The Last Savage
| Opera dates | |
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| Title: | The last savage |
| Original title: |
L'ultimo selvaggio / The Last Savage |
| Shape: | Opera in three acts |
| Original language: | English |
| Music: | Gian Carlo Menotti |
| Libretto : | Gian Carlo Menotti |
| Premiere: | October 21, 1963 |
| Place of premiere: | Opéra-Comique , Paris |
| Playing time: | about 2 hours |
| Place and time of the action: | Rajaputana in India and Chicago in the USA, present (1960s) |
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The Last Savage (dt .: The Last Wild , original Italian title: L'ultimo selvaggio ) is a comic opera or comic opera in three acts by Gian Carlo Menotti , who is also the libretto wrote. The premiere took place on October 21, 1963 under the French title Le dernier sauvage in the Opéra-Comique in Paris.
action
first act
Scene 1. The wealthy American, Mr. Scattergood, is visiting the wealthy Maharajah of Rajaputana with his daughter Kitty. The two brag about their possessions to each other. The conversation comes down to the number of their wives. While Mr. Scattergood has only one wife, the Maharajah has 27 of them, but 26 of these are sterile, he believes. Only his main wife, the Maharani, gave him a son, Kodanda, immediately after the wedding. The two gentlemen decide that Kitty and Kodanda should get married. Even though they know they will face resistance, they still try to persuade them. Kitty is completely absorbed in her work as an anthropologist. She hopes to find the last caveman untouched by modern civilization in India, on whom she wants to do a doctorate. Until then, marriage is out of the question for them. Kodanda, on the other hand, would prefer an Indian woman like the maid Sardula. He would only be willing to marry Kitty if she gave up her talk about science. When the maharajah tells his wife about their son's condition, she has an idea: To speed up Kitty's work, they want to hire an actor to play the wanted caveman. Sardula suggests her lover, the poor stable boy Abdul, for this role. You let him fetch. While they wait, the Maharani asks the American if he has ever been to Hong Kong - he looks somehow familiar. Abdul appears and, after some reluctance, agrees to play the prehistoric man for a reward of 100,000 dollars. He receives a dollar as an advance.
Interlude: the hunt. During her expedition into the jungle, Kitty actually succeeds in tracking down and catching the last savage (the disguised Abdul).
Scene 2. Kodanda courted Sardula despite his engagement to Kitty. However, he is rejected. The hunting party returns and Kitty proudly presents the captured Abdul. But her work does not end there: she absolutely wants to take it to Chicago, introduce it to the local community and then offer it to the New York Zoo. The Maharani asks Mr. Scattergood if he was once a Singapore, which he denies. Abdul laments his impending long separation from Sardula.
Second act
Scene 1. In Chicago, the supposed primitive man is first examined by the scientists. Then Kitty teaches him how to behave among civilized people - which includes the art of love.
Scene 2. In India, Kodanda laments his fate as the only son and heir to the throne of the Maharajah. He now has the impression that Sardula is reciprocating his love, but there is no prospect of a connection with her.
Scene 3. Since Abdul has done his job so well, Mr. Scattergood hands him a plane ticket back to India. He admits that he actually envies Abdul. Life in America with its innumerable obligations has long since become a torture for him. There is a big farewell reception to which all kinds of representatives of civilization are invited: business people, scientists, representatives of different religions, artists, etc. Kitty assures them that she will continue Abdul's training: “But with a flip of my little whip and a scientific explanation he understands every situation. He does whatever I command. ”Then each of the guests presents their respective science or art in a questionable way in order to impress Abdul. The clergy argue over questions of faith and the artists present abstract art or atonal music. Disgusted by their pettiness and hypocrisy, Abdul declares that he has nothing to do with this kind of civilization. He wants to leave this world immediately.
Third act
Immediately after his arrival in India, Abdul has retired to the jungle, where Kitty, Mr. Scattergood and the Maharajah and his entourage are looking for him. Although her father exposes the charade, Kitty desperately wants to see Abdul again because she has fallen in love with him. Kodanda tries again to win Sardula over. This time he succeeds. But Sardula has a guilty conscience towards Abdul. The Maharani and Mr Scattergood realize that they have actually met before: in their youth, they had a brief stormy relationship during a Nile cruise - the result of which is Kodanda of all things. That means, of course, that his wedding to his half-sister Kitty has to be canceled. But how should you explain that to the others? The hunters have since found Abdul and are bringing him here. The Maharajah assures him that they do not want to harm him, but only bring him the remaining $ 99,999 of his wages. However, Abdul rejects the money because it has no longer any value to him in the wild. Kitty is so impressed by this behavior that she confesses her love for him. That, in turn, is a welcome opportunity for Sardula to release him - so she can devote herself to Kodanda. Kitty declares that she wants to live in the jungle with Abdul from now on. But she secretly asks her father to provide money, servants and all possible amenities. After everyone else has left, Kitty and Abdul sing about their future life in nature.
layout
In The Last Savage , Menotti completely ignored the contemporary and critically favored musical style. He composed strictly tonally. Only at the closing ceremony in the third scene of the second act does he use atonal music in a parodic way.
