Counterfeiting of money is one
of the oldest crimes in history. It
was a serious problem during
the 19th century when banks
issued their own currency. At
the time of the Civil War, it was
estimated that one-third of all
currency in circulation was
counterfeit.
At that time, there were
approximately 1,600 state banks
designing and printing their
own notes. Each note carried a
different design, making it
difficult to distinguish the 4,000
varieties of counterfeits from
the 7,000 varieties of genuine
notes.
It was anticipated that the
adoption of a national currency
in 1863 would solve the
counterfeiting problem.
However, the national currency
was soon counterfeited so
extensively it became necessary
for the Government to take
enforcement measures. On July
5, 1865, the United States Secret
Service was established to
suppress counterfeiting.
How To Detect Counterfeit
Money
Look at the money you receive.
Compare a suspect note with a
genuine note of the same
denomination and series, paying
attention to the quality of
printing and paper
characteristics. Look for
differences, not similarities.
Portrait The genuine portrait
appears lifelike and stands out
distinctly from the background.
The counterfeit portrait is
usually lifeless and flat. Details
merge into the background,
which is often too dark or
mottled.
Federal Reserve and
Treasury Seals On a genuine
bill, the saw-tooth points of the
Federal Reserve and Treasury
seals are clear, distinct, and
sharp. The counterfeit seals may
have uneven, blunt, or broken
saw-tooth points.
Border The fine lines in the
border of a genuine bill are clear
and unbroken. On the
counterfeit, the lines in the
outer margin and scrollwork
may be blurred and indistinct.
Serial Numbers Genuine serial
numbers have a distinctive style
and are evenly spaced. The serial
numbers are printed in the same
ink color as the Treasury Seal. On
a counterfeit, the serial numbers
may differ in color or shade of
ink from the Treasury seal. The
numbers may not be uniformly
spaced or aligned.
Paper Genuine currency paper
has tiny red and blue fibers
embedded throughout. Often
counterfeiters try to simulate
these fibers by printing tiny red
and blue lines on their paper.
Close inspection reveals,
however, that on the
counterfeit note the lines are
printed on the surface, not
embedded in the paper. It is
illegal to reproduce the
distinctive paper used in the
manufacturing of United States
currency.
What About Counterfeit
Coins?
Genuine coins are struck
(stamped out) by special
machinery. Most counterfeit
coins are made by pouring liquid
metal into molds or dies. This
procedure often leaves die
marks, such as cracks or pimples
of metal on the counterfeit coin.
Today counterfeit coins are
made primarily to simulate rare
coins which are of value to
collectors. Sometimes this is
done by altering genuine coins
to increase their numismatic
value. The most common
changes are the removal,
addition, or alteration of the
coin's date or mint marks.
If you suspect you are in
possession of a counterfeit or
altered coin, compare it with a
genuine one of the same value.
If it is above five cents in value,
it should have corrugated outer
edges, referred to as “reeding.”
Reeding on genuine coins is
even and distinct. The
counterfeit coin's reeding may
be uneven, crooked, or missing
altogether.
06/10/11
Michel Jackson
In fact, say sources in a
position to know, the
superstar faked his death to
escape the crushing
pressures of life in a
fishbowl -and he is now
socked away in an
undisclosed location in
Eastern Europe – possibly
Hungary – far from the
clamor and commotion of
paparazzi and reporters
covering his “autopsy” and
“funeral” in southern
California.
And in the strangest twist
of all, say the insiders, once
he’s rested and ready,
Jackson, 50, will blow the lid
off his own hoax – and …
(scroll below poll for rest of
story) …
… In fact, say sources in a
position to know, the
superstar faked his death to
escape the crushing
pressures of life in a
fishbowl – and he is now
socked away in an
undisclosed location in
Eastern Europe, possibly
Hungary, far from the
clamor of paparazzi
covering his “autopsy” and
“funeral” in southern
California.
And in the strangest twist
of all, say the insiders, once
he’s rested and ready,
Jackson, 50, will blow the lid
off his own hoax – and
embark on the most
spectacularly lucrative
concert tour in the history
of rock ‘n’ roll.
