Eleven years old brought me face to face with my first powerful experience of the Holy Spirit. Abba initiated my entrance into His glorious and melodious symphony. In 1979 I sang the role of Amahl in Gian Carlo Mennoti’s opera Amahl and the Night Visitors. A poor crippled boy living with his widowed mother receives a visit from the Three Wiseman on their way to find the Holy Child.
My early, mediocre at best forays into piano and music with my father, took on new dimensions with the study and performance of the role of Amahl. My mother was a consummate coach showing me how to enter the mind and spirit of the character. Daddy taught me the mechanics of the role and introduced me to the intricacies of working in the operatic genre. The real conductor was of course God’s grace moving through the Holy Spirit.
During the climax of the opera the Wisemen are sleeping. Amhal’s mother gazes at all of the scintillating gold. Her desperation to offer Amahl a better life compels her to take a piece. She is caught. The Three Kings assure her that the Child they seek will not need the gold:
Oh woman, you may keep the gold.
The child we seek doesn’t need our gold.
On love, on love alone he will build his kingdom.
His pierced hand will hold no scepter.
His haloed head will wear no crown.
His might will not be built on your toil.
Swifter than lightning, he will soon walk among us.
He will bring us new life, and receive our death, and the keys to his city belong to the poor.
Beautiful piece of music here’s a recording of this beautiful conversation between the mother desperate to help her child and the kings. This is from the original NBC T.V. in 1951:
Amahl’s mother reacts…
Oh no wait! Take back your gold! For such a king I’ve waited all my life… and if I weren’t so poor I would send a gift of my own to such a child.
Without even thinking Amahl says,
But Mother, let me send him my crutch. Who knows, he may need one, and this, I made myself.
Running to stop him from hurting himself Amahal’s mother gasps,
But that you can’t, you can’t!
Unfazed by his mother’s protests, Amahl removes the crutch from his arm and extends it towards the Wisemen. He whispers in amazement,
I walk, Mother. I walk Mother…
Every night I was healed by the Holy Spirit. I can still feel the spikes of electricity running up and down my spine. I was not Terrence Gargiulo. I was Amahl. God gave me a direct experience of His healing power and grace. I was forever changed. God was teaching me to say, “Yes.” He was dipping me in a vat of fresh faith to coat and protect my fragile spiritual body. God was awakening in me the gift He has given us all; an invitation to let Him pluck the vibrating strings of unconditional love. Each of us with a note in his glorious hymn and all of us heirs destined to participate in His miracle of creation.
Daddy and I wrote a letter to Gian Carlo Menotti urging him to write two more operas to round out the story. We envisioned calling his first opera the Crutch, the second one the Cretch, and the third one the Cross. When Menotti never answered our letter, I vowed to my father that one day I would write the operas. Interested in hearing more of that story? Click here to read about this story of Ultimate Healing.
Here’s a recording of 11 year old me singing the duet with the mother at the beginning of the opera:
What about you? Have you been touched by God while performing? Do you have a picture and story you can share with us?