Gian Carlo Menotti facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Gian Carlo Menotti
Menotti in 2000
Born	(1911-07-07)July 7, 1911 Cadegliano-Viconago, Italy
Died	February 1, 2007(2007-02-01) (aged 95) Monte Carlo, Monaco
Occupation	Composer librettist director playwright
Years active	1933–1995
Partner(s)	Samuel Barber (1928–1970)

Gian Carlo Menotti (/məˈnɒti/, Italian: [ˈdʒaŋ ˈkarlo meˈnɔtti]; July 7, 1911 – February 1, 2007) was an Italian composer, librettist, director, and playwright. He is best known for writing 25 operas. Even though he often called himself an American composer, he kept his Italian citizenship. Menotti was one of the most performed opera composers of the 20th century. His most popular works were created in the 1940s and 1950s.

Menotti was greatly inspired by composers like Giacomo Puccini and Modest Mussorgsky. He continued the verismo style of opera after World War II. This style focuses on realistic stories and characters. Menotti did not use atonality (music without a clear key). Instead, his music is known for its beautiful melodies and how well it fits the words, making the stories clear.

Like Wagner, Menotti wrote the words (libretti) for all his operas. He wrote the famous Christmas opera Amahl and the Night Visitors (1951). He also wrote many other operas that people enjoyed. Many of Menotti's operas were successful on Broadway. Two of them, The Consul (1950) and The Saint of Bleecker Street (1955), won Pulitzer Prizes. Most of his operas were in English. However, three of them also had Italian words written by him: Amelia Goes to the Ball (1937), The Island God (1942), and The Last Savage (1963).

He started the Festival dei Due Mondi (Festival of the Two Worlds) in Spoleto, Italy, in 1958. Later, he created its American version, Spoleto Festival USA, in 1977. In 1986, he also started a festival in Melbourne, Australia, but he left after three years. Besides operas, Menotti wrote music for ballets, choirs, chamber music, and orchestras. He also wrote stage plays.

Menotti taught music at the Curtis Institute of Music from 1948 to 1955. He also led the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma (Rome Opera House) from 1992 to 1994. He often directed operas for famous groups like the Salzburg Festival and the Vienna State Opera.

Early Life and Musical Beginnings: 1911–1933

Gian Carlo Menotti was born on July 7, 1911, in Cadegliano-Viconago, Italy. This town is close to Lake Maggiore and the Swiss border. He was the sixth of ten children born to Alfonso and Ines Menotti. His father was a businessman, and his mother was a talented amateur musician. The family was wealthy because his father and uncle ran a coffee business in Colombia.

Gian Carlo learned to play the organ from his aunt, LiLine Bianchini. He was very religious when he was young. His parish priest, Don Rimoldi, also had a big impact on him. Menotti's mother strongly supported his musical growth. She sent all her children to piano, violin, and cello lessons. The family often played music together at home.

Gian Carlo started writing songs at age seven. When he was eleven, he wrote both the story and music for his first opera, The Death of Pierrot. This opera was performed as a puppet show at home. He loved puppet shows, a hobby he picked up from his older brother, Pier Antonio. He began formal music training at the Milan Conservatory in 1924, at age 13. He studied there for three years. During this time, he often went to operas at La Scala, which made him love opera even more.

When Menotti was 17, his father passed away. After this, his mother and Gian Carlo moved to Colombia. They tried to save the family's coffee business, but it didn't work. In 1928, his mother enrolled him at Philadelphia's Curtis Institute of Music. She then returned to Italy. Gian Carlo studied composition at Curtis with Rosario Scalero.

At Curtis, he met another student, Samuel Barber. Barber became his close friend and musical collaborator. Menotti spent a lot of time with the Barber family in West Chester, Pennsylvania. They also spent several summers in Europe, watching operas in Vienna and Italy while studying.

Early Career and First Successes: 1933–1949

Gian Carlo Menotti, photographed by Carl Van Vechten in 1944

After finishing at the Curtis Institute in 1933, Menotti and Barber spent the summer in Austria. There, Menotti started writing the story for his first important opera, Amelia Goes to the Ball (Amelia al Ballo). He wrote it in Italian while staying in a village on Lake Wolfgang. He was inspired by a Baroness he met earlier that summer. He spent most of the next four years studying music in Europe, including composition with Nadia Boulanger in Paris. He finished the music for Amelia after returning to the United States in 1937.

The Curtis Institute first performed Amelia Goes to the Ball in Philadelphia in April 1937. It was a big success. The Metropolitan Opera staged the work in 1938. It was also performed internationally in Sanremo, Italy, that same year. Amelia al Ballo is one of Menotti's few operas published with both Italian and English words. It shows a traditional romantic Italian style, similar to Puccini.

