Amahl and the Night Visitors
In 1951, the Italian composer Gian Carol Menotti was asked by NBC to compose the first opera written especially for television, to be broadcast in the United States on Christmas Eve that year. The task was certainly a daunting one: the idea that millions of people might be watching does not trouble Olympic athlete and newsreaders today, but it is easy for us to forget (if we are old enough!) what the early days
of television were like…
Although the work was a very successful experiment in television opera, Menotti was cautious about the medium, which the world now takes for granted. Writing a program for a 1963 production, he wrote about those who watch television casually:
The spectator who takes no journey and has no appointed time or seat, but, carelessly clad, sits casually on the first available chair in his living room, and who, knitting or perhaps playing with the kitten, “turns on” what he takes to be a theatrical performance, will never know the emotion of the real theatrical experience…(the artist) addresses you in utter dignity—whether his message be comic or tragic—and to partake in his experience, you must share this seriousness and receive his message wearing your “Sunday clothes.”
The same might be said for worship. Menotti’s words remind us that while we can project and receive our experiences of anything through almost any medium, there is a lot to be said for really partaking—for getting involved, being there, rather than simply being observers, judges, or spectators. Amahl realizes this when he desires to go and thank the Christ-child himself. We watch Amahl’s mother struggle with her poverty, and we watch Amahl offer his crutch to Jesus, and we are moved—we feel
involved. Worship, like art, is a two-way engagement. It is not a show, like something on television, which we can drop into, or play with at Christmas-time when all the nice carols get sung. Worship, like art, requires a bit of effort, and is not a spectator’s exercise in observation. It is about relationship, with God and with those who also partake.
-From O Come Emmanuel: A musical Tour of Daily Readings for Advent and Christmas by Gordon Giles
