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Menotti GianCarlo Biography

Italian-American Pulitzer-Prize-winning composer, dramatist and director as well as one of the most often performed composers of operas, renowned for bringing to traditional opera a contemporary feel. He became prominent for such Broadway successes as his fifth opera, "The Medium," performed in 1946, and his sixth, "The Consul," in 1950. These were considered modern classics, as was "The Saint of Bleeker Street, " 1954, and "Amahl and the Night Visitors," 1951, which has become a Christmas favorite. Menotti writes his own librettos, provides his own orchestration, and directs the production of his works. He has also composed ballets, concertos for both piano and violin, and a symphony. He co-founded the "Festival of the Two Worlds," an annual multi-artistic event. His credits include 50 operas and ballets and more than 180 instrumental compositions, giving him a solid base in musical history. Menotti was the sixth of eight children of Alfonso and Ines Menotti. The family was well-to-do, owing to a coffee exporting firm run by an uncle, but had touches of what was considered "madness" with at least one relative having religious "hallucinations." By all reports, Ines was the dominant parent, making sure her children learned a variety of musical instruments, and Menotti had his first piano lessons at age four. She organized evening chamber musicales so that young Menotti often fell asleep with music in his ears. He began setting verse to music at age five, and wrote his first opera, "The Death of Pierrot," when he was eleven, first performed as a home puppet show. Two years later, he wrote his second childhood opera, "The Little Mermaid," based on the Hans Christen Anderson fairy tale. In 1924, the family moved to Milan, where his mother enrolled Menotti in the Verdi Conservatory of Music. During his three years in Milan, he saw countless operas performed, and developed a love for reading, with his tastes running to exotic, occult and theatrical works. When Menotti was 17, his dad died and the familys coffee firm collapsed. This changed life radically for him. He went with his mother to Columbia, where she attempted to rescue the portion of the business located there. In the fall of 1928, Ines took her son to the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, armed with a letter of recommendation from the legendary Arturo Toscanini to the schools Rosario Scalero, well-known as a professor of composition. Scalero disciplined Menotti, stressing study and masterwork which was "torture" to Menotti. Nonetheless, he acquired self-reliance and thoroughness in mastering composition. He also began a lifelong friendship with the American composer Samuel Barber, a fellow student. After graduating in 1933, they lived for several years in Austria. Menotti then went about the serious business of his first real opera, and one of the few he wrote in Italian, "Amelia of Ballo." Its English version, "Amelia Goes to the Ball," was premiered in Philadelphia in 1937, with the Italian version presented in Italy a year later. "Amelia" was a success and led to a commission from the National Broadcasting Company for a radio opera. For NBC, he wrote "The Old Maid and the Thief," broadcast in 1939 and later adapted for stage production. Menottis first attempt at major opera was "The Island God," which premiered at the Metropolitan Opera on 2/20/1942. The opera focused on a Menotti fascination - the relation between faith andRead less