Gian Carlo Menotti

The Medium: Monica’s Waltz

By the time Italian-born composer and librettist Gian Carlo Menotti (jahn KAHR-lo muh-NAHT-ee,1911-2007) immigrated to America at age 16 he had already written two operas (the first at age 11), and before he turned fifty he had composed the first-ever opera for radio (The Old Maid and the Thief, 1939), had won two Pulitzer Prizes, for The Consul (1950) and The Saint of Bleeker Street (1954), and had written the libretto for Vanessa (1956-57), the Pulitzer Prize-winning opera by Samuel Barber (1910-1981). He also wrote the first opera for television, Amahl and the Night Visitors (1951), and one would be hard pressed to name another English-language opera that is better known than this perennial Christmas favorite. Mr. Menotti, who once quipped about critics, “They often spoil my breakfast but never my lunch,” passed away just this past February, at the ripe old age of 95.

The hour-long and darkly-dramatic The Medium (1946) was the work that first brought Menotti international fame—coupled with the composer’s sunny comedy, The Telephone (1947), the pair of operas ran on Broadway for over 200 performances. The Medium’s “Madame Flora” is a moribund charlatan (in need of an intervention) who uses her daughter, “Monica,” and a mute orphan, “Toby,” to fake the seemingly supernatural effects her séance customers witness—until alcohol, guilt and fear ferment into a deadly brew. In Monica’s Waltz, the isolated daughter, as innocent as her mother is cynical, playfully enacts a mock-romantic exchange between herself and Toby. But as Monica gives voice to what she imagines Toby might say to her, she tenderly realizes it’s not just a game.

--Intermezzo Sunday Concerts, November 18, 2007 (Bella Voce Cabaret)