Amelia Goes to the Ball opera buffa in one act Music by Gian Carlo Menotti Italian libretto by the composer; original English version by George Mead

(U.S. Opera Home Page)

In her apartment in Milan, Amelia and her friend prepare frantically for the grand ball to be given that night. Amelia is ready to go when her husband bursts in; he has found a compromising letter, and demands to know who Amelia's lover is. Amelia agrees to tell him, but only if he promises to take her to the ball after all. He agrees, and Amelia reveals her lover as the man who lives upstairs. The husband rushes off to shoot him. Amelia, left alone, bemoans her fate; destined to miss the smartest ball of the season. As an afterthought, she goes out to the balcony and warns her lover, who comes down to join her by means of a rope. She convinces him to flee, and he wants her to come with him; he is hurt when she refuses. She can elope with him next week, she says, but she will not miss the ball. They are interrupted by the entrance of the husband; as Amelia prepares to go to the ball with him, the lover hides in an alcove. Unfortunately, the husband sees the rope by which the lover descended, and, searching the room, finds his hiding place. The husband tries to shoot the lover, but the pistol will not fire. The lover is about to overpower the husband, but the two men soon fall into a prolonged legal and moral argument about the case. After an impassioned aria in which the lover tells about his love for Amelia and a trio in which everyone wonders what the proper course of action is, the woman in question, in a passion of impatience, ends the debate by breaking a vase over her Husband's head. Shouting for help, she brings the chorus and the Chief of Police. Amelia tells her she was preparing for the ball when a burglar broke in and tried to rob her, in the process hitting her husband with a vase. The lover is dragged off to jail, and at the suggestion of the gallant Chief of Police, Amelia goes off to the ball at last on his arm.

Gian Carlo Menotti. The Medium, The Telephone, Excerpts from Amelia al Ballo, etc. Historic recordings. Compact disc (2 discs). Pearl 122 (rerelease of first recordings on Columbia, below).

Gian Carlo Menotti. The Medium and The Telephone (first complete recordings; Columbia called these the "first American operas ever to be recorded in their entirety"). The Ballet Society/Balaban, 1949. LP. Columbia OSL-154.

Amelia al ballo. Amadini/Campi/Panerai/Zanolli/Mazzoni, La Scala/Sanzogno 1954 (rel. 2000). Compact disc: Testament 1179.

"While I Waste These Precious Hours" from Amelia Goes to the Ball, on Leontyne Price: The Prima Donna Collection. Compact disc: Price, New Philharmonia/Santi, 1978; (Also on LP Prima Donna, Vol. 4, RCA ARL1-2529)