About the work
Maria Golovin is a three-act, through-composed opera by Gian Carlo Menotti to his own English libretto. It was commissioned for the Expo 58 world's fair and premiered on August 20, 1958, at the theatre of the American pavilion in Brussels.
Plot
In a European country a few years after a war, the married Maria Golovin lives with the blind Donato and enters into an intense affair with him while her husband is a prisoner of war. After his return, Donato's jealousy becomes unbearable, and in the final scene he threatens Maria with a gun. His mother deflects the shot, leaving Maria unharmed but prompting her to leave the house.
Cultural significance
Audiences responded enthusiastically, but critics found the piece uneven; the following Broadway production closed after only five performances, and the opera has remained outside the standard repertory ever since.