''Maria Golovin'' is an

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

in three acts by

Gian Carlo Menotti Gian Carlo Menotti (, ; July 7, 1911 – February 1, 2007) was an Italian composer, librettist, director, and playwright who is primarily known for his output of 25 operas. Although he often referred to himself as an American composer, he kept h ...

. It is through-composed and centers on a romantic encounter between a blind recluse named Donato and the title character, a married woman living in a European country a few years after a war. The work was commissioned by

Peter Herman Adler Peter Herman Adler (2 December 1899, Gablonz an der Neiße, Bohemia – 2 October 1990, Ridgefield, Connecticut) was an American conductor born in Austria-Hungary in Gablonz an der Neiße, which is now in the Czech Republic. Career While at the ...

of the NBC Opera Theatre. Its first performance was at the International Exposition Pavilion Theater at

Expo '58 Expo 58, also known as the 1958 Brussels World's Fair (french: Exposition Universelle et Internationale de Bruxelles de 1958, nl, Brusselse Wereldtentoonstelling van 1958), was a world's fair held on the Heysel/Heizel Plateau in Brussels, Bel ...

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

on 20 August 1958. Later that year,

David Merrick David Merrick (born David Lee Margoulis; November 27, 1911 – April 25, 2000) was an American theatrical producer who won a number of Tony Awards. Life and career Born David Lee Margulois to Jewish parents in St. Louis, Missouri, Merrick gradua ...

and the NBC Opera mounted a

Broadway production Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences), 130 of the 144 extant and extinct Broadway venues use (used) the spelling ''Th ...

billed as a "musical drama." It was staged by Menotti and ran for five performances at the

Martin Beck Theatre The Al Hirschfeld Theatre, originally the Martin Beck Theatre, is a Broadway theater at 302 West 45th Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1924, it was designed by G. Albert Lansburgh in a Moorish and ...

. The cast included Patricia Neway,

Ruth Kobart Ruth Kobart (April 24, 1924 – December 14, 2002) was an American performer, whose six-decade career encompassed opera, Broadway musical theatre, regional theatre, films, and television. Life and career Born as Ruth Maxine Kahn in Des Moines ...

Norman Kelley Norman Kelley (August 27, 1911 – September 4, 2006) was an American operatic tenor who had an active international career during the 1940s through the 1970s. He was notably a regular performer at the Metropolitan Opera between 1957 and 1961, a ...

, William Chapman, and Richard Cross, who won the 1959 Theatre World Award for his performance. ''Maria Golovin'' is not part of the usual operatic repertory and rarely is performed today, although The Paley Center for Media (Museum of Television & Radio) in New York scheduled a screening of the 1959 NBC Opera production of the work, starring Franca Duval, Richard Cross, and Patricia Neway, for May 21, 2011 at 2 p.m. followed by a discussion with Richard Cross.

Roles

Critical reception

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'' described it as "something of a disappointment" and added, "the impact is marred by banalities of speech ... and the hero's unsympathetic character." Of the music it said, "At its worst, the ''Golovin'' score is not only too sweet but too facile ... At its best, the score is hauntingly tender and compelling." There were also some favourable reviews: "This is a love story that should touch the hearts of sentimentalists," wrote critic Howard Taubman in the ''New York Times'' following the world premiere in Brussels. "The find of the production is Richard Cross, who sings and plays the blind man with force and compassion ... Franca Duval is personally attractive, musically intelligent and touchingly vulnerable as Maria Golovin."

Recordings

A cast album was released by

RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also Aris ...

and reissued on CD by Naxos Historical in 2011.

Performances

As well as the first performance at the International Exposition Pavilion Theater at

in Brussels on 20 August 1958, it was performed at the London Coliseum in 1976, with Gian Carlo Menotti conducting,

Alison Hargan Alison may refer to: People * Alison (given name), including a list of people with the name * Alison (surname) Music * ''Alison'' (album), aka ''Excuse Me'', a 1975 album by Australian singer Alison MacCallum * "Alison" (song), song by Elvi ...

playing the title role, with her real-life son James playing Trottolo Golovin.

References

External links

Internet Broadway Database entry
{{Gian Carlo Menotti 1958 operas Operas by Gian Carlo Menotti English-language operas Operas Expo 58