“Michael is following in the
footsteps of a man he
greatly admired – another
rock icon, Elvis Presley, who
also faked his death and is
still alive, and in hiding,
today,” William Stern, who
has written extensively on
Presley, told me exclusively.
“Unlike Elvis, however,
Michael is withdrawing
from his celebrity before it
destroys him. And he also is
planning, once he has rested
and regrouped, to stage a
comeback unlike anything in
rock history.
“Make no mistake, Jackson is
a genius, both as a
performer and as and
showman and marketer and
promoter. Remember when
he made an offer to buy the
remains of The Elephant
Man from a British museum
just to get the publicity?
“Remember when he
reputedly was trying to
find a way to live forever
by spending hours in a
hyperbaric chamber?
“If you look at his history,
at some of the stunts he’s
pulled to keep himself in the
public eye, to maintain a
sense of mystery about
who he is and what he’s all
about, the idea that he
would fake his death makes
sense.
“Let’s face it – Michael has
been vilified by many in the
press and by people who
just don’t like him. He’s been
accused of pedophilia. He’s
been called ‘Wacko Jacko’
and a ‘Pop Weirdo’.
“Yes, he’s got billions of
fans. Yes, he’s sold perhaps
a billion records and CDs. But
for all the love he gets,
there are those who have
been and continue to be
unkind, and mean-spirited.
“I’ll make you a bet. If it
takes six months, if it takes
a year, if it takes two years,
it doesn’t matter: When he’s
rested and ready, and pulls
the curtain up on his faked
death, the world is going to
stand still.
“With all due respect to the
President of United States,
Michael on a ‘Back from the
Dead Tour’ will make Barack
Obama look like a B-List
celebrity.”
Stern’s sources say Jackson
has been planning his
escape for at least 16
months, but nobody, not
even those who are closest
to him, took him seriously,
the expert said, “until now.”
“It’s unclear where he has
gone – he mentioned South
America, Canada, Russia,
Kenya, Japan and Australia
over the past year … all
smokescreens, no doubt,”
continued Stern.
“The best information I
have suggests he is in
Eastern Europe, in a
medieval castle, possibly in
Hungary. Right now, my
sources are saying, ‘Leave
him alone. Let him rest. Give
him time.’
“They say that fans can help
him recover by showing
their love and respect for
him. They say, ‘You better
believe he is watching all
the coverage.’ And they say
fans can give Michael a
boost by flashing peace
signs to cameras – like he
was famous for doing – and
telling reporters they know
he is alive.’”
More on Michael at
YourWorldReport
But first, here’s a Bonus
Feature for fans who think
Michael Jackson has, in fact,
died and passed over into
Heaven. Psychic at Dick
Kulpa’s IudexOnline says
Elvis Presley welcomed MJ to
Paradise (as depicted in this
stirring sketch by Mr. Kulpa).
position to know, the
superstar faked his death to
escape the crushing
pressures of life in a
fishbowl -and he is now
socked away in an
undisclosed location in
Eastern Europe – possibly
Hungary – far from the
clamor and commotion of
paparazzi and reporters
covering his “autopsy” and
“funeral” in southern
California.
And in the strangest twist
of all, say the insiders, once
he’s rested and ready,
Jackson, 50, will blow the lid
off his own hoax – and …
(scroll below poll for rest of
story) …
… In fact, say sources in a
position to know, the
superstar faked his death to
escape the crushing
pressures of life in a
fishbowl – and he is now
socked away in an
undisclosed location in
Eastern Europe, possibly
Hungary, far from the
clamor of paparazzi
covering his “autopsy” and
“funeral” in southern
California.
And in the strangest twist
of all, say the insiders, once
he’s rested and ready,
Jackson, 50, will blow the lid
off his own hoax – and
embark on the most
spectacularly lucrative
concert tour in the history
of rock ‘n’ roll.
“Michael is following in the
footsteps of a man he
greatly admired – another
rock icon, Elvis Presley, who
also faked his death and is
still alive, and in hiding,
today,” William Stern, who
has written extensively on
Presley, told me exclusively.
“Unlike Elvis, however,
Michael is withdrawing
from his celebrity before it
destroys him. And he also is
planning, once he has rested
and regrouped, to stage a
comeback unlike anything in
rock history.
