Opera: Vanessa, Act 1, scene 1

.:.Prompt.:.
Samuel Barber (lyrics Menotti): two arias from the opera Vanessa, Act 1, scene 1. 

          Vanessa: “Do not utter a word”  (Course Pack). Read the background story of the opera posted in the Course Pack and listen to Leontyne Price sing the aria. 
          BLOG: Vanessa’s aria is a terrific example of sustained dramatic irony. Be sure you know what dramatic irony means (look it up). How does it work to intensify this scene? Why has Vanessa covered all the mirrors in the house? Include a picture of Samuel Barber, a picture of Leontyne Price, and an image from the opera if you can find one.
          Susan Graham: “Must the winter come so soon?”  (Course Pack). Listen to Susan Graham sing the aria. 
          BLOG:  Consider the poetic images in the text: “hungry deer,” “frozen owl,” and “neither dawn nor sunset?” Why might the poet (Menotti) have chosen them for Erika’s aria? What do they suggest about her and her situation? 







.:.Blog.:.



Vanessa:


          In the aria "Do Not Utter a Word," Vanessa is seen talking with her back towards Anatol. The aria has a strong taste of dramatic irony. The dramatic irony intensifies the scene by the fact that we know and see who Vanessa is singing to and yet she doesn't. We see that it is not the one who she has loved and that the aria is going to the son, not to the one who she truly loves. During the aria, we see that all of the mirrors have been covered since Anatol was last within the castle. Vanessa has covered all of the mirrors in the house to keep time from changing her. The belief that keeping Life, Time and Space from changing who she was before Anatol left. We see all of this within the aria, the fact that Vanessa still loves Anatol and that the Anatol that she once knew is not standing behind her as she sings.


       Samuel Barber                                   Leontyne Price                                        Vanessa  

Susan Graham


          In the aria that Erika sings "Must Winter Come So Soon," there is so much going on. From imagery to what is truly happening in the world around her. The imagery used in this peace shows, in a question, that the winter has been long and harsh. The winter, coming before anyone was ready, is a situation both on the outside of the castle and on the inside. The situation with Anatol, the lovestruck Erika and Vanessa both love the same man and yet only one can truly have him. Once Anatol has entered the castle, a gray and dreariness arrived as well. As the snow fall we see the beginning of the harshness. "Hungry deer," "frozen owl," and “neither dawn nor sunset," all bring the scene into place, bringing the harshness with the deer being hungry, the owl being frozen by the suddenness and it being neither dawn nor sunset showing just how the castle has been brought into a wave of dreary, neither light nor dark. Erika sings about the world around her and the situation in the castle so perfectly in this aria that the words just flow together to mean so much.