MENOTTI, GIAN CARLO

Italian-American composer (1911- )

Gian Carlo Menotti was the best known American opera composer of the postwar period, partially because his operas were presented outside traditional venues. They were heard on radio, staged on Broadway, composed for television, sung in cathedrals and written for children. He was one of the first composers to write an opera for radio, the 1939 The Old Man and the Thief, and the first to write an opera for television, the 1951 Amahl and the Night Visitors. His success paved the way for the development of radio and TV opera. He was also the first (and still the only) composer to film his own opera, the 1951 The Medium. His theatrical skills led to a contract from MGM to write film scripts, one of which became the opera The Consul. Menotti was brought up in Milan but studied at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia and most of his professional career was in the U.S. He had a close personal relationship with composer Samuel Barber (he wrote the librettos for two of Barber's operas) and with conductor Thomas Schippers (who became music director of his Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto). Ten of Menotti's operas have been filmed or telecast. Though his operas are not currently in fashion, Amahl and the Night Visitors, The Medium and The Telephone are on commercial videos and there viewable television versions of The Consul, Goya, Labyrinth, Maria Golovin, Martin's Lie and The Saint Of Bleeker Street.

Menotti's cantata for soloists, chorus and orchestra is a nine-part autobiographical set of musical impressions from his arrival in New York as a teenager to his discovery of South Carolina. It was filmed when it premiered at the Performing Arts Center in Milwaukee. The performers are soloists Judith Blegen, Ani Yervanian, Vahan Khanzadian and Gary Kendall with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and Bel Canto Chorus conducted by James A. Keeley. It was shot on May 14, 1976, and telecast on Nov. 14. Color. 60 minutes. Video at Library of Congress.

The composer is shown at a rehearsal of his children's opera Help, Help the Globolinks and discusses his ideas about writing operas for children. The program is hosted by University of Michigan music professor John McCollum. Color. 30 minutes. On video.

Tom Bywaters' documentary film was made to eulogize the composer on his 75th birthday. It includes scenes shot at the Festivals of Two Worlds in Spoleto and Charleston and at his estate in Scotland. There are extracts from nine operas and interviews with colleagues like Luciano Pavarotti, John Butler, Colleen Dewhurst and Alwain Nikolais. The film was telecast in the Great Performances series on Nov. 21 1986. Color. 90 minutes.

David Thomson's BBC documentary Gian Carlo Menotto allows the 89-old-composer to talk about his life and works in a relaxed setting in his Scottish home. It includes clips from many of the operas and footage of the Spoleto festival past and present. Charles Hazlewood is the presenter. 50 minutes.