Menotti for kids: his life, his music, and what to play first

Gian Carlo Menotti was a composer who lived from 1911 to 2007. He was born in Italy and did most of his work in the United States. He wrote operas in English, with stories that ordinary audiences could follow, and he wrote the words as well as the music. Schools, churches, and opera companies stage his Christmas opera, Amahl and the Night Visitors, each December. It is the best first piece for a child.

Quick facts

• Born: 1911, in Cadegliano, a village in northern Italy
• Died: 2007, in Monaco
• Era: Modern
• Played: piano
• Known for: Amahl and the Night Visitors, The Medium, The Telephone, and The Consul

The life in short

Menotti grew up in a large, comfortable family. His mother loved music and saw that her children learned to play. Gian Carlo began writing songs at seven.

He had a puppet theater at home, and he wrote stories and music for his puppets. At 11, he wrote his first opera for them.

As a boy, he studied at the music school in Milan. At 17, his mother took him to America to study at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. He spoke little English when he arrived. A fellow student, Samuel Barber, became his partner in life and work, and the two shared a house for many years.

His first grown-up opera, a comedy, was a success when he was 25. It was performed at the Metropolitan Opera in New York the next year.

Menotti liked to try new places for opera. He wrote one for radio in 1939. He put two short operas on Broadway, in a regular theater, where they ran for months. In 1951, he wrote Amahl for television.

He won the Pulitzer Prize twice, both times for operas.

In 1958, he started a summer arts festival in the old hill town of Spoleto, in Italy. He called it the Festival of Two Worlds, for Europe and America. Later he started a sister festival in Charleston, South Carolina. Both are still held.

He kept his Italian citizenship all his life and died at 95.

What the music sounds like

Menotti wanted opera to be theater. He wrote tunes that singers can sing and audiences can hum, in the tradition of Puccini. The words are in plain English and are easy to catch.

He picked stories about people of his own time: a woman on the telephone, a family trying to get papers to leave their country, a boy with a crutch. The music follows the feelings of the story.

Pieces to play first

Amahl and the Night Visitors. A poor boy and his mother give shelter to three kings on their way to Bethlehem. It lasts under an hour. Read the full guide: Amahl and the Night Visitors for kids.

“This is my box,” from Amahl. King Kaspar’s funny song about his box of treasures.

The Telephone. A comedy of about 25 minutes. A man tries to propose to a woman, and her telephone keeps ringing. In the end, he goes out and calls her.

Shepherds’ dance, from Amahl. Lively dance music for the neighbors who come to see the kings.

Operas he wrote for children

Menotti wrote several operas with children in mind. In Help, Help, the Globolinks!, creatures from outer space invade, and only the sound of music can stop them. He wrote Chip and His Dog for a children’s choir in Canada to perform.

Things to do together

Opera on the phone. Play a few minutes of The Telephone. Then act out your own scene in which someone keeps getting interrupted, and sing the lines.

Puppet opera. Menotti began with puppets. Use toys or sock puppets to act out a story, and make up a tune for each one.

What is in the box? Play “This is my box.” Draw a box with three drawers and fill them with treasures of your own.

Words and music. Menotti wrote his own stories. Ask your child to write four lines of a story and then sing them on any notes they like.

Two friends

Menotti and Samuel Barber met as students and lived and worked side by side for decades. Menotti wrote the story and words for Barber’s opera Vanessa. Read Samuel Barber for kids.

Print and play

Fill in a composer study notebook page for Menotti. To learn how opera works, read opera for kids. For another opera that suits December, read Hansel and Gretel, the opera, for kids.

For more composers by era, see classical composers for kids.