''Intolleranza 1960'' (''Intolerance 1960'') is a one-act

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...

in two parts (''azione scenica in due tempi'') by

Luigi Nono Luigi Nono (; 29 January 1924 – 8 May 1990) was an Italian avant-garde composer of classical music. Biography Early years Nono, born in Venice, was a member of a wealthy artistic family; his grandfather was a notable painter. Nono beg ...

, and is dedicated to his father-in-law,

Arnold Schoenberg Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (, ; ; 13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian-American composer, music theorist, teacher, writer, and painter. He is widely considered one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. He was as ...

. The Italian

libretto A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major li ...

was written by Nono from an idea by Angelo Maria Ripellino, using documentary texts and poetry by Julius Fučík, "Reportage unter dem Strang geschrieben" eportage written under the gallows Henri Alleg, "La question" ("The Torture");

Jean-Paul Sartre Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (, ; ; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was one of the key figures in the philosophy of existentialism (and phenomenology), a French playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and lite ...

's introduction to Alleg's poem;

Paul Éluard Paul Éluard (), born Eugène Émile Paul Grindel (; 14 December 1895 – 18 November 1952), was a French poet and one of the founders of the Surrealist movement. In 1916, he chose the name Paul Éluard, a matronymic borrowed from his maternal ...

's poem "La liberté"; "Our march" by

Vladimir Mayakovsky Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky (, ; rus, Влади́мир Влади́мирович Маяко́вский, , vlɐˈdʲimʲɪr vlɐˈdʲimʲɪrəvʲɪtɕ məjɪˈkofskʲɪj, Ru-Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky.ogg, links=y; – 14 Apr ...

; and

Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a p ...

's "To Posterity" (). The plot concerns a migrant, who travels from

Southern Italy Southern Italy ( it, Sud Italia or ) also known as ''Meridione'' or ''Mezzogiorno'' (), is a macroregion of the Italian Republic consisting of its southern half. The term ''Mezzogiorno'' today refers to regions that are associated with the pe ...

looking for work. Along the way, he encounters protests, arrests and torture. He ends up in a concentration camp, where he experiences the gamut of human emotions. He reaches a river, and realises that everywhere is his home. The opera premiered on 13 April 1961 at the

Teatro La Fenice Teatro La Fenice (, "The Phoenix") is an opera house in Venice, Italy. It is one of "the most famous and renowned landmarks in the history of Italian theatre" and in the history of opera as a whole. Especially in the 19th century, La Fenice ...

in Venice. It has a running time of approximately one hour and fifteen minutes.

Background and performance history

''Intolleranza 1960'' was Luigi Nono's first work for the opera stage and is a flaming protest against intolerance and oppression and the violation of human dignity. The year in the title refers to the time of the work's origin. Nono himself said of this work that it "did mark a beginning for me, but in no sense did it constitute a ''tabula rasa'' or in response to 'divine inspiration' ". It was commissioned for the 1961

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...

by its director Mario Labroca. The first performance was conducted by

Bruno Maderna Bruno Maderna (21 April 1920 – 13 November 1973) was an Italian conductor and composer. Life Maderna was born Bruno Grossato in Venice but later decided to take the name of his mother, Caterina Carolina Maderna.Interview with Maderna‘s th ...

on 13 April 1961 at the

in Venice. The stage design was by the radical painter Emilio Vedova, a friend of Nono's. The premiere was disrupted by

neo-fascist Neo-fascism is a post-World War II far-right ideology that includes significant elements of fascism. Neo-fascism usually includes ultranationalism, racial supremacy, populism, authoritarianism, nativism, xenophobia, and anti-immigration ...

s, who shouted "Viva la polizia" during the torture scene. Nono's opponents accused him of poisoning Italian music. (Nono revised the work into a one-act version for a 1974 performance.)Hodges, Nicolas, "Record Review" of Luigi Nono's ''Intolleranza 1960'' and ''Prometeo'' (July 1996). ''

Tempo In musical terminology, tempo ( Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (ofte ...

'' (New Ser.), 197: pp. 50–51. A performance by the Boston Opera in 1964 was suppressed by the

John Birch Society The John Birch Society (JBS) is an American right-wing political advocacy group. Founded in 1958, it is anti-communist, supports social conservatism, and is associated with ultraconservative, radical right, far-right, or libertarian ideas. T ...

and other right-wing activists. It was subsequently presented the following year, with Maderna conducting Sarah Caldwell's production, with

Beverly Sills Beverly Sills (May 25, 1929July 2, 2007) was an American operatic soprano whose peak career was between the 1950s and 1970s. Although she sang a repertoire from Handel and Mozart to Puccini, Massenet and Verdi, she was especially renowned f ...

in the cast. Fabrice Fitch has commented that this work has "no plot as such", but rather consists of a series of scenes that illustrate aspects of intolerance.Fitch, Fabrice, "Reviews: Luigi Nono" (CD reviews) (1995). ''

The Musical Times ''The Musical Times'' is an academic journal of classical music edited and produced in the United Kingdom and currently the oldest such journal still being published in the country. It was originally created by Joseph Mainzer in 1842 as ''Mainzer ...