Because Amelia Goes to the Ball was so successful, Menotti was asked to write a radio opera for the NBC Radio Network. This was The Old Maid and the Thief, one of the first operas made for radio. It was first broadcast on April 22, 1939. The opera was later performed on stage in Philadelphia in 1941. The New York City Opera staged it in 1948, along with Amelia Goes to the Ball.

In 1943, Menotti and Barber bought a house called ‘Capricorn’ in Mount Kisco, New York. This house was their artistic retreat until 1972. Many of their major works were composed there. They often hosted gatherings with other famous composers, artists, and thinkers.

Menotti's third opera, The Island God, was written for the Metropolitan Opera. It opened in 1942 but received poor reviews. Menotti felt it failed because the story was too complex and philosophical. He said this failure taught him "how not to write an opera." After this, he wrote his first play without music, A Copy of Madame Aupic, in 1943. It was first performed in 1947.

Other works from this time include a ballet, Sebastian (1944), and the Piano Concerto in A Minor (1945). Menotti then returned to opera with The Medium in 1946. This opera premiered at Columbia University and then moved to Broadway in 1947. This Broadway show also included Menotti's short one-act opera The Telephone, or L'Amour à trois. These operas became Menotti's first international successes. They were performed in Paris and London in 1949. The Medium was also made into a movie in 1951.

In 1948, Menotti also wrote music for the ballet Errand in the Maze. He also wrote two screenplays for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, but they were never made into films. He started teaching music at the Curtis Institute in 1948 and stayed there until 1955. Some of his notable students included composers Lee Hoiby and George Rochberg.

Peak Success and Festivals: 1950–1969

Hieronymus Bosch's Adoration of the Magi which inspired Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors

The 1950s were Menotti's most successful years. His first full-length opera, The Consul, opened on Broadway in 1950. This work won both the Pulitzer Prize for Music and the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award. It is now a standard opera and has been performed in many languages and countries.

In 1951, Menotti wrote his Christmas opera Amahl and the Night Visitors for NBC. He was inspired by Hieronymus Bosch's painting Adoration of the Magi. It was the first opera ever written for American television. It first aired on Christmas Eve, 1951. The opera was so popular that it became an annual Christmas tradition. It is one of the most performed operas of the 20th century and remains Menotti's most famous work.

Menotti won a second Pulitzer Prize for his opera The Saint of Bleecker Street, which premiered in 1955. This opera also won the Drama Critics' Circle Award. It is set in New York and explores the conflict between the physical and spiritual worlds. After its New York run, it was staged in Italy and Austria.

This was followed by The Unicorn, the Gorgon, and the Manticore (1956). This was a "madrigal fable" for chorus, dancers, and instruments. It was based on 16th-century Italian madrigal comedies. It premiered at the Library of Congress and was later staged by the New York City Ballet.

While working on The Unicorn, the Gorgon, and the Manticore, Menotti wrote the story for Barber's most famous opera, Vanessa. It premiered at the Metropolitan Opera in 1958. That same year, Menotti's opera Maria Golovin premiered at the 1958 Brussels World's Fair. This production later moved to Broadway and was also filmed for TV.

Menotti founded the Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy, in 1958. His composing slowed down as he spent more time directing the festival. He wrote stories for Barber's short opera A Hand of Bridge and Lukas Foss's Introductions and Good-byes. Both premiered at the Festival of Two Worlds in 1959. He also revised the story for Barber's Antony and Cleopatra (1966).

The year 1963 was very busy for Menotti. His TV opera Labyrinth premiered. This opera was made specifically for television, using special camera effects. That same year, the opera The Last Savage premiered in Paris. It was not well-received by French and American critics but was popular in Italy. Also in 1963, his cantata The Death of the Bishop of Brindisi premiered to good reviews.

Menotti wrote a chamber opera, Martin's Lie (1964), for American television. It was first performed live in Bristol, England, in 1964. It was later filmed for TV.

In 1967, Thomas Schippers took over as director of the Festival of Two Worlds. Menotti remained President of the festival's board. That same year, Menotti's song cycle Canti della lontananza premiered. He also composed music for a 1968 production of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. In 1969, the children's opera Help, Help, the Globolinks! premiered in Germany. It was later performed in the United States.

Later Career and Legacy: 1970–2007

In 1970, Menotti decided to end his close friendship and working relationship with Samuel Barber. Barber had been struggling with sadness after his 1966 opera Antony and Cleopatra received harsh reviews. This affected his creativity and their relationship. Barber began spending more time alone, and tensions grew. Menotti sold their shared home, 'Capricorn', in 1972. They remained friends after this.

In 1972, Menotti bought Yester House, a large estate in Scotland. He lived there until he passed away 35 years later. He jokingly said his Scottish neighbors called him "Mr McNotti." In 1974, he adopted Francis "Chip" Phelan as his son. Chip and his wife lived with Menotti at Yester House.

