The Unicorn, the Gorgon, and the Manticore
Encyclopedia
The Unicorn, the Gorgon, and the Manticore or, The Three Sundays of a Poet is a "madrigal fable" for chorus, ten dancers, and nine instruments with music and original libretto
by Gian Carlo Menotti
. Based on the 16th century Italian madrigal comedy
genre, it consists of a prologue and 12 madrigals which tell a continuous story, interspersed with six musical interludes. The unicorn
, gorgon
, and manticore
in the title are allegories for three stages in the life of the story's protagonist, a strange poet who keeps the mythical creatures as pets. The work premiered in Washington D.C. at the Library of Congress
Coolidge Auditorium on October 19, 1956.
. In constructing the libretto Menotti returned to an earlier script he had written after reading T. H. White
's 1954 The Book of Beasts, a translation of a medieval Latin bestiary
. The plot is a comic but ultimately melancholy attack on the "indifferent killers of the poet's dreams": slavish social conformity and the ease with which the "unfashionable" is discarded. More than one writer, including Menotti himself, has suggested that he strongly identified with the poet in his story. The three creatures of the title are allegorical representations of stages in the poet's life, with The Unicorn
representing the beauty and promise of youth, The Gorgon
representing the success and haughtiness of middle age, and The Manticore
representing the shy loneliness of old age. Despite its English language libretto, Menotti's work was modelled on the 16th century Italian madrigal comedy
or commedia harmonica, a precursor to the opera
genre and typified by Orazio Vecchi
's L'Amfiparnaso. Unlike conventional operas, all the singing is choral with no solo voice roles. Although the dancers were intended to be an integral part of the work, Menotti resisted calling it a ballet
and eventually settled on the description "madrigal fable". He composed it at virtually the last minute, sending madrigals to his choreographer as he finished them. The twelfth and last one was completed a week before the premiere with the first complete rehearsal held only four days before the opening night.
The world premiere took place at the Library of Congress Coolidge Auditorium
conducted by Paul Callaway
(a last minute replacement for Thomas Schippers
) and ran on October 19, 20 and 21, 1956 to both critical and popular success. Its New York premiere was performed by the New York City Ballet
on January 15, 1957, in a production conducted by Thomas Schippers and choreographed by John Butler who also choreographed the world premiere in Washington. The role of The Poet in the New York City production was danced by Nicholas Magallanes
with the three mythical creatures in the story danced by Arthur Mitchell
(The Unicorn), Eugene Tanner (The Gorgon), and Richard Thomas (The Manticore). It has been revived many times over the ensuing 40 years, both in its full ballet form and (more frequently) as a choral work. It received its Boston
premiere in 1972 performed by the Boston Cecilia
, who revived it again in 1996 with a performance at Sanders Theatre in preparation for their studio recording released the following year. Recent performances have included those in Reno, Nevada
performed by Nevada Opera and the Sierra Nevada Ballet in 2007; Spoleto, Italy at the Festival dei Due Mondi
also in 2007; and Washington, D.C. performed by the Cantate Chamber Singers and the Bowen McCauley Dance troupe in 2009. Menotti's centenary year, 2011, has seen performances in Seattle by The Esoterics vocal ensemble and in Ljubljana
by the Slovenian National Theatre Opera and Ballet.
) by a 24-voice SATB
chorus and are interspersed with six musical interludes. Lasting approximately 45 minutes, the work is orchestrated for a chamber ensemble consisting of winds (flute
, oboe
, clarinet
, trumpet
), lower strings (cello
and double bass
), harp
, and percussion. The music was described by the Time Magazine critic who attended the world premiere as "a singular and engaging combination of ancient contrapuntal harmonies and tart, modern, dramatic values." The critic also singled out the melancholy beauty of the twelfth and last madrigal with the chorus singing "almost liturgically, as if each voice were a pipe in an organ." Menotti said of the twelfth madrigal: "It is the most deeply and personally felt of anything I've written. It is something I would like for my own funeral." The madrigal was also sung in 1981 at the funeral of Samuel Barber
, who had been Menotti's lover for many years.
