Amahl and the Night Visitors
Menotti
Information
Amahl and the Night Visitors (1951), opera in one act
Music and words by Gian-Carlo Menotti
16 December 2018: St John’s Smith Square, London
21 December 2018: St Mary’s, Bampton
Cast
| Amahl | Felix Gillingwater |
| Mother | Emma Stannard |
| Kaspar | Nick Sales |
| Melchoir | Samuel Pantcheff |
| Balthazar | Robert Winslade Anderson |
| Page | Xavier Hetherington |
| Conductor | Anthony Kraus |
| Director | Jeremy Gray |
Synopsis
The child Amahl no longer has sheep to care for since poverty has forced his mother to sell their flock. Amahl might be a naughtier child were he not hampered by a disability, but he amuses himself by creating worlds of the imagination, stories which irritate his mother and which she often takes for lies. At the opening of the opera she finds it difficult to coax her son to go to bed, whilst he tries to convince her that the night sky is lit up by a wondrous star. Soon after retiring for the night, insistent knocking at the door heralds the arrival of three resplendent kings seeking shelter overnight, with an intriguing collection of boxes and paraphernalia, including a parrot – and liquorice. Whilst Mother briefly leaves to seek food to offer these unexpected guests, Amahl’s inquisitiveness enables him to befriend the strangers. Mother returns with her neighbours, who bring food and drink, and who dance to entertain the exotic guests.
Later, in the darkness of night, Mother is seduced by the kings’ gold and tries to take some for herself. She is spotted by their Page, who wrestles with her, and the noise wakes everyone up. King Melchior forgives her and says she may keep the gold, explaining that the Child who they seek has no need of it since he will build his kingdom on love. Amahl wants to send a gift to the Child, but all he can offer is his crutch. Raising it up, he is amazed to discover that he can walk without it, and the kings acknowledge this miracle as a gift from God. Amahl wants to join the kings on their pilgrimage and to present his crutch to the Child as a thank-offering, and his mother reluctantly agrees. The kings’ journey continues as a radiant dawn breaks.
Amahl and the Night Visitors
Jeremy Gray
Like TS Eliot in The Journey of the Magi (1927), Menotti creates in Amahl and the Night Visitors a poetic gloss on the biblical Three Kings’ journey to Bethlehem to worship the newly-born Christ Child. Setting his own libretto, the Italian-American composer created this one-act opera specifically for television and it was broadcast by NBC in New York on 24 December 1951 (this can still be seen on You Tube). The acclaim for this, as for other works by the composer in the 1950s, was enormous: even in 1972 Amahl was still the most-performed opera in America, beating the stiff competition of La bohème, Le nozze di Figaro and Il barbiere di Siviglia. Menotti claimed it was “an opera for children because it tries to recapture my own childhood”, with his own infantile lameness giving an autobiographical aspect to the title role. Inspiration came in part from Italian folk stories and traditions – Menotti commented how “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. My favourite King was King Melchior, because he was the eldest and had a long white beard. My brother’s favourite was King Kaspar. He insisted that this king was a little crazy and quite deaf.”
Initially the commission for a television opera caused Menotti difficulty: he found that the commercialisation of modern Christmas pushed inspiration out of sight, and he had forgotten about the three kings who in childhood had brought him gifts and such joy. "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 Hieronymous 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 realised they had come back to me and had brought me a gift."
In this short opera Menotti aimed at a simplicity of expression to match his theme and accessible purpose. He had a strong sense of theatrical narrative, honed through a long sequence of 27 operas (the first composed at the age of 11), and writing the libretti for all of them (as well as for Vanessa, by his partner Samuel Barber). In his mid-career the most widely acclaimed composer of opera in America, Menotti was an unashamed populist, aiming at music of wide appeal and integrity based on a charming lyricism which appeals equally to performer and listener. The ghosts of Puccini and, perhaps surprisingly, Brahms (as taught to both Menotti and Barber by their early composition teacher in Philadelphia, Rosario Scalero) are often evident, for example in the dolcissimo opening of the work. The central role of Amahl, written specifically for a boy rather than an adult soprano, holds the stage throughout with music which is varied, challenging and never simplistic. The Kings sing both homophonic trios as well as well-characterised solos, especially the deaf Kaspar’s excited “this is my box, I never travel without my box”. The mezzo-soprano role of Mother, the most complex of the characters, has music of intense beauty and passion, especially her Eb minor arioso, “All that gold!”. At the emotional heart of the work is the Andante calmo, quasi adagio quartet “Have you seen a Child the color of wheat, the color of dawn?”, based initially on a descending harmonic minor scale, in which the much narrower world of the Mother, centred on the plight of her son, is set against the universal vision of the Kings in their quest for the Christ Child.
