Klarinet Archive - Posting 000017.txt from 2007/02

From: "dnleeson" <dnleeson@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] Obituary
Date: Fri, 02 Feb 2007 11:44:18 -0500

I am sorry to report the death of Gian Carlo Menotti, the
American (born in Italy) composer of numerous operas as well as
orchestral and chamber music, and librettist for Samuel Barber's
Vanessa, which openened the new Metropolitan Opera building in
NYC.

I didn't play much of his music, but what I played I generally
enjoyed, particularly "Help! Help! The Globolinks," a science
fiction opera with and for children. His overture to the opera
"Amelia Goes to the Ball" was an absolute masterpiece that,
sadly, is hardly heard today, to say nothing of the opera that
follows the overture. He was 17 at the time he wrote it.

His value as a composer had a number of supports and a number of
rejectors. One composer refused to be on the same program with
him.

Prolific, melodic, sometimes conservative, othertimes wildly
hypermodern, his rhythmic changes were so delightful and clever.
I still remember the first time I heard the three kings in "Amahl
and the Night Visitors" sing "Thank you. Thank you. Thank you
kindly. Thank you." His clever insertion of an extra beat or
beat and a half made the otherwise uninteresting passage into a
rhythmic delight. I heard the very first performance live on TV,
a medium for which the opera was written. And his 20 minutes,
one-person opera, "The Telephone" is a comic delight. Two of his
operas achieved what even Gershwin could not do; i.e., sustained
performances on Broadway. I speak of "The Medium."

Dan Leeson
DNLeeson@-----.net

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