Gian Carlo Menotti: Menotti Arias for Mezzo-Soprano

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

Commissioned by the BBC Singers for mixed voices a cappella. It is a mocking self-deprecatory portrait written in 1981. In this piece a distraught composer moans as he sits in front of a blank page with an empty head. A flybuzzes around and he calls out to his neighbors and his dog for comfort. Gian-Carlo Menotti's piece effectively conveyed the feeling you get when doing something extremely difficult like writing a law school application essay or trying to compose the perfect piece of music.

From Amahl and the Night Visitors-Gian Carlo Menotti (July 7 1911 February 1 2007) was an Italian-born American composer and librettist who wrote the classic Christmas opera Amahl and the Night Visitors among about two dozen other operas intended to appeal topopular taste.

from The Consul-To This We've Come/i> is Magda's emotional and moving Aria from the Musical Drama the Consul by Gian-Carol Menotti. Arranged for Soprano with a Piano reduction of the original orchestral score.

SATB. A 9-part cantata for chorus four soloists and orchestra. This is an autobiographical statement of Menotti's 45 years of life in America. Each scene represents a specific experience in the composer's life.Commissioned/premiered by Bel Canto Chorus Milwaukee and the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra.

Score and Parts-This brief elegaic work was written to pay homage to Lincoln Center benefactress Alice Tully and was premiered there on October 24 1982. The text is Menotti's own with thoughts of life aging death and rebirth. Being anocturne - a night-piece - it is a modern-day lullaby the end of day or life and it is faced with a serene childlike acceptance of the inevitable. This is reflected in smooth tranquil music that never impedes the flowing pace ofthe work.

'The Consul' was a phenomenally successfull opera dealing with 20th century 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 himto leave the country and Magda his wife must obtain a visa to leave the country and join him. Insurmountable bureaucracy causes frustrating delays at the consulate. During the ensuing months Magda's baby and mother-in-law dieand she learns that her husband is returning to take Magda with him. Magda knowing that her husband will be captured if he returns writes a note to him stating that she is going to kill herself so he does not need to die. As shecommits suicide by gas inhalation in her home John enters the consulate and is apprehended by the police. The Libretto (by Menotti himself) is in English only.

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 theChristmas 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'smother 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 foran 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 principala chance to shine either in a solo or an ensemble. This is the Schirmer edition of the Libretto in English only.

Opera Full Score-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 theChristmas 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'smother 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 foran 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 principala chance to shine either in a solo or an ensemble.This is the Schirmer hardback edition of the full score.

Score and Parts-Menotti is best kown for his operas but he also excelled in other forms. The Suite for two cellos and piano is part of the standard repertoire for cello duos and contains a stately Introduction a an exciting Scherzo an expressive Arioso and a fast Finale.

The Saint of Bleecker Street is a full-length serious work. Unlike several of Menotti's earlier dramas The Saint of Bleecker Street is more characteristic of a traditional opera. The Saint of Bleecker Street received the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for best play the Music Critics Circle Award for best opera and the Pulitzer Prize in music in 1955.

Full Score-These remarkable cantatas from Menotti's later period spring from his profound devotion to the Catholic tradition and feature texts by two of the Church's best-loved poets St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross. Includes“Muero porque no muero” (for soprano chorus and orchestra) and “Oh llama de amor viva” (for baritone chorus and orchestra).