Gian carlo menotti biography of barack

Menotti opera character - crossword

Although he often referred to himself as an American composer, he kept his Italian citizenship. In he commenced a Melbourne Spoleto Festival in Australia , but he withdrew after three years. Born in Cadegliano-Viconago , Italy, near Lake Maggiore and the Swiss border, Menotti was the sixth of eight children of Alfonso and Ines Menotti, [ 2 ] his father being a coffee merchant.

Menotti began writing songs when he was seven years old, and at eleven wrote both the libretto and music for his first opera, The Death of Pierrot. He began his formal musical training at Milan 's Verdi Conservatory in Following her husband's death, Ines Menotti went to Colombia in a futile attempt to salvage the family's coffee business.

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Armed with a letter of introduction from the wife of Arturo Toscanini , Gian Carlo studied composition at Curtis under Rosario Scalero. The latter became Menotti's partner in life and in work, with Menotti crafting the libretto for Barber's most famous opera, Vanessa , which premiered at the Metropolitan Opera in After graduation, the two men bought a house together in Mount Kisco, New York , which they named "Capricorn" and shared for over forty years.

The Island God which he suppressed, though its libretto was printed by the Metropolitan Opera and can be found in many libraries and The Last Savage were the only other operas he wrote in Italian , the rest being in English. Like Wagner , he wrote the libretti of all his operas. His most successful works were composed in the s and s.

Menotti also taught at the Curtis Institute of Music. Music critic Joel Honig served as his personal secretary during the late s. For three weeks each summer, Spoleto is visited by nearly a half-million people. Menotti was the artistic director during the period of , but after three festivals there, he decided to withdraw — and took the naming rights with him.

While he was in Melbourne, however, he put the finishing touches to his opera Goya.