Word: bezanson
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...Christmas Eve nine years ago, Gian Carlo Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors had its premiere on NBC television, has been a seasonal fixture ever since. Last week another Christmas opera, Golden Child, was displayed on NBC's Hallmark Hall of Fame. Composed by Philip Bezanson with a libretto by Paul Engle, the new work sounded a lot like Menotti gone western-and gone weak. The music kept attempting to soar melodically, but kept being dashed to the ground again by its own heaviness. Still, the score had its stirring, lyrical moments, and Golden Child deserved credit...
...much of the time the score becomes overwrought and the lyrics contrastingly simpleminded, the two collaborators-both members of the State University of Iowa faculty-complement each other remarkably well. Poet-Professor Engle, who heads Iowa's top-rated writing workshop, had joined with Associate Professor of Music Bezanson before on-among other works-a set of tenor songs based on the poet's collection, The Word of Love. Although they would like to try another opera, they would not want to start next time without a commission. Explains Bezanson: "It takes about two years out of your...
Hallmark Hall of Fame (NBC, 8:30-10 p.m.). "The Golden Child," an original opera by Philip Bezanson and Paul Engle about greedy miners during the California gold rush, with a somewhat gratuitous Christmas theme and an ending that suggests The Turn of the Scrooge. Color...