Reader Lockhart suggested that I post the legendary Christmas opera
Amahl and the Night Visitors this season, and I am happy to comply. Actually, Lockhart was looking both for this first recording and the stereo remake. I thought I had a copy of the latter edition, but it didn't turn up during a recent foray into the files, so we'll have to be content with this recording of the original cast.
Amahl was an important work - it was the first opera written for television, the first presented by the NBC Opera Theatre, and was immediately popular, so much so that it was repeated annually for many years.
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| Gian Carlo Menotti |
The words and music for the 45-minute work were the inspiration of the 40-year-old composer
Gian Carlo Menotti, already famous for his early works
The Old Maid and the Thief, commissioned by NBC for the radio, and
The Medium and
The Telephone, which had been presented on Broadway. His first full-length opera,
The Consul, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1950.
In the booklet included with this record (scans are in the download), Menotti says that his inspiration for
Amahl was seeing Bosch's painting
The Adoration of the Magi, depicted on the cover above, in the Metropolitan Museum.
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| Amahl and his mother, as the Three Kings approach upstage |
NBC presented the opera on Christmas Eve, 1951. The lead roles of Amahl, a shepherd boy, and his mother were taken by Chet Allen and Rosemary Kuhlmann, both excellent in this recording, which was made in January 1952. Allen, a former member of the Columbus Boychoir, later appeared in films and on television, but did not make a successful transition to adult actor. He committed suicide at age 45. Kuhlmann had been in
The Consul and
Music in the Air on Broadway, and continued to appear in both opera and musical theater - including replacing
Shannon Bolin as Meg in the national tour of
Damn Yankees. She was always identified with her role in
Amahl, however.
The televised production of
Amahl and this recording were conducted by the 21-year-old Thomas Schippers, who became closely associated with the music of both Menotti and Samuel Barber. He was highly regarded for his work with opera, but his neglected orchestral recordings are worthwhile as well. I hope to present some of them in the future.
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| Thomas Schippers |
This recording is exceptionally well performed and recorded, and fully deserves the fame accorded to it as a memento of the first performance. The 26-page booklet includes a synopsis and the libretto, in addition to Menotti's notes. I've also included a
Life magazine article with photos from the 1952 City Center Opera production, which includes the production image above and several others.
Life proclaimed the work a "Christmas classic," and so it is. What a time that was for the arts in America.
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| Amahl and the Kings |