. The Contessa insists she must have a unicorn as well and persudes her husband to get one for her. The citizens of the town then buy a unicorns as well. On the next Sunday, the poet is seen with a gorgon
. The Contessa and townspeople assume he has killed his unicorn and promptly kill theirs to replace them with gorgons. On the third Sunday, he appears with a manticore
. They once again follow suit by killing their gorgons and buying manticores. When the poet fails to appear on the fourth Sunday, the townspeople assume he has killed his manticore too. Scandalized, they march to his castle to attack him. When they arrive, they find the poet dying surrounded by his three pets, all of whom are alive. In the twelfth and final madrigal he berates the townspeople for slavishly following fashion. Unlike them, he had kept all his pets: "You, not I, are the indifferent killers of the poet's dreams. How could I destroy the pain wrought children of my fancy?" The poet then bids farewell to each of his creatures in turn and tells them "Not even death I fear as in your arms I die."
recording of the work conducted by Thomas Schippers
was released by EMI/Angel
in 1957, and re-released on CD in 2011 by Naxos Historical
. More recent recordings include:
Libretto
A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...
by Gian Carlo Menotti
Gian Carlo Menotti
Gian Carlo Menotti was an Italian-American composer and librettist. Although he often referred to himself as an American composer, he kept his Italian citizenship. He wrote the classic Christmas opera, Amahl and the Night Visitors, among about two dozen other operas intended to appeal to popular...
. Based on the 16th century Italian madrigal comedy
Madrigal comedy
Madrigal comedy is a term for a kind of entertainment music of the late 16th century in Italy, in which groups of related, generally a cappella madrigals were sung consecutively, generally telling a story, and sometimes having a loose dramatic plot. It is an important element in the origins of opera...
genre, it consists of a prologue and 12 madrigals which tell a continuous story, interspersed with six musical interludes. The unicorn
Unicorn
The unicorn is a legendary animal from European folklore that resembles a white horse with a large, pointed, spiraling horn projecting from its forehead, and sometimes a goat's beard...
, gorgon
Gorgon
In Greek mythology, the Gorgon was a terrifying female creature. The name derives from the Greek word gorgós, which means "dreadful." While descriptions of Gorgons vary across Greek literature, the term commonly refers to any of three sisters who had hair of living, venomous snakes, and a...
, and manticore
Manticore
The manticore is a legendary creature similar to the Egyptian sphinx. It has the body of a red lion, a human head with three rows of sharp teeth , and a trumpet-like voice. Other aspects of the creature vary from story to story. It may be horned, winged, or both...
in the title are allegories for three stages in the life of the story's protagonist, a strange poet who keeps the mythical creatures as pets. The work premiered in Washington D.C. at the Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
Coolidge Auditorium on October 19, 1956.
Background and performance history
The Unicorn, the Gorgon, and the Manticore was commissioned in 1956 by the Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Foundation for the 12th Festival of Chamber Music in Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
. In constructing the libretto Menotti returned to an earlier script he had written after reading T. H. White
T. H. White
Terence Hanbury White was an English author best known for his sequence of Arthurian novels, The Once and Future King, first published together in 1958.-Biography:...
's 1954 The Book of Beasts, a translation of a medieval Latin bestiary
Bestiary
A bestiary, or Bestiarum vocabulum is a compendium of beasts. Bestiaries were made popular in the Middle Ages in illustrated volumes that described various animals, birds and even rocks. The natural history and illustration of each beast was usually accompanied by a moral lesson...
. The plot is a comic but ultimately melancholy attack on the "indifferent killers of the poet's dreams": slavish social conformity and the ease with which the "unfashionable" is discarded. More than one writer, including Menotti himself, has suggested that he strongly identified with the poet in his story. The three creatures of the title are allegorical representations of stages in the poet's life, with The Unicorn
Unicorn
The unicorn is a legendary animal from European folklore that resembles a white horse with a large, pointed, spiraling horn projecting from its forehead, and sometimes a goat's beard...
representing the beauty and promise of youth, The Gorgon
Gorgon
In Greek mythology, the Gorgon was a terrifying female creature. The name derives from the Greek word gorgós, which means "dreadful." While descriptions of Gorgons vary across Greek literature, the term commonly refers to any of three sisters who had hair of living, venomous snakes, and a...
representing the success and haughtiness of middle age, and The Manticore
Manticore
The manticore is a legendary creature similar to the Egyptian sphinx. It has the body of a red lion, a human head with three rows of sharp teeth , and a trumpet-like voice. Other aspects of the creature vary from story to story. It may be horned, winged, or both...
representing the shy loneliness of old age. Despite its English language libretto, Menotti's work was modelled on the 16th century Italian madrigal comedy
Madrigal comedy
Madrigal comedy is a term for a kind of entertainment music of the late 16th century in Italy, in which groups of related, generally a cappella madrigals were sung consecutively, generally telling a story, and sometimes having a loose dramatic plot. It is an important element in the origins of opera...
or commedia harmonica, a precursor to the opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
genre and typified by Orazio Vecchi
Orazio Vecchi
Orazio Vecchi was an Italian composer of the late Renaissance. He is most famous for his madrigal comedies, particularly L'Amfiparnaso.- Life :...
