Commentary

When you think of opera premieres, you probably picture grand opera houses in Europe. Here in the United States, New York’s Metropolitan Opera House is synonymous with opera. In the 1930s, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, or the Met, in New York began broadcasting opera performances live from their stage on NBC Radio. Live Met shows weren’t the only operas NBC featured, however. The broadcasting station also commissioned original pieces.

One of the most successful operas written for radio was “The Old Maid and the Thief,” which premiered on NBC on April 22, 1939. Both the music and the lyrics were written by Gian Carlo Menotti, an Italian-born composer who is now known as one of the foremost American opera composers of the 20th century. Since this was the first opera he wrote in English, Mr. Menotti wrote the words in his native Italian first and then translated them, which accounts for some odd phrasing choices.

The original production was performed before a studio audience, with a narrator describing actions for radio listeners. Although the broadcast only lasted around an hour, it consists of 14 scenes. The opera was first performed onstage in 1941, when Mr. Menotti revived the work in Philadelphia. Since then, it’s been much more popular among university vocal arts departments than opera companies because of its brevity, small cast, and simple production.

A scene in a TV opera adaptation of "The Old Maid and the Thief" in 1961. (Public Domain)

‘A Grotesque Opera’

Gian Carlo Menotti was a very creative man. He usually wrote the stories for his operas as well as their music and lyrics. He was 28 years old when he wrote “The Old Maid and the Thief,” but composing operas was nothing new for him. He had been writing operas since age 11 and had already achieved great renown in the United States with his “Amelia at the Ball,” which was performed by Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia in 1937 and then by the Metropolitan Opera in 1938. Its success led to the commission of “The Old Maid and the Thief” as the closing program—led by famous Italian opera conductor Alberto Erede—of the NBC Symphony Orchestra’s 1938–39 season.

Mr. Menotti described “The Old Maid and the Thief” as “a grotesque opera,” although it is quite comical. In the original broadcast, the announcer called it “an opera of today.” The setting was described as “a small, out-of-the-way town somewhere in the United States, perhaps New England, perhaps the Middle West.” There are four characters in this opera: mezzo-soprano Miss Todd (the Old Maid), baritone Bob (the thief), soprano Laetitia, and soprano Miss Pinkerton. The radio broadcast described these characters as “a middle-aged and respectable maiden lady whose name is Miss Todd and whose existence is somewhat empty, being without romance”; “her maid, Laetitia, a pretty young thing who, like her mistress, feels the lack of a man in her life”; “a neighbor, Miss Pinkerton who has a reputation as the town gossip”; and “a young tramp by the name of Bob.”

In this opera’s first scene, a gossipy afternoon teatime between Miss Todd and Miss Pinkerton is interrupted by the arrival of the handsome beggar Bob. Laetitia persuades her employer to ask Bob to stay with them. As his visit stretches from a single night to over a week, news reaches them—thanks to Miss Pinkerton—that a dangerous criminal is on the loose in the area. His description is unsettlingly similar to Bob’s appearance, so the two women deduce that their houseguest is the fugitive. Eager to keep the handsome stranger around, the scheming maid manipulates the vulnerable older woman into believing that Bob is in love with her. Soon, Miss Todd is stealing from everyone in town to support her guest! How long can the two women keep up this charade with the busybody Miss Pinkerton on the lookout?

A scene in a TV opera adaptation of "The Old Maid and the Thief" in 1961. (Public Domain)

Rediscovering a Masterpiece

Mr. Menotti is an odd composer in the realm of classical singing. Most opera singers have heard of him, and many have sung one or two excerpted arias. However, many opera aficionados have never performed or seen a live production of one of his operas. He wrote many one-act operas which are amazingly concise musical gems. Since he wrote both the words and the music, the melodies flow seamlessly into each other as a more continuous narrative than larger operas, which are often driven by separate musical numbers. The lack of chorus singers and the English text make these works easy crowd pleasers, yet they rarely are mounted by major opera companies. These operas cry out for proper production on a double bill, as they were performed at big companies like the Met in the mid-20th century.

A clear recording of this opera’s original broadcast can be heard for free on The Internet Archive. This recording is of great historical value, and it’s very entertaining. However, for singers studying the opera, this recording has many quirks, such as comical vocal choices, random inconsistencies with the available score, and extremely brisk timing for radio purposes, making it less than ideal. However, few professional recordings of this work have been made since then. While some later works by Mr. Menotti, including “Amahl and the Night Visitors” and “The Medium,” were filmed for television, there isn’t a good video of “The Old Maid and the Thief.”

This opera has beautiful melodies, a clever plot, and nuanced characters. Like classic films, it packs a lot of substance, artistry, and entertainment into a short runtime.