Along with the numerous professional and semi-professional performances of opera in the New York area, the schools of music often present works that are interesting for their rarity. Such was the case at the Manhattan School on December 5, with a double bill of one-act operas by prolific composers, one written at the outset of a long career and one near the end.

Gian Carlo Menotti’s Amelia Goes to the Ball (1937) was his first big hit, and it still retains its youthful insouciance. It can be argued that Amelia displays his genuine talent for comedy and parody more successfully than most of his subsequent works. It is inspired fluff: about a wife with the tenacity of an operatic diva who insists on going to the first big ball of the season. Of course, in the end, she gets her way (with the Chief of Police) after the Husband and Lover have been discarded. Menotti’s music—resolutely tonal and indebted more to Ermanno ...

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