The reception for the first television broadcast of Menotti’s opera Amahl and the Night Visitors was overwhelming: an estimated five million viewers, the NBC switchboard jammed with congratulatory calls and an unprecedented front-page review in The New York Times. Quickly recorded for RCA Victor, the album became a best-seller and the opera remains a Christmas evergreen, brimming with memorable tunes for both soloists and chorus.

Set in 17th-century Venice, Menotti’s ballet Sebastian, the concert suite from which is heard here, was applauded by The New York Times as an ‘unblushing melodrama... brilliantly effective’.

Amahl and the Night Visitors
Cast:
- Amahl: Chet Allen
- His Mother: Rosemary Kuhlmann
- Kaspar: Andrew McKinley
- Melchior: David Aiken
- Balthazar: Leon Lishner
- The Page: Frank Monachino
Orchestra and Chorus / Thomas Schippers
Recorded in New York City, December 1951

Sebastian – Ballet Suite
Robin Hood Dell Orchestra of Philadelphia / Dimitri Mitropoulos
Recorded in the Academy of Music, Philadelphia, 26th July, 1946