by Peter Herman Adler, director of NBC's new opera programming, to write the first opera for television. Menotti took his inspiration from the painting by Hieronymus Bosch, The Adoration of the Magi hanging in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

Hieronymus Bosch ~ The Adoration of the Magi

Metropolitan Museum of Art

Menotti's partner, Samuel Barber, was brought in for the orchestrations. After the dress rehearsal, NBC Symphony conductor Arturo Toscanini told Menotti, "This is the best you've ever done."

The premier occurred in New York City at NBC Studio 8H in Rockefeller Center, where it was broadcast live on television from that venue as the debut production of the Hallmark Hall of Fame. It was the first opera specifically composed for television in the United States. At its debut, it was estimated that it had audience of 5 million people – a record for any opera. It was replayed on NBC every year until the original video recording was lost.

There is a video of the original 1951 broadcast with Chet Allen as Amahl and an introduction by Gian Carlo Menotti on YouTube (link below).

Menotti distinctly wanted Amahl to be performed by a boy. In the "Production Notes" contained in the piano-vocal score he wrote: "It is the express wish of the composer that the role of Amahl should always be performed by a boy. Neither the musical nor the dramatic concept of the opera permits the substitution of a woman costumed as a child."

Amahl And The Night Visitors

Photo: Indiana University

Amahl And The Night Visitors tells the story of Amahl, a shepherd boy who tends to tell tall tales, and his mother. His most recent story is about a star with a tail that moves across the sky like a chariot on fire. When three splendid strangers knock on the door and ask to rest in their tiny home, Amahl is thrilled and fascinated. When the visitors describe the miraculous child they are seeking, both Amahl and his mother are moved to give reverence to the child as well. Their humble faith conjures a miracle.

The recording came with an 8-page booklet with a full libretto . . .

Gian Carlo Menotti ~ Amahl And The Night Visitors

vinyl LP libretto

libretto photo by Henri Dauman

photo of libretto by Styrous®

The booklet with the original cast recording contains the following anecdote:

"This is an opera for children because it tries to recapture my own childhood. You see, when I was a child I lived in Italy, and in Italy we have no Santa Claus. I suppose that Santa Claus is much too busy with American children to be able to handle Italian children as well. Our gifts were brought to us by the Three Kings, instead.
I actually never met the Three Kings—it didn't matter how hard my little brother and I tried to keep awake at night to catch a glimpse of the Three Royal Visitors, we would always fall asleep just before they arrived. But I do remember hearing them. I remember the weird cadence of their song in the dark distance; I remember the brittle sound of the camel's hooves crushing the frozen snow; and I remember the mysterious tinkling of their silver bridles.
My favorite king was King Melchior, because he was the oldest and had a long white beard. My brother's favorite was King Kaspar. He insisted that this king was a little crazy and quite deaf. I don't know why he was so positive about his being deaf. I suspect it was because dear King Kaspar never brought him all the gifts he requested. He was also rather puzzled by the fact that King Kaspar carried the myrrh, which appeared to him as a rather eccentric gift, for he never quite understood what the word meant.
To these Three Kings I mainly owe the happy Christmas seasons of my childhood and I should have remained very grateful to them. Instead, I came to America and soon forgot all about them, for here at Christmas time one sees so many Santa Clauses scattered all over town. Then there is the big Christmas tree in Rockefeller Plaza, the elaborate toy windows on Fifth Avenue, the one-hundred-voice choir in Grand Central Station, the innumerable Christmas carols on radio and television—and all these things made me forget the three dear old Kings of my old childhood.
But in 1951 I found myself in serious difficulty. I had been commissioned by the National Broadcasting Company to write an opera for television, with Christmas as deadline, and I simply didn't have one idea in my head. One November afternoon as I was walking rather gloomily through the rooms of the Metropolitan Museum, I chanced to stop in front of the Adoration of the Kings by Hieronymus Bosch, and as I was looking at it, suddenly I heard again, coming from the distant blue hills, the weird song of the Three Kings. I then realized they had come back to me and had brought me a gift.
I am often asked how I went about writing an opera for television, and what are the specific problems that I had to face in planning a work for such a medium. I must confess that in writing "Amahl and the Night Visitors," I hardly thought of television at all. As a matter of fact, all my operas are originally conceived for an ideal stage which has no equivalent in reality, and I believe that such is the case with most dramatic authors."

—Gian-Carlo Menotti

Tracklist:

Side 1:

Amahl And The Night Visitors (Part 1)

Side 2:

Amahl And The Night Visitors (Concluded)

Companies, etc.

    Copyright © – Radio Corporation Of America
    Pressed By – RCA Records Pressing Plant, Rockaway
    Recorded At – Webster Hall

Credits:

    Baritone Vocals [The Page] – Julian Patrick
    Bass Vocals [Bass-baritone. King Melchior] – Richard Cross
    Bass Vocals [King Balthazar] – Willis C. Patterson
    Composed By, Libretto By, Liner Notes – Gian Carlo Menotti
    Conductor [Orchestra And Chorus Conducted By] – Herbert Grossman
    Engineer [Recording] – Lewis Layton
    Painting [" Adoration Of The King "] – Hieronymus Bosch (3)
    Photography By – Henri Dauman
    Producer – Richard Mohr
    Soprano Vocals [Mother] – Martha King
    Tenor Vocals [King Kaspar] – John McCollum
    Vocals [Amahl, A Crippled Boy Of About 12] – Kurt Yaghjian

Notes:

Recorded at Webster Hall, with the cast of the NBC Opera Company December 1963 television production
(first performed by the NBC Television Theater on Christmas Eve, 1951)

"Dynagroove Recording" noted on front cover and labels include "MONO DYNAGROOVE" at bottom.

"© 1964, Radio Corporation of America · Printed in U.S.A." printed at bottom of back cover.

Includes 8-page booklet with full libretto

Barcode and Other Identifiers

    Matrix / Runout (Side A label matrix): (PRRM-4987)
    Matrix / Runout (Side B label matrix): (PRRM-4988)
    Matrix / Runout (Side A stamped, exc. A etched): PRRM-4987--6S A3 R
    Matrix / Runout (Side A stamped, exc. 498, 2S & 1B etched): PRRM--4988--2S 1B R
    Pressing Plant ID (Stamped in run-outs): R

Menotti* – Amahl And The Night Visitors
Label:    RCA Victor Red Seal – LM-2762, RCA Victor Red Seal – LM 2762
Format:    Vinyl, LP, Album, Mono, Rockaway Pressing
Country: US
Released: 1964
Genre:    Classical, Stage & Screen
Style:    Opera, Modern

Viewfinder links:

Peter Herman Adler

Chet Allen

Samuel Barber

Hieronymus Bosch

Gian Carlo Menotti

Arturo Toscanini

Net links:

Barn Opera ~ Amahl and the Night Visitors - A Musical Hug after a Fight

Interlude ~ The Gift: Bosch and Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors

SmugMug ~ Amahl and the Night Visitors ( photos)

US Opera ~ Amahl and the Night Visitors