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Maddalena In La Mama Morta

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Maddalena In La Mama Morta
The Power and Influence of “La mamma morta” in Philadelphia
Music has the power to portray the intense emotions a person experiences. It has the ability to bring different people together, causing them to feel empathy and sympathy. Umberto Giordano’s Andrea Chénier is a beautiful opera because of the fact that many who watch and listen to it can relate to its story in some way. In one scene of the film, Philadelphia, the protagonist, Andy Beckett, listens to the opera’s aria, “La mamma morta,” with his lawyer, Joe Miller. Andy identifies greatly with Maddalena, the character who sings this aria. His passion for the piece is obvious as he talks throughout the piece about what he hears. As a non-musician, he does not use the correct terminology to describe the song, but he establishes a foundation on which to build a more complete study. In this scene, as Andy listens to …show more content…
In this scene, in Act 4, she tries to save Andrea from execution. In this part of the opera, the country of France is going through the Reign of Terror, a period of extreme violence after the start of the revolution. Maddalena tells the story of how mob that set her house on fire and how her mother died protecting her. Distraught and filled with grief, Maddalena was close to dying. Her maid, Bersi, had to sell herself as a prostitute in an attempt to save Maddalena. What saved Maddalena from dying was a voice from above, presumably Andrea’s, that told her to be strong and to live, because he loved her. The aria is about survival, love and the courage to live after experiencing something terrible. Andy finds refuge and relief in the “La mamma mia” scene, which is extremely significant in the movie. Mass hysteria in the 1980s and 1990s about AIDS and homophobia, with many viewing AIDS patients as outcasts with a dangerous and mysterious disease. This chaos is not unlike the chaos experienced by the characters in Andrea
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