Amahl and the Night Visitors

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Music reviews of Amahl and the Night Visitors

Music Review: This work captures the true meaning of gift-giving at Xmas
Rating: 5 Stars

The grasp that Menotti has on the deeper meaning of life and events is remarkable. While many will be satisfied to look at the surface story of this opera--a cripple boy is cured because of his faith--I find Menotti's view of "faith" to be unique and awe-inspiring in its simplicity.

Amahl is not thinking of himself when he is cured. In his poverty he wants to send a gift to the Christ-child, but having nothing, he thinks that just in case He might need a crutch, he will send his, that he made himself. "He just might need it," he sings, thinking not of himself, but of the need of the Christ-child. It is in this self-forgetting action that the cure comes--in his thinking of the needs of others, not of his personal needs. He is asking nothing for himself. It is in that moment of giving that he receives. A most perceptive awe-inspiring conception for a dramatic piece.

I love this opera. Have seen it on stage in New York, and in local productions. I never tire of the insight of the "miracle".

While I am at it, let me plug Menotti's "The Unicorn, the Gorgon, and the Manticore," another "divine insight" creation by the master.

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