One flyer in the residence hall Centennial Towers read “Sin, Illegitimacy, Flight and Death,” and certainly the two, one-act operas performed at the Lamont School of Music last week were as drama-filled as many soap operas on television.
The performance consisted of two short, one-act operas “Suor Angelica” and “Gianni Schicchi.”
The first opera “Suor Angelica” was a tearjerker in every sense of the word. “Suor Angelica” (translated as Sister Angelica) has an illegitimate child and due to her shame with the pregnancy gives up the child and enters a covenant. Fast-forward seven years and Sister Angelica in the convent.
She learns that her son had died two years earlier and her grief as is so intense that she mixes a poison for herself so that she may be with him in Heaven. Upon drinking the poison she realizes that she has dammed herself and begs forgiveness of the Virgin Mary. After death she is greeted by her dead son who in a gesture of forgiveness leads her to Heaven.
“Gianni Schicchi” in contrast was a rip-roaring comedy that uses the character traits of trickery, love and deception in a slapstick humor style.
The opera begins with a wealthy man known as Buoso Donati, who dies leaving his relatives no money. In their anger they convince another figure, Gianni Schicchi, to impersonate the wealthy Donati and redraw the will.
However, in a clever plot twist, Schicchi tricks the relatives and keeps most of the money for the dowry of his daughter so that she may marry.
At the end of the opera, Schicchi asks the audience if he is guilty of any wrongdoing since he did it in the name of love.
Both operas represented extreme musical excellence on the part of the performers. The singers seem to blend into their roles with no hesitiation at all. The pit orchestra (five pieces) also provided the audience with good music, which greatly helps to facilitate the smoothness of the production.
The opera production had a great turnout for a week night with many of Denver residents as well as high school students attending. Sadly, though, the majority of students in attendance were music majors. Non-music students are missing out on something special on campus that is also a free event.
This performance was the first opera production in the new Robert and Judi Newman Fine Arts Center. The building is almost complete and almost all the performance venues are nearly finished.
There are some very small odds and ends throughout the building remaining to be completed, but the only large portion left is the stage workshop area in the south section of the building.