“Make no mistake, Jackson is
a genius, both as a
performer and as and
showman and marketer and
promoter. Remember when
he made an offer to buy the
remains of The Elephant
Man from a British museum
just to get the publicity?
“Remember when he
reputedly was trying to
find a way to live forever
by spending hours in a
hyperbaric chamber?
“If you look at his history,
at some of the stunts he’s
pulled to keep himself in the
public eye, to maintain a
sense of mystery about
who he is and what he’s all
about, the idea that he
would fake his death makes
sense.
“Let’s face it – Michael has
been vilified by many in the
press and by people who
just don’t like him. He’s been
accused of pedophilia. He’s
been called ‘Wacko Jacko’
and a ‘Pop Weirdo’.
“Yes, he’s got billions of
fans. Yes, he’s sold perhaps
a billion records and CDs. But
for all the love he gets,
there are those who have
been and continue to be
unkind, and mean-spirited.
“I’ll make you a bet. If it
takes six months, if it takes
a year, if it takes two years,
it doesn’t matter: When he’s
rested and ready, and pulls
the curtain up on his faked
death, the world is going to
stand still.
“With all due respect to the
President of United States,
Michael on a ‘Back from the
Dead Tour’ will make Barack
Obama look like a B-List
celebrity.”
Stern’s sources say Jackson
has been planning his
escape for at least 16
months, but nobody, not
even those who are closest
to him, took him seriously,
the expert said, “until now.”
“It’s unclear where he has
gone – he mentioned South
America, Canada, Russia,
Kenya, Japan and Australia
over the past year … all
smokescreens, no doubt,”
continued Stern.
“The best information I
have suggests he is in
Eastern Europe, in a
medieval castle, possibly in
Hungary. Right now, my
sources are saying, ‘Leave
him alone. Let him rest. Give
him time.’
“They say that fans can help
him recover by showing
their love and respect for
him. They say, ‘You better
believe he is watching all
the coverage.’ And they say
fans can give Michael a
boost by flashing peace
signs to cameras – like he
was famous for doing – and
telling reporters they know
he is alive.’”
More on Michael at
YourWorldReport
But first, here’s a Bonus
Feature for fans who think
Michael Jackson has, in fact,
died and passed over into
Heaven. Psychic at Dick
Kulpa’s IudexOnline says
Elvis Presley welcomed MJ to
Paradise (as depicted in this
stirring sketch by Mr. Kulpa).
Penetration Facebook Population
Everyone who is in the business
can’t be really surprised that the
USA has the biggest group of
Facebookers (110 million users
on Facebook). The figures show
us that the second position is
occupied with United Kingdom
where is 23 million Facebookers.
It means that in absolute
numbers the USA has around
87 million more on Facebook
then UK. Again in numbers
it’s about 4.5 times more.
It’s really interesting that other
positions are occupied by
Indonesia and Turkey.
Many marketers ask for
penetration like Harry Potter
with a magic wand. You can get
it (I mean figures of penetration
not a magic wand, sorry) for
free from Facebakers.com but
you have to be careful and
compare it with a whole
population of a chosen country.
In figures we can see that first
position with highest
penetration is occupied by
Iceland with 55.12%. If you read
newspapers you know that
citizens of Iceland aren’t your
target because they don’t have
money (or at least their banks
don't). United Kingdom is sixth
in penetration with 38.31% and
USA is tenth with 35.92%.
Having in mind salaries in these
countries and population you
can seriously work with
penetration because in these
cases it makes sense to
advertise/to sell something.
Penetration on Facebook isn’t
everything but it’s useful if you
know how to work with other
indicators. High penetration is
mostly in small countries with
easy access to internet
connection. Look at the figures
and you find this 2. Norway,
3. Denmark, 5. Singapore, 7. Hong
Kong, 11. Sweden, 12. Malta,
13. Israel and so on. In these
countries you have to know
pretty well what people really
want a how much they are
willing to buy because high
penetration means nothing with
small population.
