A Boy and His Mother

At the age of 7, under the guidance of his mother, Menotti began to compose songs. Four years later, he wrote the words and music of his first opera, The Death of Pierrot. In 1923 he began his formal musical training at the Verdi Conservatory in Milan. Following the death of his father, his mother took him to the United States, where he was enrolled at Philadelphia's Curtis Institute of Music. Menotti’s mother chose the Curtis Institute on the advice of the famed conductor Arturo Toscanini. Menotti said that leaving his mother for Curtis was similar to Amahl leaving his mother to travel with the Three Kings.