Instrumentation
The orchestral line-up for the opera includes the following instruments:
- Woodwinds : three flutes (one also piccolo ), two oboes , two clarinets , bass clarinet , two bassoons , contrabassoon
- Brass : four horns , three trumpets , three trombones , tuba
- Timpani , drums
- two harps
- piano
- Strings
- Tubular bells
Work history
Menotti's The Last Savage was commissioned by the Paris Opera . Since Verdi's Don Carlos of 1867, this is the first opera commission that this institution awarded to a non-French composer. The London Times reported on the contract award on March 3, 1959. Originally the work should be called L'ultimo superuomo or Last Superman . Menotti wrote the libretto himself in Italian under the title L'ultimo selvaggio .
The world premiere took place on October 21, 1963 not in the commissioning Opéra, but in a French translation by Jean-Pierre Marty under the title Le dernier sauvage in the Opéra-Comique . Menotti himself directed. The set was designed by André Beaurepaire. Under the musical direction of Serge Baudo , Charles Clavensy (Maharajah), Xavier Depraz (Mr. Scattergood), Michele Molese (Kodanda), Mady Mesplé (Kitty), Solange Michel (Maharani), Adriana Maliponte (Sardula) and Gabriel Bacquier (Abdul ).
The opera premiered at the Metropolitan Opera New York on January 21, 1964 . Here it was played in an English translation by George Mead under the title The Last Savage . The composer took over the direction again. The set was designed by Beni Montresor . Thomas Schippers conducted. It sang Ezio Flagello (Maharaja), Morley Meredith (Mr. Scattergood) Nicolai Gedda (Kodanda), Roberta Peters (Kitty), Lili Chookasian (Maharani), Teresa Stratas (Sardula) and George London (Abdul). There were a total of 16 performances in two seasons.
The Italian premiere under the title L'ultimo selvaggio took place on May 15, 1964 at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice. Carlo Franci was the musical director. Directed by Menotti with Frank Macfie and Lamberto Puggelli. The set was designed by Lorenzo Ghiglia, Antonio Orlandini, Mario Ronchese and Camillo Parravicini. It sang Paolo Washington (Maharaja), Angelo Nosotti (Mr. Scattergood) Roberto Merolla (Kodanda), Helen Mané (Kitty), Rena Garazioti (Maharani), Adriana Mali Ponte (Sardula) and John Reardon (Abdul).
There were further performances on February 4, 1973 in the Hawaii Opera Theater in Honolulu (conductor: Robert La Marchina), on May 22, 1981 in the Gaillard Municipal Auditorium in Charleston (conductor: Christian Badea; Spoleto Festival Orchestra, Westminster Cathedral Choir), on February 24, 1982 at the Landestheater Detmold (in German as Der letzte Wilde, conductor: Edwin Scholz) and on July 7 at the Teatro Nuovo in Spoleto (conductor: Baldo Podic; Spoleto Festival Orchestra, Westminster Cathedral Choir).
The first performances were successful with the audience. However, the opera was so torn by criticism that it was only produced a few times in the following decades. In Time of November 1, 1963, for example, it said: “Menotti had fallen well below his usual mark, with a tiresome, lurching, seldom funny libretto and a derivative score that even in its academic jokes was hardly musique sérieuse. "(" Menotti fell far short of his usual standing, with a lengthy, lurching, seldom funny libretto and a derivative score that was hardly musique sérieuse even in its academic jokes . ") The January 1964 Musical Times summarized the Parisian reviews as follows : "Over three hours long, funny not a minute ... Parisian critics received [it] ... with a chorus of irately unconcealed disgust." ("For more than three hours, not a minute of funny ... Parisian reviews received it with a chorus of angry blatant disgust." Disgust. ”) Later performances also achieved positive reviews, but they were not enough to save the work's reputation. In 2006 the music critic Ulrich Schreiber wrote :
“His music, based on set pieces from Mozart to Offenbach, from Rossini to Tchaikovsky and Puccini, gives off a false independence and never gains an exhibited as if as in Stravinsky's THE RAKE'S PROGRESS . Of course, the Schickeria party, from which Menotti's last savage flees, is musically marked by what he considered to be the fall from grace of modernity: atonal music through to twelve-tone structure. "
However, Menotti himself defended his work:
“To say of a piece that it is harsh, dry, acid, and unrelenting is to praise it. While to call it sweet and graceful is to damn it. 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. "
“To say of a work that it is harsh, dry, acidic, and unyielding is to praise it. On the other hand, to call it sweet and graceful is to condemn it. For better or for worse, in The Last Savage I dared to put aside fashion dissonance completely and tried to humbly discover the nobility of grace and the pleasure of sweetness. "
In his review of the MET performance, Alan Rich of the New York Herald Tribune saw the opera in a more nuanced way. After listing the many shortcomings (“dislikable for enough reasons to fill this entire edition”), he pointed out that the performers were excellent and the audience loved the piece. His result was: “Forget for a moment that 'The Last Savage' is not going to become a page in the annals of great opera. Take it as pure enchanting, momentary entertainment and you can't lose. "(" Forget that 'The Last Savage' won't be a page in the annals of great opera. Take it as purely enchanting, passing entertainment, and You cannot lose. ")
Despite the opera's bad reputation, the Santa Fe Opera ventured into a new production in 2011 , which premiered on December 13, 2011. The singing was in English again. The staging was done by Ned Canty. The conductor was George Manahan . Thomas Hammons (Maharajah), Kevin Burdette (Mr. Scattergood), Sean Panikkar (Kodanda), Anna Christy (Kitty), Jamie Barton (Maharani), Jennifer Zetlan (Sardula) and Daniel Okulitch (Abdul) sang. The director Ned Canty described the work as follows: "Imagine if Donizetti and Puccini collaborated on the score of a Doris Day - Rock Hudson movie" ("Imagine if Donizetti and Puccini together on the score of a Doris Day-Rock Hudson- Films ”). He pointed out some similarities between the opera and these films. B. the topic of changing gender roles and the firm belief that the human being is good at heart. The comedy of the work is on the same level as in the best screwball comedies . It has been wrongly neglected over the past 50 years.