Healthy penetration with middle
(around 10 millions citizens) or
high population is at least about
20%. We are talking about
4. Canada, 8. Australia,
23. France, 26. Italy, 36. Czech
republic etc. If you see lower
number you can be sure that
you have fewer possibilities to
reach your target – especially in
case of services or specialized
goods. But in some countries
you probably can get good
results although they are small
in population – 13. Israel,
15. Ireland, 17. Finland,
19. Belgium and many others
look worth to do business.
Facebook is smart tool but its
users are smart too. If you want
success on Facebook you have
to know your customers and
their possibilities. Many people
in business consider penetration
or population as the most
important indicators. We already
know that it’s important but not
everything.
On Facebakers.com, we are also
preparing penetration to online
population, which will be
available very soon on our.
can’t be really surprised that the
USA has the biggest group of
Facebookers (110 million users
on Facebook). The figures show
us that the second position is
occupied with United Kingdom
where is 23 million Facebookers.
It means that in absolute
numbers the USA has around
87 million more on Facebook
then UK. Again in numbers
it’s about 4.5 times more.
It’s really interesting that other
positions are occupied by
Indonesia and Turkey.
Many marketers ask for
penetration like Harry Potter
with a magic wand. You can get
it (I mean figures of penetration
not a magic wand, sorry) for
free from Facebakers.com but
you have to be careful and
compare it with a whole
population of a chosen country.
In figures we can see that first
position with highest
penetration is occupied by
Iceland with 55.12%. If you read
newspapers you know that
citizens of Iceland aren’t your
target because they don’t have
money (or at least their banks
don't). United Kingdom is sixth
in penetration with 38.31% and
USA is tenth with 35.92%.
Having in mind salaries in these
countries and population you
can seriously work with
penetration because in these
cases it makes sense to
advertise/to sell something.
Penetration on Facebook isn’t
everything but it’s useful if you
know how to work with other
indicators. High penetration is
mostly in small countries with
easy access to internet
connection. Look at the figures
and you find this 2. Norway,
3. Denmark, 5. Singapore, 7. Hong
Kong, 11. Sweden, 12. Malta,
13. Israel and so on. In these
countries you have to know
pretty well what people really
want a how much they are
willing to buy because high
penetration means nothing with
small population.
Healthy penetration with middle
(around 10 millions citizens) or
high population is at least about
20%. We are talking about
4. Canada, 8. Australia,
23. France, 26. Italy, 36. Czech
republic etc. If you see lower
number you can be sure that
you have fewer possibilities to
reach your target – especially in
case of services or specialized
goods. But in some countries
you probably can get good
results although they are small
in population – 13. Israel,
15. Ireland, 17. Finland,
19. Belgium and many others
look worth to do business.
Facebook is smart tool but its
users are smart too. If you want
success on Facebook you have
to know your customers and
their possibilities. Many people
in business consider penetration
or population as the most
important indicators. We already
know that it’s important but not
everything.
On Facebakers.com, we are also
preparing penetration to online
population, which will be
available very soon on our.
Now, PayPal UK's twitter account falls prey to hackers
LONDON: Online payment service
PayPal has reportedly become
the latest victim of hackers.
The company's UK PayPal
Twitter feed was breached and
the person behind the hacking
started posting messages and
'retweeting' other people's
messages, the Daily Mail reports.
The hacker also changed the
profile information with its
description becoming 'The
official twitter account for the
fail team at PayPal UK'
The twitter account was also
used to promote a website
called 'paypalsucks.com', a site
that calls into questions the
payment processing's business
practices and number of
customer complaints.
A tweet sent from the hacked
account read "All your paypal
accounts are now frozen while
we clean up this mess".
Anuj Nayar, Director of
Communications, for PayPal said
that company's Twitter feed
was targeted by hackers but
reassured all customers that
PayPal's UK customer systems
and data had not been breached
or hacked in any way.
PayPal has reportedly become
the latest victim of hackers.
The company's UK PayPal
Twitter feed was breached and
the person behind the hacking
started posting messages and
'retweeting' other people's
messages, the Daily Mail reports.
The hacker also changed the
profile information with its
description becoming 'The
official twitter account for the
fail team at PayPal UK'
The twitter account was also
used to promote a website
called 'paypalsucks.com', a site
that calls into questions the
payment processing's business
practices and number of
customer complaints.
