ABSTRACT
The central panel of a triptych of one-act operas, Suor Angelica is assembled as a continuity, but not one without seams. Setting aside tonal concerns momentarily, we may characterize the larger spans of this music as commingling multiple strategies of structure-building, each of which contributes to the overall impact of the work. One is the deployment of a succession of lyrical episodes made plausible in their association by sharing common features, most notably the gentle translucency of the religious local color and the purposeful femininity of the voices and pastel-tinted orchestration. Into the faux-purity of this texture, as into portions of Madama Butterfly, ruthless bursts of material reality and violence tear like knives shredding a flimsy curtain of old-world illusion.
