Volo di notte

Volo di notte (Night Flight) is a one-act opera composed by Luigi Dallapiccola to an Italian libretto he wrote based on the novel Vol de nuit by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. It was first performed at the Teatro della Pergola in Florence on May 18, 1940.^[1]

The opera emphasizes individual suffering and was written as a response to the rise of fascism.

Roles

• First employee (tenor)
• Second employee (baritone)
• Third employee (tenor)
• Fourth employee (baritone)
• Leroux, a pilot (bass)
• Pellerin, a pilot (tenor)
• Radio operator (tenor)
• Rivière, the airfield director (bass-baritone)
• Robineau, an inspector (bass)
• Simona Fabien, wife of a pilot (mezzo-soprano)

Synopsis

The subject is an individual aviator, an Argentine long-distance mail carrier, during the early days of flying. He is caught in a storm, with no way to land; and the drama occurs both within his family, anxious for his safe return, and among his employers, anxious both for his safe return and the success of their enterprise.^[1]

References

1. Sellors, Anthony: "Volo di notte". Grove Music Online. ed. L. Macy (accessed 4 February 2008), <>