When you think of classical American composers, you probably think first of George Gershwin, Leonard Bernstein, or Aaron Copland. However, one great American composer of the 20th century who is often overlooked is Gian Carlo Menotti. Although that name doesn’t sound American, this Italian immigrated to the United States in 1928 at the age of 17 to study at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. For the rest of his life, he spent most of his time in the United States, although he always retained his Italian citizenship.
‘Amelia Goes to the Ball’
“Amelia Goes to the Ball” is considered Menotti’s first mature opera, but it wasn’t his first foray into the genre. He wrote both the words and music for his first opera in 1922 at age 11, “The Death of Pierrot.” Two years later, he wrote his second opera, “The Little Mermaid,” which is lost. Since he was living and studying in Italy at the time, both of these works were in Italian.By the time he wrote “Amelia Goes to the Ball,” he had been exposed to other cultures. He graduated from Curtis Institute in the spring of 1933 and spent that summer in Austria. While staying in a small village on Lake Wolfgang, he started writing the libretto for “Amelia al Ballo.”
The story was inspired by the Baroness von Montechivsky, whom he had met in Vienna earlier that summer. He worked on the score during the next four years, while continuing to study composition in Europe. Among his teachers during this time was French composer Nadia Boulanger. It wasn’t until he returned to the United States in 1937 that he finished the opera’s score.
“Amelia Goes to the Ball” received its world premiere on April 1, 1937, at the Philadelphia Academy of Music with a staging by Menotti’s alma mater. However, Philadelphia needed Menotti’s neo-Italianate romantic comedy translated into English. Although Menotti wrote the English libretti for his subsequent operas, George Mead wrote the translation for this work, and Menotti made slight musical alterations to fit the new words.
In Italian, “Amelia al Ballo” is an opera buffa (comic opera) in the style of Puccini’s “Gianni Schicchi.” It’s funny in English, but the words are harder for the singers to make understandable than in later Menotti works. The Romantic Italian language is very different than the Germanic English, so Italian operas can be almost indecipherable when translated to English.
The Work Itself
“Amelia Goes to the Ball” features seven soloist roles and a chorus that enters at the end. The featured characters are Amelia (soprano), her Husband (baritone), her Lover (tenor), her Friend (contralto), two Chambermaids (both mezzo-sopranos), and a Chief of Police (bass). The opera takes place in Milan around the year 1910. The story is zany but simplistic.Amelia scrambles to get ready for the season’s first ball, aided by two maids, while her friend waits impatiently. Suddenly, her husband barges in with a letter revealing that she has been meeting another man. When he agrees to take her to the ball, Amelia reveals that her paramour is their mustachioed upstairs neighbor. As the husband goes to avenge himself with a pistol, Amelia calls to her lover from the balcony, and he scrambles down the lattice to her aid. She refuses his offer to run away together because the ball is her priority.
When her husband returns, he quickly discovers the lover’s hiding place. His gun jams, so the two men sit down to have a polite conversation about the situation’s legal ramifications while Amelia grows increasingly frustrated. She eventually hits her husband over the head with a vase, knocking him out. Her cries for help summon the chief of police, who buys her story that her lover is a burglar. As the distraught Lothario is hauled away in handcuffs, Amelia tricks the policeman into taking her to the ball.
A Comic Piece
Operas are famous, or rather infamous, for featuring a lot of romantic intrigue and infidelity. However, what detractors of the art form overlook is that most operas have a very strong moral message. Indiscretions are usually mentioned rather than shown, and they have drastic consequences. Adulterers and harlots usually meet with tragic, violent ends.At first glance, “Amelia Goes to the Ball” might seem like an exception to this rule. The opera ends with an upbeat chorus of onlookers happily singing, “At last Amelia’s off to the ball!” This final chorus proclaims the moral of the story as follows: “If woman sets her heart upon a ball, then that’s where she’ll go!”
Amelia isn’t to be taken seriously. She’s a comic exaggeration whose pursuit isn’t for a younger or more attractive man than her husband but an escort to the ball!
Gian Carlo Menotti set the pattern for his future career with “Amelia Goes to the Ball.” While this work isn’t one of his most memorable, its success secured his role in the American opera scene. With it, he introduced the prototype for the hour-long or shorter chamber opera, which featured a small cast, simplistic sets and costumes, and a witty story. Like all Menotti operas, the libretto is clever, however not as thought-provoking as his others.
