大象传媒

Donald Macleod introduces the music of Gian Carlo Menotti - a composer who stood apart from his age, creating delightful operas when the genre was considered nearly moribund.

Right from his childhood puppet shows, Menotti's musical talents were hard-wired to the theatre. Amongst his most successful works is Amahl and the Night Visitors, Menotti's creation of an American Christmas tradition that introduced a whole generation to the joy of opera.

Following the break-up of the composer's thirty year relationship with fellow composer Samuel Barber, Menotti opted for solitude and a total change of scene, moving from upstate New York to East Lothian where he bought Yester House, a huge, imposing Palladian mansion he fell in love with at the foot of the Lammermiur Hills. He said he went to Scotland because he loved the country and he loved silence.

Donald Macleod finishes by exploring why previously disparaging attitudes to Menotti's music have recently mellowed.