A tweet sent from the hacked
account read "All your paypal
accounts are now frozen while
we clean up this mess".
Anuj Nayar, Director of
Communications, for PayPal said
that company's Twitter feed
was targeted by hackers but
reassured all customers that
PayPal's UK customer systems
and data had not been breached
or hacked in any way.
Amelia Goes to the Ball
Amelia Goes to the Ball
(Italian: Amelia al ballo) is an
opera buffa in one act
composed by Gian Carlo Menotti.
Menotti also wrote the original
Italian libretto. Composed when
he was twenty-three, it was
Menotti's first mature opera and
his first critical success. The
opera was first performed in
Philadelphia on 1 April 1937 and
recounts a series of farcical
events as a young Italian
socialite overcomes various
obstacles to her attendance at
the first ball of the social season.
Contents [hide]
1 Performance history
2 Roles
3 Synopsis
4 Score
5 Recordings
6 References
7 External links
Performance history
The opera's world premiere,
produced by the Curtis Institute
of Music, took place on 1 April
1937 at the Philadelphia
Academy of Music in a
production directed by Austrian
composer, librettist, and stage
director Ernst Lert and using set
and costume designs by Tony
Award winning designer Donald
Oenslager. The opera was
presented in a double bill with
the US premiere of Darius
Milhaud's Le pauvre matelot. The
premiere used an English
translation of the libretto by
George Mead with the score
revised somewhat by Menotti to
fit the English text.[1] Both
operas were conducted by Fritz
Reiner with Sylvan Levin serving
as chorus master and a young
Boris Goldovsky working as
Assistant Conductor. The
Milhaud/Menotti double bill
played later that month in
Baltimore at the city's Lyric
Theatre and at the New
Amsterdam Theatre in New York
City, with Florence Kirk taking
over the title role at the latter
theatre. On 2 May 1937,
excerpts from the opera
performed by the original cast
with Levin conducting were
broadcast by CBS radio as part
of National Music Week in the
United States.
Amelia Goes to the Ball had its
Metropolitan Opera premiere on
3 March 1938 with Muriel
Dickson as Amelia, John
Brownlee as her husband, and
Mario Chamlee as her lover. The
opera received a total of seven
performances at the Met that
season, four times in a double
bill with Strauss' Elektra
(including the opening night),
twice paired with Strauss'
Salome, and once with Rimsky-
Korsakov's Le coq d'or.[2]
The first Italian performance,
using the original libretto and
title, Amelia al ballo, took place
on 4 April 1938 in the opera
theatre of the Sanremo
Municipal Casino. Amelia's
success at the Met and
elsewhere led to a commission
from NBC for an opera
specifically composed for radio,
Menotti's 1939 The Old Maid and
the Thief.[3] During the 1950s,
the opera had a surge in
popularity in Italy, with the
work being mounted for the
first time at the Teatro
Comunale di Bologna (7
December 1951), the Teatro
Regio in Parma (18 January
1952), La Scala (24 March 1954),
the Teatro Regio in Turin (8 May
1954), and the Teatro dell'Opera
di Roma (29 December 1956)
among others. The Belgium
premiere of the work was given
at La Monnaie on 11 March 1955
and the French premiere was
given at the opera house in Metz
on 9 December 1967.[4]
Amelia had several revivals in
1987 (on the occasion of
Menotti's 75th birthday)
including a performance in the
original Italian at the Juilliard
School Opera Center, directed by
the composer himself,[5] It is
still periodically performed, with
productions in the 2008/2009
seasons in Vichy, Buenos Aires,
and São Paulo, as well as a 2010
double bill with Menotti's The
Telephone in Tours, using the
2006 co-production by Opéra de
Lausanne and the Opéra
Comique.[6]
Roles
Role Voice
type
Premiere Cast,
1 April 1937
[7]
(Conductor:
Fritz Reiner)
Amelia soprano Margaret Daum
Amelia's
husband baritone Conrad Mayo
Amelia's
lover tenor William Martin
Amelia's
friend contralto Edwina Eustis
The Chief
of Police bass Leonard Treash
The cook mezzo-
soprano Wilburta Horn
The maid mezzo-
soprano Charlotte
Daniels
Chorus of nosy neighbours,
passersby, police and ambulance
men
Synopsis
Setting: an elegant apartment in
Milan
Amelia, a wealthy young
socialite, is in her boudoir
getting ready for the first ball
of the season. However, her
husband has discovered that
she has a lover and refuses to
accompany Amelia unless she
reveals his name. When she
reveals that her lover is their
upstairs neighbour, a general
melee breaks out between the
jealous husband and her pesty
lover, with Amelia eventually
breaking a vase over her
husband's head. When the police
arrive, she tells them that a
burglar had entered the
apartment and attacked her
husband with the vase. Her
husband is taken to hospital, her
lover is arrested as the burglar,
and Amelia leaves for the ball on
the arm of the Chief of Police
who has come to investigate.
