Eric Willstaedt:

>>It's not a very trendy thing to do, but I want to wish happy 50th birthday
>>to "Amahl and the Night Visitors." It was first performed on TV, Christmas
>>Eve, 1951.
>
>You may be very fond of it, but am I the only one that is totally annoyed
>at Amahl

Probably not, since Janos refers to his like as "not very trendy." He's
probably right.

I love the work.  One great tune after another, not very easy to bring off.

>for those strident notes coming from the characters mouth?

What strident notes?  All of them?  To me, it's almost sinfully sweet -- a
guilty pleasure.

>You have the Magi all very low voiced singers next to Amahl and Mom in the
>highest registers.  aieek!

Actually, the magi are tenor, baritone, and bass -- in other words, the
"normal" range of male singers.  Mom's an alto (or maybe a mezzo), Amahl
a boy treble.  So you have essentially a "normal" spread of voice range.
The "solution" of eliminating one or the other would be absurd if you
applied it to every opera.  Indeed, most composers consider the restriction
to high or to low voices a problem.  Poulenc's Dialogues of the Carmelites,
dominated by the sound of women, has male minor characters.  Britten's
Billy Budd, dominated by male voices, has a boy treble for variety.

>anyone else like or dislike this particular work?

My problems with the work lie in the libretto.  But Verdi worked with
worse.  Libretto doesn't seem to matter in opera as much as the music.  I
can think of several very popular (even great) operas with crummy libretti.
I can't readily come up with a popular (even good) opera with crummy music
and a great libretto.

Steve Schwartz