In 1970, Menotti's second play without music, The Leper, was first performed in Florida. His opera The Most Important Man premiered in New York in 1971. This opera focused on racial tensions in America. While many critics didn't like it, Menotti believed it was one of his best works. His opera Tamu-Tamu premiered in Chicago in 1973.

The year 1976 was very productive for Menotti. Several new works were created to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. One was the cantata "Landscapes and Remembrances," which premiered in May. This piece was very personal, with words about Menotti's own memories of America. In June, the opera The Hero premiered. It was a comedy that made fun of American politics, especially the Watergate scandal. In August, Menotti's Symphony No. 1 ("Halcyon Symphony") premiered.

In 1977, Menotti founded Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, South Carolina. This was a sister festival to his Italian Spoleto Festival. For three weeks each summer, nearly half a million people visit Spoleto USA. These festivals aimed to make opera popular and helped start the careers of many artists. In 1986, he tried to start a Spoleto Festival in Melbourne, Australia. He was the artistic director from 1986–88, but he left after three festivals. The Melbourne festival is now called the Melbourne International Arts Festival. Menotti left Spoleto USA in 1993 to lead the Rome Opera.

Despite his busy festival duties, Menotti continued to compose. Many of his later operas were for children, either about them or performed by them. These include The Egg (1976), The Trial of the Gypsy (1978), Chip and his Dog (1979), A Bride from Pluto (1982), The Boy who Grew too Fast (1982), and his last opera The Singing Child (1993). The San Diego Opera asked him to write La Loca (1979) for soprano Beverly Sills's 50th birthday. In 1986, his opera Goya, written for Placido Domingo, premiered. His last opera for adults, The Wedding Day, premiered in Seoul, South Korea, in 1988.

In 1992, Menotti became the Artistic Director of the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma. He held this position for two years. He was asked to resign due to disagreements about staging Wagner's Lohengrin. In 1995, he wrote Gloria as part of a Mass celebrating the Nobel Peace Prize. In 1996, Menotti directed his second filmed version of Amahl and the Night Visitors.

Gian Carlo Menotti passed away on February 1, 2007, at age 95, in Monte Carlo, Monaco. He was buried in Scotland. In June and July 2007, the Festival of Two Worlds, which Menotti founded, dedicated its 50th Anniversary to his memory. His son, Francis, organized it. Menotti's works performed during the festival included Maria Golovin and The Unicorn, the Gorgon, and the Manticore.

Menotti's Musical Style

Menotti's music was greatly influenced by composers like Giacomo Puccini and Modest Mussorgsky. He continued the verismo tradition in opera after World War II. He did not like atonality (music without a clear key) or the style of the Second Viennese School. Menotti believed atonal music was "pessimistic" and could not express joy or humor.

His music is known for its beautiful melodies and how well it fits the words. He made sure the natural rhythm of speech was used, so audiences could easily understand the story. Menotti wrote skillfully for smaller groups of instruments. His orchestrations (how he arranged music for instruments) were often light and clear. He wanted his music to appeal to many people. His melodies were often easy to remember, with a folk-like sound. In his operas, the song-like parts (arias) were usually short. This helped keep the story moving. The speech-like parts (recitatives) used natural speech rhythms, making the text very clear.

While Menotti mainly wrote in the verismo style, he sometimes used newer 20th-century music techniques. He did this when it helped the story. For example, he used 12-tone music in The Last Savage to make fun of modern society. He used electronic tape music in Help, Help, the Globolinks! to represent aliens. He also used a long, harsh chord in The Consul when a character dies. Even in his melodic parts, he sometimes broke traditional rules of harmony.

Critics had different opinions about Menotti's works over time. Early in his career, he had much success. Operas like Amelia Goes to the Ball, The Medium, The Telephone, The Consul, and Amahl and the Night Visitors were popular and received good reviews. Music critic Winthrop Sargeant admired Menotti for combining music and theater so well. However, some critics, like Joseph Kerman, initially called him a "trivial artist." Kerman later changed his mind.

In the 1960s, critics often preferred more experimental music styles. Menotti's traditional style was sometimes seen as old-fashioned. Critics would dismiss his work as too simple or overly dramatic. This negative view continued into the 1980s. But then, musical tastes changed, and people started to appreciate his style more.

List of Menotti's Operas

Sources:

Other Works

Honors and Awards

In 1984, Menotti received a Kennedy Center Honor for his achievements in the arts. In 1991, Musical America magazine named him "Musician of the Year." Besides composing his own operas, Menotti also directed most of their performances.

In 1997, he was given the Brock Commission from the American Choral Directors Association. In 2010, the main theater in Spoleto, Italy, was renamed the Teatro Nuovo Gian Carlo Menotti. This was to honor his role in creating and inspiring the festival.

See also

In Spanish: Gian Carlo Menotti para niños

• See: List of music students by teacher: K to M#Gian Carlo Menotti.