Gian Carlo Menotti
Gian Carlo Menotti
Gian Carlo Menottiwas an Italian-American composer and librettist. Although he often referred to himself as an American composer, he kept his Italian citizenship. He wrote the classic Christmas opera Amahl and the Night Visitors, along with over two dozen other operas intended to appeal to popular taste...
NationalityItalian
ProfessionComposer
Date of Birth7 July 1911
CountryItaly
opera composer feels
Any subject is good for opera if the composer feels it so intently he must sing it out.
buy cold italy quiet reasons relatives three time
There are three reasons why I live in Scotland. First, I like silence, and you have to be a millionaire to buy silence in Italy. Second, I like cold weather. Third, in Italy I have too many relatives and know too many people, so I never get a quiet time.
against call rather rebelled society
I rebelled against the idea of the artist being what I call the 'after-dinner mint' of society. I didn't want them to be just the entertainers, but rather part of the community - the bread, not only the dessert.
amsterdam cannot church hear italians listen melody sing
The Italians are very unmusical. If I go to a Protestant church in London or Amsterdam or listen to a black choir, I hear four-part harmony. Italians could never do that. In Italy, we all have to sing the melody because we cannot harmonise.
beethoven call human interests mozart music noblest note wonderful
The only thing that interests me in music is to be able to reach into the, let's call it, 'collective unconscious' of what is noblest in the human spirit, the way you find in the music of Mozart and Beethoven and Verdi that wonderful quality that not a note can be changed.
harder life suffer worked
I should have worked harder in my life. I suffer from a guilt complex.
artist dig god greeks stay travel
The Greeks said the artist doesn't actually have to travel and look around. You stay where God has put you, and you dig as deep as you can. This is what I've done.
asks watch
At the premieres, I always watch the audience. If a child asks to go to the bathroom, I know I've failed.
composers love
My advice to composers is, 'Try to reach 90, and everyone will love you.'
dared modest nobility rediscover
For better or for worse, in 'The Last Savage,' I have dared to do away completely with fashionable dissonance, and in a modest way, I have endeavored to rediscover the nobility of gracefulness and the pleasure of sweetness.
christmas compete nobody
One lived in the impression that nobody could ever compete with the 'Nutcracker' or 'A Christmas Carol.'
melodies
Writing beautiful melodies is not fashionable because it is very difficult to do.
gives god melody
God gives you the gift of melody or He doesn't - it's as simple as that.
score
I can sit on a chair with a score and give myself a wonderful performance.