Menotti: Goya

Menotti: Goya

Menotti: Goya
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Composer: Gian Carlo Menotti
Conductor: Steven Mercurio
Orchestra: Spoleto Festival Orchestra
Performer: Andrew Wentzel
Performer: Angela Adams
Performer: Boaz Senator
Performer: Cesar Hernandez
Performer: Karen Nickell
Performer: Penelope Daner
Performer: Suzanna Guzmán
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2005-03-08
Music Label: Opera D'oro
Soundtracks:
Music CD 1
  1. I. 'Brucia L'Annuncio' - The Westminister Choir
  2. II. Ma, Dimmi...Non L'Hai Vista? - Cesar Hernandez
  3. III. 'Frotte D'Angeli In Volo - Cesar Hernandez
  4. IV. 'Hai Sentito? - Cesar Hernandez
  5. V. Intermezzo - Spoleto Festival Orchestra
  6. VI. 'Aspetta Qua' - Angela Adams
  7. VII. Intermezzo: 'Guarda Che Faccia!' - The Westminster Choir
  8. VIII. 'Ora Che Siam Soli' - Cesar Hernandez
  9. IX. 'Ridi Se Vuoi' - Cesar Hernandez
  10. X. 'Cosi Finisci Il Ritratto?' - Suzanna Guzman
  11. I. 'No, No, No!' - Penelope Daner
  12. II. 'Cosa Succede?' - Andrew Wentzel
  13. III. 'Arrivano I Reali' - Andrew Wentzel
  14. IV. 'Sua Maesta Ordina' - Andrew Wentzel
Music CD 2
  1. I. 'Signora Duchessa' - Boaz Senator
  2. II. 'Son Nemici Odio E Amor' - Suzanna Guzman
  3. III. 'Oh! Mia Povera Cayetana' - Peneloope Daner
  4. IV. 'Oh Dio! - Penelope Daner
  5. V. 'Tku Desti Vita' - Cesar Hernandez
  6. VI. Intermezzo - Spoleto Festival Orchestra
  7. VII. 'Ecco, Il Genio' - Karen Nickell
  8. VIII. 'Teresa! Maria! Rosario! Antonia!' - Cesar Hernandez
  9. IX. 'Chi E La? Chi E?' - Cesar Hernandez
  10. X. 'Tu Hai Visto Com'e?' - Cesar Hernandez

Music reviews of Menotti: Goya

Music Review: A good, more-or-less verismo opera written by Menotti at age 75
Rating: 5 Stars

Source: Live performance from the Spoleto Festival, 1991.

Sound: Pretty good 1990s live stereo.

Cast: Goya - Cesar Hernandez; Dona Cayetana, Duchess of Alba - Suzanna Guzman; Maria Luisa, Queen of Spain - Penelope Daner; Manuel Godoy - Andrew Wentzel; Carlos IV, King of Spain - Howard Bender; Martin Zapater - Boaz Senator; Leocadia - Karen Nickell; Innkeeper - Daniele Tonini; Maid - Angela Adams; Butler - Dominic Inferrera. Conductor - Steven Mercurio with the Spoleto Festival Orchestra and the Westminster Choir.

Format: Disk 1 - Act I, tracks 1-10; Act II, tracks 11-14; 68:18. Disk 2 - Act III, tracks 1-10; 41:35.

Text: This opera was originally written in English as a vehicle for Placido Domingo. As such, it premiered in November 1986. In 1991, Menotti revised "Goya" by reducing some specifically Domingo-esque features and shifting to the Italian text recorded on this set.

Documentation: No libretto. Brief essay on the history of Menotti and the creation of this opera. Brief summary of the plot by act. Track list identifies the main singer on each track and provides timings.

Gian Carlo Menotti (b. 1911) is the senior living opera composer and, in my opinion, a largely undervalued one. Far and away his greatest failing as a composer of operas has been that he persists in writing his own libretti, which lie in the range between adequate and abysmal.

The plot of "Goya" rates as barely adequate:

Act I: Young Goya, fresh from the provinces, has come to the court in Madrid. He becomes the butt of a practical joke in which he mistakes the Duchess of Alba for her maid. Having discovered his error, he nevertheless offers to paint her picture. By the end of the act, it is clear that the Duchess is more interested in the painter than the painting.

Act II: The Duchess, already on the Queen's black list, indulges in some spiteful infighting with Maria Luisa. Goya gets entangled between the two and is casually tossed aside by the Duchess. Approached by the King to be court painter, Goya discovers that he is losing his hearing.

Act III: Sick, the Duchess sends for Goya. Before he can arrive, the Duchess suffers a final unpleasant set-to with the Queen, deduces that she has been poisoned, and dies. . . . Years pass. . . . The old Goya, deaf, blind and near death, dreams of his past. The subjects of his paintings seem to come to life around him. In the end, the Duchess appears and assures him that his art will triumph.

For an opera named "Goya," a lot of focus is placed on Cayetana, Duchess of Alba, perhaps too much. Goya is never allowed to determine any part of his fate; he merely drifts before the wishes of others. The time shift in the middle of Act III is heavy-handed, to say the least.

Musically, the opera is mostly written in a good, solid, verismo fashion. Had it been written in 1896 or even 1906 rather than 1986, it might have come down to us as a minor masterpiece. The Duchess, in particular, has some passages that sound like they might blossom into Puccini-like gems, but Menotti chooses to let them fade away in obedience to the imperious demands of his libretto. The non-verismo portions of the piece are largely concentrated in the dream passages of Act III. There, the broken rhythms and ambiguous tonality of mid-Twentieth Century music take over. This is the one part of the opera that sounds very, very old-fashioned.

Cesar Hernandez and Susanna Guzman are excellent in the two leading roles, Goya and the Duchess. Every review I have ever seen of this opera says the same thing, and I do not intend to break ranks: Hernandez sounds remarkably like Domingo--certainly no bad thing, considering the current drought of tenors. Ms. Guzman sounds good enough to make me wish to hear her in big arias that give her a chance to take full flight.

The rest of the cast is perfectly competent, as are the conducting, orchestra and chorus.

Five stars.

Update: Gian Carlo Menotti died a few months after this was written. We are all diminished, and the era of verismo is now truly passed.

Description of Menotti: Goya

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