Hans Werner Henze, Pollicino (1980)

Here's a short children's opera that Henze wrote. According to the booklet, he wanted to write an opera that children could participate in (hence the largish boys' chorus here). Britten would definitely have approved. The DVD booklet is written in very simplified language, and if it weren't already apparent that this was for children, in the back it clearly defines esoteric terms like "score" "conductor" and "rehearsal." Are a lot of kids really buying DVDs these days? Well, it's a nice thought.

The story is sort of an amalgam of various popular faerie-tale tropes: the parents are poor, so they abandon their seven sons in the woods: it's actually sort of funny; they do this twice. After they get home the first time, there's some business about how "we'll never be separated again"--then hard jump-cut to the kids again abandoned in the woods. The sort of thing you'd associate with movies. But helpful animals help them, and they're taken captive by a giant who's going to eat them, only then they escape with the help of his seven daughters, and everything's gonna be great! I guess. Oh, the main kid is named Pollicino, so that's what that is. Not sure about the ending though: okay, they're free from the giant, and they sing about how great everything is and it's springtime etc, only...what about their parents? Okay, maybe they're just bad parents, throwing their kids out repeatedly, but in the beginning they're singing about social injustice, about how they need to pay money for rent that totally destroys them even though it would be NOTHING for a rich person, and you expect this to be solved in some way, but no, we're just left hanging.

Aside from that, though, what's not to like? The music is very melodic and appealing. I can easily imagine this being a gateway for a kid into opera fandom--though given that the brothers here are obviously all played by professional choir members, the idea that "any kid can do it!" doesn't quite come across here. There's an interview with the director who clarifies that adults are also "allowed" to watch it, so that's a relief.