The Most Important Man

The Most Important Man
Opera by Gian Carlo Menotti
The composer in 1944
LibrettistGian Carlo Menotti
LanguageEnglish
Premiere
March 12, 1971 (1971-03-12)
New York City Opera

The Most Important Man is an opera in three acts with music and libretto by Gian Carlo Menotti. Commissioned by Julius Rudel for the New York City Opera, the work premiered at Lincoln Center in 1971 in a production directed by Menotti with sets designed by Oliver Smith and costumes by Frank Thompson.[1][2] An opera focusing on racial tensions in Africa with a central black hero, the work was poorly received by most critics.[3] However, Menotti personally believed that this was one of his best operas on par with The Consul and The Saint of Bleecker Street.[3] The work's first European performance was at the Teatro Lirico Giuseppe Verdi in Trieste, Italy, on January 17, 1972.[4] The opera uses Menotti's characteristic lyrical style which is inspired by Puccini and the Italian verismo opera tradition. In this work he infuses African percussion and rhythms, much in the way Puccini infused Asian inspired melodies and musical practices into his opera Madama Butterfly.[1]

  1. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference nyt was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Bruce, Archibald; Barnes, Jennifer (2001). "Menotti, Gian Carlo". In Stanley Sadie; John Tyrrell (eds.). The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (2nd ed.). London: Macmillan.
  3. ^ a b Donald L. Hixon (2000). Gian Carlo Menotti: A Bio-bibliography. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 10. ISBN 0-313-26139-3.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Griffel was invoked but never defined (see the help page).