No matter what the reasons were for Spoleto USA and Gian Carlo Menotti parting ways back in the early 1990’s, you just can’t get much beyond the fact that without him, the festival simply wouldn’t be here. And for folks (like me) who stick around this town in large part due to Spoleto (and other artistic attractions), that calls for some serious gratitude. Bitter though the divorce may have been at the time, our late founder deserves all the kudos we can muster in this year of his passing. Let’s leave the carping (and the blame) for the history books.
By the time of Menotti’s passing last winter, at age 95, he was known as the 20th Century’s most prolific composer of opera – though he’ll never be classed alongside Italian forbears like Verdi and Puccini. He’ll be remembered for the handful of his best short operas – like The Medium and The Telephone. And then there’s Amahl and the Night Visitors, a touching Christmas story that made his fame. And it’ll be Christmas in May this year (the 30th), as Piccolo Spoleto has a concert version of Amahl in store for us. But I’m going to leave it to our Piccolo Prowler, Robert Bondurant, to blog at you about that event in greater detail.
The College of Charleston will add their own Piccolo tribute, in the form of a May 28 noontime performance of The Medium – a reprise of the successful performance they staged back in February of this year. Part of the Young Artists Series, it features a darned good all-student cast – though you’ll have to settle for two pianos playing the orchestral part.
But we have some subtler Menotti memorials in store, too – like in Charles Wadsworth’s Bank of America Chamber Series. The Dock Street Theatre will be the scene of a number of smaller-scale tributes, beginning with the series opener (May 25 & 26). It’ll feature soprano Courtenay Budd in a pair of his better-known opera arias, plus a rarely heard piece for two pianos & cello that Wadsworth actually commissioned from him. The same program will include a spiffy arrangement of Smetana’s The Moldau for solo harp (yup, played by series sweetheart Catrin Finch) and will end with the B-Major piano trio by Johannes Brahms. Eargasm potential is high throughout.
Wadsworth’s other major tribute won’t come ‘til the series’ final program (June 9 & 10), when Franz Schubert’s very great String Quintet in C Major is scheduled. Anyone who knows the piece understands why he chose it: I want folks to play at least its first two movements at my funeral someday (may it be long in coming). No person could ask for a nobler musical memorial. It’s entirely fitting that we should fondly remember Menotti – the founder of this cherished chamber feast and so much more – to the sublime, heartbreaking strains of Schubert’s greatest chamber masterpiece.
More about a related series theme – plus further Dock Street program disclosures and personnel changes – in future posts.
