Gian Carlo Menotti

Gian Carlo Menotti (1911--2007) is best remembered as an opera composer and founder of three international performing arts festivals. Menotti has left behind a lasting legacy of lyrical and accessible music. Poemetti: 12 Pieces for Children was first published in 1937. These descriptive pieces demonstrate Menotti's celebrated lyric gift as well as the careful craft that characterizes his work. Taken as a whole, the set can be seen as Menotti's version of an 'Album for the Young,' recalling images of his colorful childhood in Italy. These brief compositions are varied in meter, tempo, character, texture, and technical demands and are suitable for developing the musical imagination and keyboard facility of pianists at the intermediate level. The collection is pianistic in style, with each piece serving as a miniature technical etude. The titles are evocative and aid the performer in conceptualizing a convincing interpretation. / Piano

Italian-American composer and librettist Gian Carlo Menotti composed his first opera in English, The Old Maid and the Thief, in 1939. It was commissioned by NBC as a radio opera (to be performed on air) and was premiered by the NBC Symphony Orchestra. Years later, Menotti adapted a theme from the opera's third scene, transforming and expanding it into an advanced two-movement work for solo piano. The first movement is a lyrical and emotive ricercare, which contains contrapuntal writing, elaborate flourishes, and flamboyant improvisatory gestures. By contrast, the second-movement toccata unfolds in steady, 16th-note perpetual motion with moments of musical humor combined with brilliant pianistic display. The concise work, approximately seven minutes in length, is often used in competitions and recitals. This edition contains helpful fingering and pedaling suggestions, as well as a discussion of form and a brief synopsis of the original opera. / Piano