Gian Carlo Menotti (/məˈnɒti/, Italian: [ˈdʒaŋ ˈkarlo meˈnɔtti]; July 7, 1911 – February 1, 2007) was an Italian-American composer, librettist, director, and playwright who is primarily known for his output of 25 operas.

[3] Highly influenced by Giacomo Puccini and Modest Mussorgsky, Menotti further developed the verismo tradition of opera in the post-World War II era.

[3][4] Rejecting atonality and the aesthetic of the Second Viennese School, Menotti's music is characterized by expressive lyricism which carefully sets language to natural rhythms in ways that highlight textual meaning and underscore dramatic intent.

Many of Menotti's operas enjoyed successful runs on Broadway, including two Pulitzer Prize winning works, The Consul (1950) and The Saint of Bleecker Street (1955).

[5] A child prodigy, Gian Carlo began writing compositions when he was seven years old, and at eleven wrote both the libretto and music for his first opera, The Death of Pierrot.

This work was performed as a home puppet show, a passion that occupied Gian Carlo's youth after he was introduced to the art by his older brother Pier Antonio.

[6] He spent three years studying at the conservatory during which time he frequently attended operas at La Scala which cemented his lifetime love for the artform.

Armed with a letter of introduction from the wife of Arturo Toscanini, the teenager Gian Carlo studied composition at Curtis under Rosario Scalero.

Commissioned by the Alice M. Ditson Fund, this fourth opera premiered at Columbia University and then transferred to a critically successful run on Broadway at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre in 1947.

[4][18] The Medium was also made into a motion picture in 1951 starring Marie Powers and Anna Maria Alberghetti and competed in the 1952 Cannes Film Festival.

[4] In the midst of this success, Menotti also composed music for the 1948 ballet Errand in the Maze for the Martha Graham Dance Company, and wrote two screenplays for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer which were ultimately never developed into films.

[5] His notable pupils included composers Olga Gorelli,[20] Lee Hoiby,[21] Stanley Hollingsworth,[22] Leonard Kastle,[23] George Rochberg,[24] and Luigi Zaninelli.

[25] The 1950s marked the pinnacle of Menotti's critical acclaim, beginning with his first full-length opera, The Consul, which premiered on Broadway at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre in 1950.

American soprano Patricia Neway starred as the tormented protagonist Magda Sorel, for which she won the Donaldson Award for Best Actress in a Musical in 1950.

[4] In 1951, Menotti wrote his Christmas opera Amahl and the Night Visitors for NBC which was inspired by Hieronymus Bosch's painting Adoration of the Magi (c.

Commissioned by the Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Foundation, the work premiered at the Library of Congress in 1956 and was then staged by the New York City Ballet with dancers Nicholas Magallanes and Arthur Mitchell in 1957.

Although not initially conceived as a work for the stage, the opera premiered in a live theatrical performance on June 3, 1964, at the Bristol Cathedral for the opening of the 17th annual Bath International Music Festival.

[4] That same year Menotti's song cycle Canti della lontananza was given its premiere at Hunter College by soprano Elisabeth Schwarzkopf for whom the work was written.

[16][34] Barber had battled depression and alcoholism following the harsh critical reaction to his 1966 opera Antony and Cleopatra which had a negative impact on his creative productivity and his relationship with Menotti.

[40] Filmed for national broadcast on PBS, the piece is Menotti's most autobiographical work with the text consisting of personal memories and incidents of the composer's own life in America.

[42] These festivals were intended to bring opera to a popular audience and helped launch the careers of such artists as singer Shirley Verrett and choreographers Paul Taylor and Twyla Tharp.

[45] His last opera for adults, The Wedding Day, premiered in Seoul, South Korea, in conjunction with the 1988 Summer Olympics conducted by Daniel Lipton.

[50] Menotti's style was particularly influenced by Giacomo Puccini and Modest Mussorgsky, and he further developed the verismo tradition of opera in the post-World War II era.

[3][4] Rejecting atonality and the aesthetic of the Second Viennese School, his music is characterized by expressive lyricism which carefully sets language to natural rhythms in ways that highlight textual meaning and underscore dramatic intent.

[4] A composer who purposefully chose to cater to the tastes of the general public, his use of tonal melodies often had a modal flavor, frequently used sequence and repetition; they are easily remembered.

[4]While principally writing in the verismo style, Menotti did use some newer 20th century harmonic techniques and language when they served the dramatic intent of his works.

His early career was mainly marked by critical and commercial success, with the operas Amelia Goes to the Ball (1937), The Old Maid and the Thief (1939), The Medium (1946), The Telephone (1947), The Consul (1950), Amahl and the Night Visitors (1951), and The Saint of Bleecker Street (1954) all demonstrating popular appeal and overall favorable reviews.

[52][4] In contrast, Joseph Kerman wrote in the 1956 edition of his widely read Opera as Drama, "Menotti is a trivial artist, a sensationalist in the old style, and in fact a weak one, diluting the faults of Strauss and Puccini with none of their fugitive virtues.

But for sheer theatrical craft and human curiosity, sustained by his own complex emotional make-up, Menotti created a telling verismo of the Second World War era.

[57] In 2010, the main theatre in Spoleto was renamed as the Teatro Nuovo Gian Carlo Menotti to honour his role as creator and spirit of the festival.