A Hand of Bridge

A Hand of Bridge, opus 35, is an opera in one act composed by Samuel Barber (9 March 1910 – 23 January 1981) with libretto by Gian Carlo Menotti (7 July 1911 – 1 February 2007), and is possibly the shortest opera that is regularly performed: it lasts about nine minutes. It premiered as a part of Menotti’s Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto on 17 June 1959 at the Teatro Caio Melisso. The United States premiere occurred the next year. The opera consists of two unhappily married couples playing a hand of bridge, during which each character has an arietta in which he or she professes his or her inner desires.

The contract begins with 5♥ played by Bill, after the opponents competed in ♣. After setting the stage for the hand the singers begin, one by one, to express their inner monologues. Each arietta unveils the unfulfilled desires of the individual and their isolation, even among lovers and friends.

In chapter three of her dissertation Musical Narrative in Three One Act Operas with Libretti by Gian Carlo Menotti: A Hand of Bridge, The Telephone, and Introductions and Goodbyes, Elizabeth Lena Smith describes the opera as being separated into the four ariettas that are connected and denoted by the use of the “card theme.” This theme is used to create a common thread, separate the ariettas into three sections of equal length, and set mood throughout the scene, reflecting each character's outer “pokerface.”

The card theme is heavily jazz-influenced, with swung rhythms and what Smith calls a “quasi-walking bass line.” Melodically, the theme is composed of (014) and (015) pitch sets separated into triplets. The construction allows the theme to complement the varying styles of each arietta.

Sally, who is frustrated as a result of being dummy ("Once again I'm dummy, forever dummy!") recalls a hat of peacock feathers she saw in Madame Charlotte’s shop window that morning and how much she desires to buy it, which is stated repeatedly throughout her arietta,"I want to buy that hat of peacock feathers!" She second guesses herself about wanting the hat by considering two others, a red one with a tortoiseshell rose and a beige with a fuchsia ribbon, before resolving once again that she wants the hat with peacock feathers.

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