The Saint of Bleecker Street – La santa di Bleecker Street

Opera

Musica e libretto di Gian Carlo Menotti
Prima rappresentazione: 27 dicembre 1954, Broadway Theatre, New York.

Personaggi:
Annina: soprano
Don Marco: basso
Michele: tenore
Assunta: mezzosoprano
Maria Corona: soprano
Desideria: mezzosoprano
Salvatore: baritono
Carmela: soprano
A young man: tenore
A young woman: soprano
I ospite: tenore
II ospite: baritono
Concettina: muta
Maria’s son: muto
Bartender: muto

Libretto eng – The Saint of Bleecker Street

L’azione si svolge a Little Italy, New York, nel 1954

FIRST  ACT

 
 
Scene 1
 
(A cold-water flat in the tenements of Bleecker Street.
Upstage, the entrance from the hallway. Stage right, a
door leading to Annina’s bedroom. Next to it a small,
heavily adorned altar displaying a monochrome picture
of the Virgin. Stage left, a kitchen stove and an iron bed.
As the curtain opens, a group of neighbours, some
standing, some kneeling, are grouped around Assunta,
who is chanting the Litany. They are all facing the
half-open door of Annina’s room)

Introduction
 
ASSUNTA
Rosa Mystica,
turris davidica,
turris eburnea,
domus aurea,
foederis arca,
janua coeli,
stella matutina,
salus infirmorum,
refugium peccato…
 
CHORUS OF NEIGHBOURS
Ora pro nobis, etc.
 
A YOUNG MAN
(tiptoes to the bedroom door and peeks through)
Sh! Pst!