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
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.
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.
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.
people whether
People ask me whether I'm religious. Well, in a certain way, I am.
opera university
Now, all of a sudden, every college and every university has an opera theater. Every little city has its little group.
became doctors madonna miraculous nanny pictures priest pulled took
As a little boy of 3 or 4, I became lame. Something was wrong with my right leg. There are pictures of me being pulled around in a little wagon. The doctors didn't know what to do. So my nanny took me to the miraculous Madonna at Sacro Monte in Varese, the priest blessed me, and I walked.
felt fifties suffered
The creation of Spoleto was a social experiment. Because I've always suffered guilt from being a Catholic, when I was in my fifties I felt a need of being needed.
dead die everybody feeling found rediscover waiting
I have the feeling that everybody was waiting for me to die so they could rediscover me. Then they found out I'm not dead yet, so they are rediscovering me while I'm still alive.
beethoven chopin schubert though time
I really don't think I have that much of the gift; I have a little bit, but I wish I were Schubert or Chopin or Beethoven, though Beethoven had a very difficult time writing melody, too.
love charity born
Love is born of faith, lives on hope, and dies of charity.
opera composer feels
Any subject is good for opera if the composer feels it so intently he must sing it out.
love heart space
I know of no better definition of love than the one given by Proust - Love is space and time measured by the heart.
remembrance quality ears
Melody is a form of remembrance. It must have a quality of inevitability in our ears.
dream waiting destroyed
Waiting and hoping are the whole of life, and as soon as a dream is realized it is destroyed.