Score
The full version of the score is
orchestrated for 3 flutes, 2
oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2
horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones,
tuba, percussion, celeste,
xylophone, harp and strings.[8]
The score was described by the
Time Magazine, critic who
attended the world premiere as
"full of glowing, facetious music
admirably suited to the
story",[9] and by the New York
World-Telegram as "delightful",
"vivacious" and "tuneful" in a
review of its first performance
at the Met.[10] However,
following a performance of
Amelia Goes to the Ball in
Birmingham (England) in 1989,
Jan Smaczny writing for Opera
described it as a "breath-
takingly banal" combination of
"blunt pastiche" and "overripe
verismo lyricism".[11]
Recordings
The 1954 La Scala production of
Amelia al ballo conducted by
Nino Sanzogno with Margherita
Carosio as Amelia, Giacinto
Prandelli as her lover, and
Rolando Panerai as her husband,
has been re-released on CD by
Testament Records (1999),
Urania Records (2007) and
Naxos Historical (coupled with a
1950 recording of The Consul) in
2010. Excerpts from the opera
also appear on several CDs, most
notably, Amelia's aria "While I
waste these precious hours" on
Leontyne Price – The Prima
Donna Collection (RCA Victor
Gold Seal, 1992/95) and the
husband's recitative and aria
"Non si va!...Amelia cara" on
Prima Voce: Rolando Panerai
(Nimbus Records, 2008).
Pic from wikipedia.org
(Italian: Amelia al ballo) is an
opera buffa in one act
composed by Gian Carlo Menotti.
Menotti also wrote the original
Italian libretto. Composed when
he was twenty-three, it was
Menotti's first mature opera and
his first critical success. The
opera was first performed in
Philadelphia on 1 April 1937 and
recounts a series of farcical
events as a young Italian
socialite overcomes various
obstacles to her attendance at
the first ball of the social season.
Contents [hide]
1 Performance history
2 Roles
3 Synopsis
4 Score
5 Recordings
6 References
7 External links
Performance history
The opera's world premiere,
produced by the Curtis Institute
of Music, took place on 1 April
1937 at the Philadelphia
Academy of Music in a
production directed by Austrian
composer, librettist, and stage
director Ernst Lert and using set
and costume designs by Tony
Award winning designer Donald
Oenslager. The opera was
presented in a double bill with
the US premiere of Darius
Milhaud's Le pauvre matelot. The
premiere used an English
translation of the libretto by
George Mead with the score
revised somewhat by Menotti to
fit the English text.[1] Both
operas were conducted by Fritz
Reiner with Sylvan Levin serving
as chorus master and a young
Boris Goldovsky working as
Assistant Conductor. The
Milhaud/Menotti double bill
played later that month in
Baltimore at the city's Lyric
Theatre and at the New
Amsterdam Theatre in New York
City, with Florence Kirk taking
over the title role at the latter
theatre. On 2 May 1937,
excerpts from the opera
performed by the original cast
with Levin conducting were
broadcast by CBS radio as part
of National Music Week in the
United States.
