Amelia Goes to the Ball
Music by Gian Carlo Menotti · libretto by Gian Carlo Menotti · premiered 1937 · at Curtis Institute of Music
Amelia al ballo (Amelia Goes to the Ball) is a one-act opera buffa by Gian Carlo Menotti, who set his own Italian libretto. Composed during 1936 when Menotti was in his mid-twenties, it was the composer's first mature opera and first critical success. The opera recounts a series of farcical events as a young Italian socialite overcomes obstacles to her attendance at the first ball of the season.
Text from the Wikipedia article "Amelia Goes to the Ball", licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
About the Composer
Gian Carlo Menotti (; Italian: [ˈdʒaŋ ˈkarlo meˈnɔtti]; July 7, 1911 – February 1, 2007) was an Italian composer, librettist, director, and playwright who is primarily known for his output of 25 operas. Although he often referred to himself as an American composer, he kept his Italian citizenship and never officially became an American citizen. One of the most frequently performed opera composers of the 20th century, he wrote his most successful works in the 1940s and 1950s. Highly influenced by Giacomo Puccini and Modest Mussorgsky, Menotti further developed the verismo tradition of opera in the post-World War II era. Rejecting atonality and the aesthetic of the Second Viennese School,…
Text from the Wikipedia article "Gian Carlo Menotti", licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Other Operas by Gian Carlo Menotti
- Amahl and the Night Visitors (1951)
- Help, Help, the Globolinks! (1968)
- La Loca (1979)