Tuesday, Aug. 28

Samuel Barber's opera Vanessa.

Erika, Vanessa's niece, sings "Why does the Winter Come so Soon?" Appropriately, the imagery in the song is all about winter. She standes at the window of the country house and watches the cold animals and the barren landscape.

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Album cover for Vanessa, with Susan Graham as Erika.

Susan Graham singing "Must the Winter Come so Soon?"

Vanessa's niece, Erika, peers into the snowy woods while she sings this lovely aria. It suggests that she will end up a lonely woman, past her prime, just like Vanessa. The imagery is very powerful as she refers to the "hungry deer," the "frozen owl," and the "long winter."

Leontyne Price singing "He has Come" 

and "Do not Utter a Word"

Vanessa has waited over twenty years for her lover Anatole to return. Finally, "He has Come" and she positions herself facing away from the door. She has draped the mirrors and made every effort to avoid the ravages of  time. She pours out her heart to him and delivers the ultimatum, "Do you still love me as once you did? / For if you do not, / I shall ask you to leave my house / this very night!" This scene is a perfect example of sustained dramatic irony, for the young man behind her is, in fact, Anatole, but not the former lover. The young man behind her is his son, who is also named Anatole.

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Samuel Barber, composer of Vanessa

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Gian-Carlo Menotti, librettist for Vanessa

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An image from the 2007 New York State Theater production of Vanessa. Follow the link below to read about it in Variety magazine.
http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117935314