About the work
One-act opera by Luigi Dallapiccola to his own libretto after Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's novel 'Vol de nuit' (Night Flight, 1931), composed between 1937 and 1939. It premiered on 18 May 1940 at the Teatro della Pergola in Florence as part of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, conducted by Fernando Previtali.
Plot
Airline director Rivière insists on a risky night flight over Patagonia despite a gathering storm, determined to establish the reliability of the service, while his staff and the wife of the missing pilot Fabien fear for his fate. In the end, Rivière's unbending sense of duty prevails over compassion.
Cultural significance
Composed shortly before Italy entered the war, the opera has been read as a veiled reflection on blind obedience and the sacrifice of the individual for a higher cause, marking an early instance of Dallapiccola's lifelong engagement with individual suffering under authoritarian rule.