Amahl and the Night Visitors

To Gian Carlo Menotti, for his tender and moving one-act opera, Amahl and the Night Visitors, presented for the first time anywhere last Christmas Eve over NBC-TV. Amahl and the Night Visitors was instantly received with the acclaim due a genuine work of art. It was a remarkable experience for all who had the privilege of seeing and hearing it. Its significance to television was perhaps even more imposing, since Amahl was the first operatic work ever commissioned specifically for this challenging new medium of communication. Mr. Menotti’s triumph—he not only wrote the words and music, but directed the opera as well—is living proof that television can accommodate itself to greatness, if it so wishes.