CLASSICAL CHRISTMAS
Vancouver Opera streams Menotti
For its second offering of the 202021 season, Vancouver Opera decided to stream a small-scale work with a holiday theme, Gian Carlo Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors.
Back in 1951 when network television was in its infancy, NBC decided to commission a Christmas treat. Menotti came up with a charmer that's remained popular ever since. Since it's such a natural for family listening this time of year, one might wonder why it has taken so long for Amahl to make an appearance at Vancouver Opera.
“Our first conversation about doing this piece was six or seven years ago, and focused on doing it on a small stage and then touring it around the province. Then it got put on the shelf. Once the whole digital season came up, we decided `Hey, Amahl was written for live broadcast in the first place, it's totally family friendly and holiday appropriate, let's do it!'” conductor Leslie Dala said.
The plot is simple and more than a touch sentimental.
“It's about a disabled young boy at the time of the birth of Christ who is full of light and happiness, despite extreme poverty, and then there is a noise at the door and it turns out to be the Three Kings,” Dala said.
These days, Menotti's more heavyweight operas like The Consul and The Medium don't get the respect they used to. Back in the 1950s his popularity worked against him in certain avant-garde circles.
“Menotti was box office gold for a long time, yet reviled by the culture crowd,” said Dala, who's an admirer. “He wrote all his own librettos and designed his own productions.”
This Vancouver mounting required a few necessary compromises.
“We're doing it in a two-piano version rather than with chamber orchestra, but you can still hear Menotti's remarkable craftsmanship, particularly his vocal writing,” Dala said. “COVID spacing is very difficult because the singers must be at least three metres apart and never directly facing each other, so they basically sing at diagonals.”
The ideas of childhood and family were key to Menotti, who wrote: “This is an opera for children because it tries to recapture my own childhood. You see, when I was a child I lived in Italy, and in Italy we have no Santa Claus. I suppose that Santa Claus is much too busy with American children to be able to handle Italian children as well. Our gifts were instead brought to us by the Three Kings.”
Alas, with the clock running out on his TV commission, the dejected composer was bereft of ideas.
Working with my son is such a joy. He is totally professional at what he does. He started with the Bach Children Choir.
“One November afternoon as I was walking rather gloomily through the rooms of the Metropolitan Museum, I chanced to stop in front of the Adoration of the Kings by Hieronymus Bosch, and as I was looking at it, suddenly I heard again, coming from the distant blue hills, the weird song of the Three Kings. I then realized they had come back to me and had brought me a gift.”
The conjunction of childhood, family and opera has extra resonance for Dala: his young son Andreas sings the lead role.
“Working with my son is such a joy,” said Dala. “He is totally professional at what he does. He started with the Bach Children Choir, so he has been singing for a decade. We did this show in Kelowna last year, with some of the same cast members, so he is totally comfortable in the role.”
As is VO's new practice, you can see Amahl in real time, Dec. 12 at 7:30 p.m. at digital.vancouveropera.ca/amahl-and-the-night-visitors. Or, if that's not quite convenient, it will also be accessible after online. “It is such a lovely family piece with a great vein of humour running through it,” said Dala. “And it makes an excellent introduction for kids to the wonders of opera. It is totally approachable yet memorable in a very beautiful way.”