Menotti, Gian Carlo

“Vanessa” had the kind of pedigree you rarely see in a world premiere at the Metropolitan Opera.Samuel Barber, who was already famous for his Adagio for Strings, composed the score. Gian Carlo Menotti, his partner and an experienced hand at opera, wrote the libretto and directed. Cecil Beaton, mere weeks from winning his first Academy Award, designed the production. Dimitri Mitropoulos, the house’s leading maestro, conducted.On opening night, in January 1958, audience members sounded pleased during the intermission, according to a report. There were 17 curtain calls. The next day, Howard Taubman wrote in The New York Times that “Vanessa” was “the best American opera ever presented” at the Met. It would go on to win the Pulitzer Prize for music.The opera was revived the next season, and again in 1965, when a critic wrote that it “deserves to be kept in the repertory.” Instead, it disappeared from the Met.“Vanessa” has survived, to be sure. The aria “Must the winter come so soon?” is a staple of recitals and competitions. Conservatories and small companies stage productions; a “reimagined” version by Heartbeat Opera is coming to the Williamstown Theater Festival this summer.Why, then, is it impossible to see “Vanessa” at an opera house like the Met? That’s a question with deeper implications: If one of the finest, most enduring American works of the mid-20th century can’t make it to the grandest stage in the country, what hope is there for others from its time?We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More