Gian Carlo Menotti: Menotti Arias for Soprano: Soprano: Vocal Album

The Black Swan is an aria from the opera The Medium by Gian Carlo Menotti. The work is arguably Menotti's most famous serious opera and it opened at the Ethel Barrymore Theater on Broadway in 1947.

Description Gian-Carlo Menotti: Amahl And The Night Visitors (Vocal Score) This vocal score is a new and revised edition of the well-known opera that made television history on Christmas Eve, 1951.

Gian Carlo Menotti is frequently considered to be the greatest composer of American opera in the twentieth century. The Missa O Pulchritudo uses the Roman Catholic text for the Mass except for the Credo which is replaced by a Motet based on the words of St. Augustine. There is some occasional part-splitting in the chorus. This is the Schirmer Edition of the vocal score and includes a Piano reduction of the orchestral accompaniment. (These orchestral parts are available on rental from G. Schirmer).

First performed in 1950 at the Shubert Theatre in Philadelphia The Consul was a phenomenally successful opera dealing with 20th century bureaucracy and socio-political issues. It is set in a totalitarian state in which John Sorel is a political dissident fighting for a democratic government. The secret police force him to leave the country and Magda his wife must obtain a visa to leave the country and join him. During the ensuing months Magda's baby and mother-in-law die and then she learns that her husband is coming home to free her despite the fact that he will be captured on his return. The Consul is a powerful and thought-provokingmusical drama in three acts by Gian-Carlo Menotti. This is the Revised Schirmer 2000 Edition of the Vocal Score with a Piano reduction by Thomas Schipper.

Menotti's 'The Medium' is something of a cautionary tale which had its genesis in a séance attended by the composer himself. The plot of the libretto (by Menotti himself) runs as follows: Living in conditions of near-squalor Baba poses as a medium with her daughter Monica posing as ghosts from the beyond. She takes in Toby a mute as a lodger but distrusts him. The business continues until during a séance she feels a 'cold hand' tightening abouther throat. When her customers return for another session she tells them that she is a fake and demonstrates her tricks but her clients protest that she must be real that it was not Monica's voice they heard. She drives themout and resolves to cast out Toby as well. When Toby returns she shoots and inadvertently kills him. At the conclusion she still wonders if it had been Toby. This Libretto is in English only.

From Amahl and the Night Visitors-This Chorus is from Menotti's opera Amahl And The Night Visitors which represents a unique take on the Christmas story. Ideal as something different for a carol service.

The first opera written for television 'Amahl and the Night Visitors' has become the most frequently performed opera of all time with over five hundred performances annually across the world. Menotti's take on the Christmas story focuses on Amahl a young handicapped boy and his mother who are visited by three Kings -- Balthazar Melchior and Kaspar -- who are on their way to find Jesus. The Kings stay the night during which Amahl's mother tries to steal some of the Kings' gold and is caught in the act. Melchior suggests that she keep the gold because the child they are visiting will rule his kingdom with love not riches. Amahl's mother gives back the gold wishing she had something to give of her own. Amahl offers his crutch as a gift and suddenly is able to walk. He decides to follow the Kings so that he himself may give his crutch to the Christ child. The work is ideal for an amateur performance (for example a secondary school or a local dramatic society) since all the action takes place in one act and one place and the work calls for limited adaptable musical forces. It also gives each principal a chance to shine either in a solo or an ensemble. This book contains the Chorus parts only.