Menotti composed the work for small orchestral forces, but also created and authorised a transcription for two pianos: this has its own specific qualities and is the version used for this performance.
Interview with Emma Stannard (mezzo-soprano)
Mary-Grace Nyugen
This appeared on the blog TrendFem in December 2018, and is best read by following the direct link here
hallowed solemnity... dramatic presence...
Classical Source 21 December 2018
Bampton Classical Opera’s annual Christmas concert this year took in a whole stage-work. Gian Carlo Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors was premiered on American television in 1951, the first opera written specifically for that medium, and has been a favourite on that side of the Atlantic since, but it has never really caught on in the UK. That is curious given its short duration and small scale, as it would not tax resources and is a melodically attractive score that builds up a distinctive atmosphere in each scene through playing around with themes and motifs, and as an intimate music-drama it is comparable to Britten’s Noye’s Fludde, the Church Parables or, closer still in terms of its Christmas theme, Saint Nicolas.
Jeremy Gray’s production made effective use of the sizeable parish church of St Mary’s, with blue and purple lighting effects to evoke the winter night in the time immediately after Christ’s birth, and the starry sky projected onto the walls over the raised stage. The venue undoubtedly gave the performance a hallowed solemnity, with a sense of dramatic presence created by the procession of the Three Kings up the nave to the stage before the central crossing tower, and the chorus of shepherds emerging from, and later receding into, the darkened transept. This production deftly availed itself of all the elements of theatrical display, as Karen Halliday choreographed a lively dance for the shepherds to perform as an entertainment for the Kings after their arrival at the house of Amahl and his mother, on their way to the Christ-child in Bethlehem.
As specifically instructed by Menotti, the part of the young crippled shepherd, Amahl, was taken by a boy, rather than a woman, in this case Felix Gillingwater. Despite the boy’s active and mischievous imagination – which is the cause for incredulity on his mother’s part when he does see a marvellous star in the night sky, and three crowned Kings appear at the door – Gillingwater sang the role with unwavering and pure-voiced innocence, but with a dramatic effectiveness that showed real flair for the stage beyond his purely musical abilities, honed as a chorister at Southwark Cathedral. Emma Stannard was the Mother expressing both tender concern for Amahl and distress at their extreme poverty which caused her to sell the flock of sheep that has left Amahl without any meaningful vocation. In a nod to contemporary compulsions which lead people to gamble, at the opening she desperately scrubbed away at a scratch card that all too predictably yielded no prizes. Stannard transcended the generally syllabic setting of the words with her sustained and well-projected account.
That was also true of the Kings, who are not given any extended lyrical passages, still less arias, but provided well-characterised interpretations: Nick Sales a witty account of the hard-of-hearing Kaspar, Samuel Pantcheff and Robert Winslade Anderson authoritative as Melchior and Balthazar respectively. Xavier Hetherington offered a more lithe-toned performance as their Page.
Menotti arranged the two-piano version used here, and in which Anthony Kraus and Keval Shah provided colourful but integrated and sensitive support.
The first half of the concert explored the theme of the three Kings, Magi, or Wise Men (call them what you will) and the guiding star in some popular seasonal works, the audience invited to participate in the carol ‘As with gladness men of old’. We were also encouraged to join in the jaunty chorus between the verses of John Rutter’s ‘Star Carol’. That came between two sedate pieces, Peter Cornelius’s ‘Three Kings from Persian lands afar’ with the baritone line taken mellifluously by Sam Young, and the folksong-like ‘The road to Bethlehem’ by Michael Head. ‘When Jesus our Lord’ from Mendelssohn’s fragmentary oratorio, Christus, quotes the same chorale (‘Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern’) used in Cornelius’s piece (and a Bach Cantata, BWV1) and bears a similar liturgical character as S. S. Wesley’s Anglican church anthems with its sequence of recitative, solo and chorus sections, but here it was imbued with more theatrical urgency.
Lastly, in Vaughan Williams’s Fantasia on Christmas Carols, the percussive quality of the piano accompaniment missed some of its pastoral-mystical quality, but Shah played it with great sensitivity nonetheless conjuring a mood of mystery and wonder in the medley of carols which the composer adapted. Pantcheff projected those boldly, if with some skewed vowels, supported by the more measured and veiled textures of the chorus.
