Word: libretto
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...libretto deals with the misogynist philosopher Don Alfonso who incites two young officers, Ferrando and Guglielmo, to betting on the faithfulness of their lovers while they’re away. They part with their sweethearts in heartbreaking fashion, only soon to return in disguise as exotic Albanians, and even sooner to discover, to their dismay and Don Alfonso’s cynical satisfaction, how easily their lovers are lured into the traps of new temptation...
Sendak decided to revive the opera. He asked Pulitzer-prizewinning playwright Tony Kushner (Angels in America) to write a new libretto. Kushner, immediately drawn to what he calls the opera's "timeless message of the necessity to stand up to bullies," was also enchanted by the appealing staccato of the Czech language and has folded some of its nuances into his new version. In an earlier English version, the names Aninku and Pepicek became Annette and Little Joe, cutting out delicious linguistic details from the piece. "It sounded like a 1950s biker film," says Kushner...
After drama, VI-4 turned to lighter motifs, as exemplified in The Courting of Montebravado (music by Alexander S. Ness ’04 and libretto by Andrew B. Pacelli ’03). The fifteen minute opera is set in four short scenes that mimick and make fun of the traditional Italian court opera. The Italian names are unseemly and the plot deals with true love impeded by money-loving clergy and arranged marriage, which is ultimately saved by murder. The story is quite obviously a farce—and an entertaining one, especially in light of the fact...
...program concluded with a fascinating opera entitled Dr. Magic, the only libretto not written by an undergraduate, performed as an oratorio with minimal stage movement. The premise of Dr. Magic, written by Joyce Carol Oates with music by composer Carson P. Cooman ’04, derives directly from the hero of the title, a crafty magician. Dr. Magic invites a couple to the stage as volunteers and his interaction and experimentation on them scratch the seemingly ideal surface of their lives together...
Cooman’s music is tonally striking and rhythmically driven in a way that lends the opera surprising immediacy. Tonal contrast and dynamic changes fit the libretto perfectly, and still manages to avoidspredictability entirely. The listener is forced to move along with the opera’s fluctuations and pangs of emotion, such that at the end the audience aches for some peaceful resolution...