Monday, December 15, 2008

Amhal and the Night Visitors

As the holiday season began, I took the boys to their second opera and little lady to her first. You may (or may not) recall that the boys' first opera involved bugs.

This was a (thankfully) brief opera. Amahl and the Night Visitors is an opera in one act by Gian Carlo Menotti. It was performed in December 1951 and was the first opera specifically composed for American television. I had never heard of it until I joined our church. It is a somewhat regular part of our congregation's holiday celebrations. I hadn't managed to get to a performance until this year.



This is a clip I found on YouTube. The production we saw was stellar. And even more so because one of the kings only learned his part 5 days earlier. The original singer had to drop out when his daughter was born weeks before her due date.

It was a wonderful way to start the holidays. Surrounded by music and good people.

And my kids not understanding half of what was being said.

"Are they really going to SING the entire time?" asked one.

While his sister did an interpretive dance in the aisle with my scarf.

Music Monday at Soccer Mom in Denial


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3 comments:

Jenn in Holland said...

Oh! I love this opera (etta?) I was choreographer for this show 15 years ago for a local production and actually had to leave the dress rehearsal because I was in labor with Ian! I got to see the show the next day though, at the matinee. It was stellar and all the players were so funny about it as one told me "I'd never seen a woman in labor before!"
hahahaha!
What a great memory!
Happy music! Happy Christmas!

monstergirlee said...

I look forward to checking the clip out. TFS.

Jen said...

I LOVE this opera. Seeing it each year on TV was one of the highlights of Christmas for me. That, Rudolph and Charlie Brown - I was nothing if not eclectic. ;-)