Intolleranza 1960 (Intolerance 1960) is a one-act opera in two parts (azione scenica in due tempi) by Luigi Nono, and is dedicated to his father-in-law, Arnold Schoenberg.
The Italian libretto was written by Nono from an idea by Angelo Maria Ripellino,[1] using documentary texts and poetry by Julius Fučík, Reportage unter dem Strang geschrieben [reportage written under the gallows];[2] Henri Alleg, "La question" ("The Torture"); Jean-Paul Sartre's introduction to Alleg's poem; Paul Éluard's poem "Liberté";[3] "Our march" by Vladimir Mayakovsky; and Bertolt Brecht's "To Posterity" ("An die Nachgeborenen" [de]).
Intolleranza 1960 was Luigi Nono's first work for the opera stage and is a flaming protest against intolerance and oppression and the violation of human dignity.
Nono himself said of this work that it "did mark a beginning for me, but in no sense did it constitute a tabula rasa or in response to 'divine inspiration'".
)[6] A performance by the Boston Opera in 1964 was suppressed by the John Birch Society and other right-wing activists.
It was subsequently presented the following year, with Maderna conducting Sarah Caldwell's production, with Beverly Sills in the cast.
Fabrice Fitch has commented that this work has "no plot as such", but rather consists of a series of scenes that illustrate aspects of intolerance.
After several experiences of intolerance and domination, he is beginning to rediscover human relations, between himself and others, when he is swept away in a flood with other people.
The absurdities of contemporary life, such as the bureaucracy – for example, "registration required", "Documents are the soul of the state", "certify, authenticate, notarize" – and sensational newspaper headlines like "mother of thirteen children was a man" increase, and the scene ends with a big explosion.
2nd scene: a meeting between a refugee and his companion A silent crowd suffers from the impression of the slogans and the explosion.
When a woman begins to speak out against war and disaster, it appears to the emigrant as a source of hope in his solitude.
3rd scene: Projections of episodes of terror and fanaticism To the hero appears the woman he has left in the mining village, and this confuses him.