Setting: Judea around the birth of Christ: Amahl, a paralysed 12-year-old boy, is paid a visit one night by the Three Wise Men, which leads in due course to his miraculous healing. – AMAHL AND THE NIGHT VISITORS by Gian Carlo Menotti is the first-ever opera to be written entirely for television. The premiere of the work came in the form of a live broadcast on 24^th December 1951 at NBC Studios, New York. In English-speaking regions it has become a regular feature in the Christmas schedules. In December 2000, in his last production shortly before his death, Götz Friedrich, Artistic Director of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, directed the work on our main stage. Singing the role of King Kaspar on that occasion was Peter Maus, an ensemble member of many years standing (pictured centre), who died in June of this year. This Christmas, for his family, we want to light a candle in silent remembrance of him.

Götz Friedrich during rehearsals for AMAHL AND THE NIGHT VISITORS, his last stage production ever. The long-time general director of the Deutsche Oper Berlin died on 12 December 2000, a few days after the premiere, which he was already unable to attend due to illness. © Kranichphoto, 2000

 

The booklet with the original cast recording contains the following anecdote

This is an opera for children because it tries to recapture my own childhood. You see, when I was a child I lived in Italy, and in Italy we have no Santa Claus. I suppose that Santa Claus is much too busy with American children to be able to handle Italian children as well. Our gifts were brought to us by the Three Kings, instead.

I actually never met the Three Kings—it didn't matter how hard my little brother and I tried to keep awake at night to catch a glimpse of the Three Royal Visitors, we would always fall asleep just before they arrived. But I do remember hearing them. I remember the weird cadence of their song in the dark distance; I remember the brittle sound of the camel's hooves crushing the frozen snow; and I remember the mysterious tinkling of their silver bridles.

My favorite king was King Melchior, because he was the oldest and had a long white beard. My brother's favorite was King Kaspar. He insisted that this king was a little crazy and quite deaf. I don't know why he was so positive about his being deaf. I suspect it was because dear King Kaspar never brought him all the gifts he requested. He was also rather puzzled by the fact that King Kaspar carried the myrrh, which appeared to him as a rather eccentric gift, for he never quite understood what the word meant.

To these Three Kings I mainly owe the happy Christmas seasons of my childhood and I should have remained very grateful to them. Instead, I came to America and soon forgot all about them, for here at Christmas time one sees so many Santa Clauses scattered all over town. Then there is the big Christmas tree in Rockefeller Plaza, the elaborate toy windows on Fifth Avenue, the one-hundred-voice choir in Grand Central Station, the innumerable Christmas carols on radio and television—and all these things made me forget the three dear old Kings of my old childhood.

But in 1951 I found myself in serious difficulty. I had been commissioned by the National Broadcasting Company to write an opera for television, with Christmas as deadline, and I simply didn't have one idea in my head. One November afternoon as I was walking rather gloomily through the rooms of the Metropolitan Museum, I chanced to stop in front of the Adoration of the Kings by Hieronymus Bosch, and as I was looking at it, suddenly I heard again, coming from the distant blue hills, the weird song of the Three Kings. I then realized they had come back to me and had brought me a gift.

I am often asked how I went about writing an opera for television, and what are the specific problems that I had to face in planning a work for such a medium. I must confess that in writing "Amahl and the Night Visitors," I hardly thought of television at all. As a matter of fact, all my operas are originally conceived for an ideal stage which has no equivalent in reality, and I believe that such is the case with most dramatic authors.

— Gian-Carlo Menotti

The cast list for the premiere on 8 December 2000

 

Thomas Timmer as Amahl at the premiere on 8 December 2000, pictured here with Igor Jedlin in the role of the Magician. © Kranichphoto, 2000

 

Watch the complete television recording of the opera AMAHL AND THE NIGHT VISITORS from 24 December 1951 here - Behind the link to Youtube.com

Final scene of the production under the starry sky. © Kranichphoto, 2000