Gaining Focus

Alas, I think I may finally be organizing all of my thoughts for my paper. I’m putting it together like this; I would like to just give a brief background on Menotti, discuss what led Menotti to direct this opera, and finally, describe the differences between the film version and other staged versions.

One of the reasons this is so fascinating to me, and I hope this comes across in my paper, is because a lot of our class discussions have dealt with how we would stage and cast operas, and how well operas we have watched would translate to film. Not only do I have a film version directed by the composer to discuss, with a great deal of background on the filming process, I also have another staged version which is incredibly close to the orchestral score with the libretto and staging written in. I’ve also discovered another version of the opera put on by Northwestern University, which so far seems very well done and gives me another perspective for my paper.

Along with the last book I found on Menotti’s works for the screen, I’ve come across another book which I hope to get from the library tomorrow which discusses many of Menotti’s operas, and is considered, “the definitive guide to his musical works.” I’ve also come across a journal article that I would like to read as well. The information keeps pouring in I’m just having trouble narrowing it down, and I’m concerned that in wanting to really make a point, my paper may be too general, but we’ll see.

The Medium was really a jumping off point for Menotti as far as directing is concerned, and the film version is really the only opera of its kind. The fact that it was a film version allowed him to go back and add in more music and scenes that were intended for the original stage version, but for whatever reason were never included. That right there presents several differences between the film and stage works, but the camera angles and lighting effects added an entirely new level of creepiness to the opera, something that can’t be achieved on the stage. However, there is still so much to be said for the staged performances of this opera in terms of the flow and spontaneity of the work. The film version was somewhere around 80 minutes, short, but the staged versions runs about 55-60 minutes, the pacing is very different, and so is the setting, obviously the film version allows for much more freedom in terms of staging and locations, but the compactness of the stage set is very effective for all of the drama that is going on.

Overall I’m feeling very positive about the paper which should be pretty close to complete over the next couple days. Once the paper in done, I think I’ll have a much better feel of what will work and won’t work as project, but as I’m writing the paper I definitely have project ideas in the back of my mind.