Il Postino (opera)
| Il Postino | |
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| Opera by Daniel Catán | |
DVD cover of the premiere performance of Il Postino
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| Librettist | Daniel Catán |
| Language | Spanish |
| Based on | Ardiente paciencia by Antonio Skármeta and the film Il Postino by Michael Radford |
| Premiere | 23 September 2010 Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Los Angeles |
Il Postino is an opera in three acts by Daniel Catán with a Spanish libretto by the composer. Based on the novel Ardiente paciencia by Antonio Skármeta and the film Il Postino by Michael Radford, the work contains elements of drama and comedy, integrating themes of love and friendship along with political and spiritual conflict. The opera premiered at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion by Los Angeles Opera on 23 September 2010.
Set on a small Italian island, exiled Chilean poet Pablo Neruda receives so much fan mail that a personal postman, Mario Ruoppolo, is hired to deliver his letters. Mario, smitten by Beatrice Russo, turns to Pablo for help writing poetry that would help him win the heart of the woman he longs for. Soon after, Mario and the barmaid fall in love and wed. In the third act, influenced by Pablo's works, Mario begins writing political poems and while reciting at a communist demonstration, violence breaks out and he receives a gunshot wound, killing him.
Il Postino was commissioned by Los Angeles Opera who co-produced the premiere production with the Theater an der Wien in Vienna and Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris. Daniel Catán wrote the role of Pablo Neruda for Plácido Domingo, who sang it at the Los Angeles premiere and in subsequent performances in Vienna and Paris.
Il Postino was the fifth and last of Daniel Catán's operas and the first one for which he had also written the libretto. His route to creating the work began when he first saw the 1994 film Il Postino and thought it would make a good opera. However, at the time he was in the midst of composing Florencia en el Amazonas and then received a commission from Houston Grand Opera for his fourth opera Salsipuedes which premiered in 2004. After completing that work, he returned to the Postino project. In an interview shortly before the premiere Catán said:
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