's L'Amfiparnaso. Unlike conventional operas, all the singing is choral with no solo voice roles. Although the dancers were intended to be an integral part of the work, Menotti resisted calling it a ballet
Ballet
Ballet is a type of performance dance, that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France and Russia as a concert dance form. The early portions preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were presented in large chambers with...
and eventually settled on the description "madrigal fable". He composed it at virtually the last minute, sending madrigals to his choreographer as he finished them. The twelfth and last one was completed a week before the premiere with the first complete rehearsal held only four days before the opening night.
The world premiere took place at the Library of Congress Coolidge Auditorium
Thomas Jefferson Building
The oldest of the three United States Library of Congress buildings, the Thomas Jefferson Building was built between 1890 and 1897. It is known for its classicizing facade and elaborately decorated interior. John L. Smithmeyer and Paul J...
conducted by Paul Callaway
Paul Callaway
Paul Smith Callaway was a prominent American organist and choral conductor, particularly well-known for his thirty-eight years at the Washington National Cathedral, Washington, D.C., between 1939–1977...
(a last minute replacement for Thomas Schippers
Thomas Schippers
Thomas Schippers was an American conductor. He was highly-regarded for his work in opera.-Biography:...
) and ran on October 19, 20 and 21, 1956 to both critical and popular success. Its New York premiere was performed by the New York City Ballet
New York City Ballet
New York City Ballet is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein. Leon Barzin was the company's first music director. Balanchine and Jerome Robbins are considered the founding choreographers of the company...
on January 15, 1957, in a production conducted by Thomas Schippers and choreographed by John Butler who also choreographed the world premiere in Washington. The role of The Poet in the New York City production was danced by Nicholas Magallanes
Nicholas Magallanes
Nicholas Magallanes was a first-generation principal dancer with the New York City Ballet. Along with Jerome Robbins, Francisco Moncion and Maria Tallchief, Magallanes was among the core group of dancers with which George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein formed the New York City Ballet in 1948...
with the three mythical creatures in the story danced by Arthur Mitchell
Arthur Mitchell (dancer)
Arthur Mitchell is an African-American dancer and choreographer who created a training school and the first African-American classical ballet company, Dance Theatre of Harlem...
(The Unicorn), Eugene Tanner (The Gorgon), and Richard Thomas (The Manticore). It has been revived many times over the ensuing 40 years, both in its full ballet form and (more frequently) as a choral work. It received its Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
premiere in 1972 performed by the Boston Cecilia
Boston Cecilia
The Boston Cecilia is a choral society in Boston, Massachusetts, which is in its 132nd season. Founded in 1876, the ensemble has enjoyed historic relationships with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and famous conductors and composers, such as Arthur Fiedler, Igor Stravinsky, and Antonín Dvořák...
, who revived it again in 1996 with a performance at Sanders Theatre in preparation for their studio recording released the following year. Recent performances have included those in Reno, Nevada
Reno, Nevada
Reno is the county seat of Washoe County, Nevada, United States. The city has a population of about 220,500 and is the most populous Nevada city outside of the Las Vegas metropolitan area...
performed by Nevada Opera and the Sierra Nevada Ballet in 2007; Spoleto, Italy at the Festival dei Due Mondi
Festival dei Due Mondi
The Festival dei Due Mondi ' is an annual summer music and opera festival held each June to early July in Spoleto, Italy, since its founding by composer Gian Carlo Menotti in 1958...
also in 2007; and Washington, D.C. performed by the Cantate Chamber Singers and the Bowen McCauley Dance troupe in 2009. Menotti's centenary year, 2011, has seen performances in Seattle by The Esoterics vocal ensemble and in Ljubljana
Ljubljana
Ljubljana is the capital of Slovenia and its largest city. It is the centre of the City Municipality of Ljubljana. It is located in the centre of the country in the Ljubljana Basin, and is a mid-sized city of some 270,000 inhabitants...
by the Slovenian National Theatre Opera and Ballet.
Structure and music
The Unicorn, the Gorgon, and the Manticore consists of a prologue and 12 madrigals which tell a continuous story. They are sung (most of them a cappellaA cappella
A cappella music is specifically solo or group singing without instrumental sound, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. It is the opposite of cantata, which is accompanied singing. A cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato...
) by a 24-voice SATB
SATB
In music, SATB is an initialism for soprano, alto, tenor, bass, defining the voices required by a chorus or choir to perform a particular musical work...
chorus and are interspersed with six musical interludes. Lasting approximately 45 minutes, the work is orchestrated for a chamber ensemble consisting of winds (flute
Flute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
, oboe
Oboe
The oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English, prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois" , "hoboy", or "French hoboy". The spelling "oboe" was adopted into English ca...