'', 136 (1829): p. 366. Nono himself interpreted the testimony of his work as follows:

''Intolleranza 1960'' is the awakening of human awareness in a man who has rebelled against the demands of necessity – an emigrant miner – and searches for a reason and a "human" base for life. After several experiences of intolerance and domination, he is beginning to rediscover human relations, between himself and others, when he is swept away in a flood with other people. There remains his certainty in "a time when one wants to be a help to you". Symbol? Report? Fantasy? All three, in a story of our time.

According to the publisher Schott, the "title of the work has been altered from ''Intolleranza 1960'' to ''Intolleranza'' in order to emphasize the timelessness of the composition."

Roles

Synopsis

''Setting: Fictional place in the present''

Part one

Opening chorus (''Coro iniziale'') Instead of an

overture Overture (from French language, French ''ouverture'', "opening") in music was originally the instrumental introduction to a ballet, opera, or oratorio in the 17th century. During the early Romantic era, composers such as Ludwig van Beethoven, Be ...

, a large-scale ''

a cappella ''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Ren ...

'' chorus, "Live and be vigilant", is heard from behind a closed curtain. 1st scene: In a mining village A migrant

Alfred Andersch Alfred Hellmuth Andersch (; 4 February 1914 – 21 February 1980) was a German writer, publisher, and radio editor. The son of a conservative East Prussian army officer, he was born in Munich, Germany and died in Berzona, Ticino, Switzerland. M ...

translated in the German edition of score, but not in his draft, ''emigrante'' as "refugee". is tired of the hard work in the mines in a foreign land. He is consumed by desire to return to his homeland from which he once fled. 2nd scene: A woman rushes in A woman who had given the stranger in the mining village warmth and peace and love, tries to persuade him to stay. When she realizes that her lover is determined to go, she insults him and swears revenge. Nevertheless, she leaves with the migrant. 3rd scene: In a city He has reached a city while a large unauthorized peace demonstration is taking place. The police intervene and arrest some demonstrators, including the migrant, although he was not participating in the rally. His attempt to defend himself remains unsuccessful. 4th scene: in a police station Four police officers set to work to force the prisoners to confess. The man, however, stands firm to his story that he was on the way to his home, which goes through the city, and he therefore had nothing to confess. 5th scene: The torture All those arrested are brought to torture. The chorus of the tortured cries to the audience, asking whether it was deaf and would behave just like cattle in the pen of shame. 6th scene: In a concentration camp The chorus of prisoners desperately cries for freedom. The four policemen taunt their victims. The hero makes friends with another prisoner from Algeria. They plan to escape together. 7th scene: After the escape The migrant manages to escape with the Algerians from the concentration camp. While originally it had been only his wish to see his home, now his heart burns only with the desire for freedom.

Part two

1st scene: Some absurdities of contemporary life From all sides voices press upon the hero, voices which not only disturb and confuse him, but almost overpower him. The absurdities of contemporary life, such as the bureaucracy – for example, "registration required", "Documents are the soul of the state", "certify, authenticate, notarize" – and sensational newspaper headlines like "mother of thirteen children was a man" increase, and the scene ends with a big explosion. 2nd scene: a meeting between a refugee and his companion A silent crowd suffers from the impression of the slogans and the explosion. When a woman begins to speak out against war and disaster, it appears to the emigrant as a source of hope in his solitude. Henceforth, the two want to fight together for a better world. 3rd scene: Projections of episodes of terror and fanaticism To the hero appears the woman he has left in the mining village, and this confuses him. Together with his companion (compagna) he sends her away. Then the woman transforms herself along with a group of fanatics into ghosts and shadows. In the dream, she sees the migrant, the mine, the mocking slogan "Arbeit macht frei" over the entrance of the camp, and she sees the nightmares of the intolerance he holds with his companion, "Never, never again". The choir sings Mayakovsky's "Our march". 4th scene: In the vicinity of a village on the banks of a great river The hero and his companion have reached the great river, which forms the border of his native country. It is flooding; its level increases more and more. The deluge swallows roads, broken bridges, barracks, and crushes houses. Even the migrant and his companion are unable to save themselves. They die an agonizing death. Final chorus (''Coro finale)'' set to excerpts from Brecht's poem "To Posterity", again without orchestral accompaniment.

Recordings

* Teldec 4509 97304(2) German version by

: Chorus of the Stuttgart State Opera; Stuttgart State Orchestra;

Bernhard Kontarsky Bernhard Kontarsky (born 26 April 1937 in Iserlohn) is a German conductor, pianist, and teacher. Kontarsky studied at the Hochschule für Musik Köln. In 1964 he began his conducting career as Kapellmeister at the Staatstheater Stuttgart. From ...

, conductor (1993) * Dreyer Gaido CD 21030: Chorus and extra chorus of

Theater Bremen Theater Bremen (Bremen Theatre) is a state theatre in Bremen, Germany, with four divisions for opera, straight theater, dance, and student programs. Its venues are located in a city block, connected in architecture and seating up to 1,426 spectato ...

;

Bremer Philharmoniker The Bremer Philharmoniker is the official orchestra of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. In addition to the music theatre in the Theater Bremen they organise 28 Philharmonic concerts per season, various special, benefit and chamber concerts a ...

; Gabriel Feltz, conductor (2001)

References

{{Authority control 1961 operas Italian-language operas Operas One-act operas Operas by Luigi Nono Opera world premieres at La Fenice Music dedicated to family or friends