Two Gian Carlo Menotti

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The Themes and Characters in Gian Carlo Menotti 's Operas

Amahl and the Night Visitors

Amahl and the Night Visitors is an opera composed of only one act and was created by the Italian composer and writer Gian Carlo Menotti . First presented in 1951 , the opera was actually created for television and was aired on the said year by the TV network NBC . From that year forward Amahl and the Night Visitors was staged annually , specifically during Christmas in commemoration to the date of its

first airing on television , December 24 , 1951 at the NBC studios . As of now , Menotti 's creation is considered as a Christmas classic

The story opened in the house of Amahl , a young , limp boy who lives near Bethlehem with his mother during the first century . Although the boy has a good heart , his mother scarcely believes in his stories because most of them were not true . Until one day , Amahl told her mother that a star as big as a window (Menotti ) is up on the sky . Knowing that her son is lying , the mother did not believe to the story . However , later that night , their house was disturbed by a knock from unexpected visitors - King Kaspar , King Melchior , and King Balthazar , also known as the Magi They told the two about their voyage and asked if they could stay for the night . An unexpected thing happened , though , when the mother attempted to steal their gold gifts . King Melchior , finding that poverty was the real reason behind the mother 's action , forgave her and let her keep the gold . Amahl tried to send his thanks to Christ by giving his clutch . With this action , Amahl was healed and travelled with the Magi to personally thank the Christ

The Characters

Amahl , being the main character of the opera , has portrayed a colorful and exciting personality all throughout the story . His left foot was lame , and yet he remained to be a cheerful son with a vast and unusual imagination . Amahl 's salient characteristic was his way of telling his tales , which are most of the time regarded as lies by his mother . Once he told his mother about a leopard with a head of a lady . He maybe exaggerating his stories but that characteristic of his is an indication of how vast his imagination is . It could also be said that Amahl possesses an exceptional intellectual ability for he already knows the story of the Sphinx

Although poor , Amahl was presented in the opera as a boy with a loving heart , especially for his mother . He kept telling her mother that as long as he has his pipe , they would never be hungry for he knows to play sweet tunes to set people dancing (Menotti . This characteristic of Amahl was also the same characteristic that had seen probably by the Magi that 's why they forgave his mother when she attempted to steal from them . It could be concluded that the...