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Title: An Exceptional Insight into Christmas Giving and Healing
Review: This opera by Menotti used to be a staple every Christmas after it was introduced on NBC TV in 1950. Sadly, it has disappeared from the TV scene, in spite of the hundreds of cable channels that could carry this thought-provoking opera. A sign of the times, perhaps.In this opera Menotti presents a most compelling image of what Christmas giving is all about. In an impulsive act of love for the Christ child, Amahl offers the only possession he has--his crutch--as a gift to be taken by the wise men to the Child. "...He may need it," Amahl says, almost wistfully. Then the miracle happens... Not because he has beseeched, not because he has prayed, but because he has gone outside of himself and thought of the needs of others.It is a magical insight; few such insights come to us in even a lifetime of living. And Menotti perceived it, and conceived a way of bringing it to our attention in this timeless opera, for which I will be ever grateful.
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