Vanessa

Abstract

When it was performed in 1958, Barber’s opera Vanessa was the first new American work produced by the Metropolitan Opera since 1947 and only the twentieth since the opening of the opera house in 1883. It took Barber two decades to find a libretto, and his search finally culminated in his own backyard, as it were, when his partner Gian Carlo Menotti offered to write the libretto. This chapter narrates how Vanessa evolved, from the creation of the plot to the actors and sets. Set in an unnamed “northern country about 1905,” the story unfolds about two women: Vanessa, a lady of great beauty, who for twenty years of winter after snowy winter has awaited the return of her only love, Anatol; and her beautiful young niece, Erika. The concluding quintet is considered one of the most brilliant climaxes in the twentieth-century repertoire. The opera’s critical success led to the production of Vanessa at the Salzburg Festival, the first American opera performed there. There have been numerous productions in the United States and abroad since then, including a brilliant one at the Glyndebourne Festival in 2018.