Amelia Goes to the Ball had its
Metropolitan Opera premiere on
3 March 1938 with Muriel
Dickson as Amelia, John
Brownlee as her husband, and
Mario Chamlee as her lover. The
opera received a total of seven
performances at the Met that
season, four times in a double
bill with Strauss' Elektra
(including the opening night),
twice paired with Strauss'
Salome, and once with Rimsky-
Korsakov's Le coq d'or.[2]
The first Italian performance,
using the original libretto and
title, Amelia al ballo, took place
on 4 April 1938 in the opera
theatre of the Sanremo
Municipal Casino. Amelia's
success at the Met and
elsewhere led to a commission
from NBC for an opera
specifically composed for radio,
Menotti's 1939 The Old Maid and
the Thief.[3] During the 1950s,
the opera had a surge in
popularity in Italy, with the
work being mounted for the
first time at the Teatro
Comunale di Bologna (7
December 1951), the Teatro
Regio in Parma (18 January
1952), La Scala (24 March 1954),
the Teatro Regio in Turin (8 May
1954), and the Teatro dell'Opera
di Roma (29 December 1956)
among others. The Belgium
premiere of the work was given
at La Monnaie on 11 March 1955
and the French premiere was
given at the opera house in Metz
on 9 December 1967.[4]
Amelia had several revivals in
1987 (on the occasion of
Menotti's 75th birthday)
including a performance in the
original Italian at the Juilliard
School Opera Center, directed by
the composer himself,[5] It is
still periodically performed, with
productions in the 2008/2009
seasons in Vichy, Buenos Aires,
and São Paulo, as well as a 2010
double bill with Menotti's The
Telephone in Tours, using the
2006 co-production by Opéra de
Lausanne and the Opéra
Comique.[6]
Roles
Role Voice
type
Premiere Cast,
1 April 1937
[7]
(Conductor:
Fritz Reiner)
Amelia soprano Margaret Daum
Amelia's
husband baritone Conrad Mayo
Amelia's
lover tenor William Martin
Amelia's
friend contralto Edwina Eustis
The Chief
of Police bass Leonard Treash
The cook mezzo-
soprano Wilburta Horn
The maid mezzo-
soprano Charlotte
Daniels
Chorus of nosy neighbours,
passersby, police and ambulance
men
Synopsis
Setting: an elegant apartment in
Milan
Amelia, a wealthy young
socialite, is in her boudoir
getting ready for the first ball
of the season. However, her
husband has discovered that
she has a lover and refuses to
accompany Amelia unless she
reveals his name. When she
reveals that her lover is their
upstairs neighbour, a general
melee breaks out between the
jealous husband and her pesty
lover, with Amelia eventually
breaking a vase over her
husband's head. When the police
arrive, she tells them that a
burglar had entered the
apartment and attacked her
husband with the vase. Her
husband is taken to hospital, her
lover is arrested as the burglar,
and Amelia leaves for the ball on
the arm of the Chief of Police
who has come to investigate.
Score
The full version of the score is
orchestrated for 3 flutes, 2
oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2
horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones,
tuba, percussion, celeste,
xylophone, harp and strings.[8]
The score was described by the
Time Magazine, critic who
attended the world premiere as
"full of glowing, facetious music
admirably suited to the
story",[9] and by the New York
World-Telegram as "delightful",
"vivacious" and "tuneful" in a
review of its first performance
at the Met.[10] However,
following a performance of
Amelia Goes to the Ball in
Birmingham (England) in 1989,
Jan Smaczny writing for Opera
described it as a "breath-
takingly banal" combination of
"blunt pastiche" and "overripe
verismo lyricism".[11]
Recordings
The 1954 La Scala production of
Amelia al ballo conducted by
Nino Sanzogno with Margherita
Carosio as Amelia, Giacinto
Prandelli as her lover, and
Rolando Panerai as her husband,
has been re-released on CD by
Testament Records (1999),
Urania Records (2007) and
Naxos Historical (coupled with a
1950 recording of The Consul) in
2010. Excerpts from the opera
also appear on several CDs, most
notably, Amelia's aria "While I
waste these precious hours" on
Leontyne Price – The Prima
Donna Collection (RCA Victor
Gold Seal, 1992/95) and the
husband's recitative and aria
"Non si va!...Amelia cara" on
Prima Voce: Rolando Panerai
(Nimbus Records, 2008).
Pic from wikipedia.org
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