The Santa Fe Opera production was taken over by the Jacobs School of Music in November 2014, performed with a student cast in the Opera Theater of Indiana University Bloomington and made available as a video stream on the Internet.
Recordings
- Feb. 08, 1964 - Thomas Schippers (conductor).
Ezio Flagello (Maharajah), Morley Meredith (Mr. Scattergood), Nicolai Gedda (Kodanda), Roberta Peters (Kitty), Lili Chookasian (Maharani), Teresa Stratas (Sardula), George London (Abdul).
Live from the Metropolitan Opera New York; English version by George Mead.
OOA 387 (2 CD); Bensar BRO 122242 (2 CD). - 14./15. November 2014 - Constantine Kitsopoulos (conductor), Ned Canty (director), Allen Moyer (stage design and costumes), Lee Fiskness / Rick Fisher (lighting design), Kyle Lang / Sean Curran (choreography).
Students at the Jacobs School of Music.
Video; Takeover of a production for Santa Fe Opera ; live from the Indiana University Opera Theater in Bloomington; English.
Stream video on Indiana University website.
Web links
- Program of the performance by the Jacobs School of Music (PDF, English)
- Salvaging the Savaged. Information about the production of the Santa Fe Opera (PDF, English). In: Opera News Magazine , May 2011
- Patricia H. Kushlis: Menotti's "The Last Savage" Revisited. Review of the Santa Fe Opera performance. In: Whirled View of July 30, 2011
- Anthony Tommasini: Love Beats Science in a Spoof by Menotti. Review of the Santa Fe Opera performance. In: The New York Times, August 14, 2011
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Elizabeth Stoner: Program Notes. In: Program of the performance of the Jacobs School of Music, pp. 9–11.
- ^ Last Savage (L'Ultimo Selvaggio). Performance material in Luck's Music Library, accessed on May 23, 2017. Original information: "3D1.2.2 + 1.2 + 1.4.3.3.1.timp, perc, 2 hp, pf, str, chs"
- ^ Gian Carlo Menotti. Biography on musicsalesclassical.com , accessed May 24, 2017.
- ^ A b c d Donald L. Hixon: Gian Carlo Menotti: A Bio-bibliography. Greenwood Publishing Group, Westport / London 2000, ISBN 0-313-26139-3 ( limited preview in Google book search).
- ↑ October 21, 1963: “Le dernier sauvage”. In: L'Almanacco di Gherardo Casaglia ..
- ↑ January 21, 1964: "The Last Savage". In: L'Almanacco di Gherardo Casaglia ..
- ↑ a b Record of the premiere of January 23, 1964 in the Metropolitan Opera archive, accessed on May 24, 2017.
- ↑ May 15, 1964: “L'ultimo selvaggio”. In: L'Almanacco di Gherardo Casaglia ..
- ^ A b c Ned Canty: Director's Notes. In: Program of the performance of the Jacobs School of Music, p. 7.
- ^ Ulrich Schreiber : Opera guide for advanced learners. The 20th century III. Eastern and Northern Europe, branch lines on the main route, intercontinental distribution. Bärenreiter, Kassel 2006, ISBN 3-7618-1859-9 , pp. 525-526.
- ↑ December 13, 2011: "The Last Savage". In: L'Almanacco di Gherardo Casaglia ..
- ^ Karsten Steiger: Opera discography: directory of all audio and video recordings. 2nd Edition. Saur, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-598-11784-8 , p. 266 ( online in the Google book search).
- ↑ Announcement of the live stream of the Jacobs School of Music , accessed on May 24, 2017.