, clarinet
Clarinet
The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
, trumpet
Trumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
), lower strings (cello
Cello
The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
and double bass
Double bass
The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
), harp
Harp
The harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones and has its own sub category . All harps have a neck, resonator and strings...
, and percussion. The music was described by the Time Magazine critic who attended the world premiere as "a singular and engaging combination of ancient contrapuntal harmonies and tart, modern, dramatic values." The critic also singled out the melancholy beauty of the twelfth and last madrigal with the chorus singing "almost liturgically, as if each voice were a pipe in an organ." Menotti said of the twelfth madrigal: "It is the most deeply and personally felt of anything I've written. It is something I would like for my own funeral." The madrigal was also sung in 1981 at the funeral of Samuel Barber
Samuel Barber
Samuel Osborne Barber II was an American composer of orchestral, opera, choral, and piano music. His Adagio for Strings is his most popular composition and widely considered a masterpiece of modern classical music...
, who had been Menotti's lover for many years.
Synopsis
The prologue describes a strange man living in a castle above a seaside town who shuns the town's social life and the Contessa's parties and refuses to go to church on Sundays. The strange man is a poet who on three successive Sundays takes a different pet on a walk through the streets of the town. On the first Sunday, he parades his unicornUnicorn
The unicorn is a legendary animal from European folklore that resembles a white horse with a large, pointed, spiraling horn projecting from its forehead, and sometimes a goat's beard...
. The Contessa insists she must have a unicorn as well and persudes her husband to get one for her. The citizens of the town then buy a unicorns as well. On the next Sunday, the poet is seen with a gorgon
Gorgon
In Greek mythology, the Gorgon was a terrifying female creature. The name derives from the Greek word gorgós, which means "dreadful." While descriptions of Gorgons vary across Greek literature, the term commonly refers to any of three sisters who had hair of living, venomous snakes, and a...
. The Contessa and townspeople assume he has killed his unicorn and promptly kill theirs to replace them with gorgons. On the third Sunday, he appears with a manticore
Manticore
The manticore is a legendary creature similar to the Egyptian sphinx. It has the body of a red lion, a human head with three rows of sharp teeth , and a trumpet-like voice. Other aspects of the creature vary from story to story. It may be horned, winged, or both...
. They once again follow suit by killing their gorgons and buying manticores. When the poet fails to appear on the fourth Sunday, the townspeople assume he has killed his manticore too. Scandalized, they march to his castle to attack him. When they arrive, they find the poet dying surrounded by his three pets, all of whom are alive. In the twelfth and final madrigal he berates the townspeople for slavishly following fashion. Unlike them, he had kept all his pets: "You, not I, are the indifferent killers of the poet's dreams. How could I destroy the pain wrought children of my fancy?" The poet then bids farewell to each of his creatures in turn and tells them "Not even death I fear as in your arms I die."
Recordings
An LPLP record
The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...
recording of the work conducted by Thomas Schippers
Thomas Schippers
Thomas Schippers was an American conductor. He was highly-regarded for his work in opera.-Biography:...
was released by EMI/Angel
Angel Records
Angel Records is a record label belonging to EMI. It was formed in 1953 and specialised in classical music, but included an occasional operetta or Broadway score...
in 1957, and re-released on CD in 2011 by Naxos Historical
Naxos Records
Naxos Records is a record label specializing in classical music. Through a number of imprints, Naxos also releases genres including Chinese music, jazz, world music, and early rock & roll. The company was founded in 1987 by Klaus Heymann, a German-born resident of Hong Kong.Naxos is the largest...
. More recent recordings include:
- Menotti: The Unicorn, the Gorgon and the Manticore – Boston CeciliaBoston CeciliaThe Boston Cecilia is a choral society in Boston, Massachusetts, which is in its 132nd season. Founded in 1876, the ensemble has enjoyed historic relationships with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and famous conductors and composers, such as Arthur Fiedler, Igor Stravinsky, and Antonín Dvořák...
, Donald Teeters (conductor). Label: Newport Classic (1997) - Menotti: The Unicorn, the Gorgon and the Manticore – Carolina Chamber Chorale, Timothy Koch (conductor). Label: Albany RecordsAlbany RecordsAlbany Records is an American classical music record label focusing particularly on contemporary classical music. It was established by Peter Kermani in 1987, and is based in Albany, New York.-External links:**...
(2001)
External Links
- Programme notes and complete libretto from the New Mexico Tech Chamber Choir performance of The Unicorn, the Gorgon, and the Manticore in May 2003