This varied programme, then, happily rang the changes, and made a good case for the three bigger works by Menotti, Mendelssohn and Vaughan Williams that they could be presented to audiences profitably and more frequently, whether by professionals (like the performers here) or amateurs.
Curtis Rogers
superb form... glorious portrayal...
TrendFem December 2018
For the festive season, pantos and Christmas carols may seem like the perfect type of performance to see right now, but why not take the opportunity to see an opera like Gian Carlo Menotti’s Christmas opera, Amahl and the Night Visitors? This Sunday, as part of St. John’s Smith Square’s (SJSS) 33rd Christmas Festival, Bampton Classical Opera presented Menotti’s tender and family-friendly opera that is based on the biblical Three Kings’ journey to Bethlehem.
Although this was a semi-staged production, Bampton Opera didn’t require many props for the audience to see and hear the magic of Menotti’s opera. Originally composed for NBC, American viewers saw the broadcast first in 1951 and until 1972 they continued to enjoy seeing various stage production; back then these productions often beat the competition with other classical operas, including Le nozze di Figaro.
The poignancy of the opera is highlighted the most by Menotti’s childhood connection to the piece. He stated ‘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.’ Here at SJSS and in superb form, Nicholas Sales, Samuel Pantcheff and Robert Winslade Anderson sang as the three kings. Vocally sturdy, they performed Menotti’s homophonic trios which were a pleasure to hear and sang brilliantly with chorister Felix Gillingwater.
Gillingwater performed the challenging role of Amahl and succeeded in evoking the sentimental tone of the opera. Noteworthy scenes included the hilarious section where Amahl opened the door to each king and ran to tell his unconvinced mother what he saw. Gillingwater depicted Amahl as a weak, handicapped boy and stayed true to the narrative of the opera, yet he also managed to entertain the audience and re-create his own version of Amahl. Winner of Bampton Classical Opera Competition 2017, Emma Stannard gave a glorious portrayal of Amahl’s mother. She presented a desperate, loving and concerned mother struck by poverty. Both were convincing on stage and vocally wonderful together.
Bringing food and drink, they invite their local neighbours over to welcome the royal guests. Gilly French, Hannah O’Toole-Thrower, Serenna Wagner, Sam Young and Xavier Hetherington (performing also as the Kings’ Page) danced and performed gracefully to Karen Halliday’s jubilant choreography. Throughout, conductor Anthony Kraus and pianist Keval Shah performed Menotti’s transcription for two pianos, which brought the melancholic and joyous nature of the piece to life, demonstrating how Menotti’s melodious music can be quite catchy too. After watching this short 55-minute opera, it is fair to say it has officially kick-started my Christmas season. It’s definitely one to catch if you’re in Bampton this Friday.
Mary-Grace Nyugen
Musical standards were high
The Stage December 2018
Amahl and the Night Visitors has all the ingredients of a Christmas show – lyrical music, a winsome boy hero and a miracle at its heart. Written for television in 1951 it’s the story of a poverty-stricken mother and her lame son whose lives are transformed when the Three Kings pop in on their way to Bethlehem. It was inspired by Gian Carlo Menotti’s memories of his Italian childhood.
Bampton Classical Opera’s semi-staged performance in the grand nave of St John’s Smith Square struggles to create the intimacy and lightness of touch necessary for this touching, funny little opera.
Musical standards were high, with conductor/pianist Anthony Kraus and Keval Shah drawing brightness and drama out of Menotti’s own transcription for two pianos. It’s tricky to balance adult operatic voices with that of a boy soprano, particularly since Amahl is in every scene.
Eleven-year-old Southwark chorister Felix Gillingwater has a sweet, pure voice but his middle range, where most of the dialogue is placed, didn’t carry beyond the first few rows. However his duet with Emma Stannard (Mother) – a generous mezzo-soprano who won the 2017 Bampton’s Young Singer competition – was a high point, along with the trios of the nicely characterised Three Kings, Robert Winslade Anderson, Nick Sales and Samuel Pantcheff.
The adult-voice Shepherds’ Chorus was good-humoured and awkwardly rustic, especially the country dancing.
It’s always a pleasure to hear Menotti’s lyrical score, but the simple, magical Christmas story was rather swamped by St John’s lofty architecture. It may sound better in the little church of St Mary’s, Bampton, whence it travels on December 21.
Amanda Holloway