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- Herausgeber: Icon Books
- Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
- Serie: Great Operas
- Sprache: Englisch
Even Salieri, the notorious villain of Peter Shaffer's drama Amadeus, admired Mozart's comic opera Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute), which was premièred in Vienna a few weeks before Mozart's death in December 1791. Though sometimes enjoyed as a children's opera, this is not a pantomime: rooted in Freemasonry, the Enlightenment and the Age of Reason, it promotes the ideals of progress, virtue, self-betterment, truth and justice. Tamino, an Egyptian Prince, has a magic flute to take him and his beloved Pamina through trials of constancy and endurance, before they can attain ultimate bliss. Critics have long been confounded as to how Mozart could present such a light-hearted yet deep masterpiece, with such wonderful music, while being in deep financial trouble. There is great stylistic diversity. The sensationally difficult part of the Queen of the Night comes from the Italian opera tradition, while the comical bird catcher Papageno (originally performed by the librettist Schikaneder) sings in the popular style of the Viennese suburbs. Such is the beauty of the music that Bernard Shaw thought that the O Isis and Osiris, of Sarastro, the High Priest, was fit to emerge from the mouth of a god. Written by Michael Steen, author of the acclaimed The Lives and Times of the Great Composers, 'Short Guides to Great Operas' are concise, entertaining and easy to read. They are packed with useful information and informed opinion, helping to make you a truly knowledgeable opera-goer, and so maximising your enjoyment of a great musical experience. Other 'Short Guides to Great Operas' that you may enjoy include Don Giovanni, The Marriage of Figaro and Così fan tutte.
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Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2013
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Published in the UK in 2013 by Icon Books Ltd,
Omnibus Business Centre, 29–41 North Road, London N7 9DP
email: [email protected]
www.iconbooks.net
ISBN: 978-1-84831-542-6 (ePub format)
ISBN: 978-1-84831-544-0 (Adobe ebook format)
Content previously published in Great Operas, published in the UK in 2012 by Icon Books Ltd
Text copyright © 2012, 2013 Michael Steen
The author has asserted his moral rights.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, or by any means, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.
Typesetting by Marie Doherty
CONTENTS
Title page
Copyright
PREFACE
USING THIS EBOOK
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
MOZART’STHE MAGIC FLUTE
THE OPERA AND ITS COMPOSER
WHO’S WHO AND WHAT’S WHAT
THE INTERVAL – TALKING POINTS
The exceptional quality of the music
Political correctness
Sources of the opera
Freemasonry in the plot
Freemasonry in the music
Comedy or farce?
ACT BY ACT
Act 1
Act 2
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Sources of quotes
Other sources
NOTES
Short Guides to Great Operas
PREFACE
This guide is aimed at the ordinary opera-goer and opera-lover, usually a busy person who wants to know the essentials of the opera but has little time to grasp them.
It provides key background information to The Magic Flute, told engagingly by someone who knows the opera intimately.
It is light, easy to read, and entertaining. Relevant information has been carefully selected to enhance your appreciation of Mozart’s work.
It is authoritative, but not dense or academic. It is unburdened with the clutter that can easily be obtained elsewhere. It concentrates on information that it will help you to know in advance.
Read quickly before going to the opera or listening to it at home, you will get the very best out of the performance and have a truly enjoyable experience.
Opera can be a great social occasion. Being knowledgeable and well-informed, you’ll appreciate this magical art-form much more if you read this first.
I hope you enjoy the opera!
Michael Steen
USING THIS EBOOK
A very quick grasp of the opera can be gained by reading the opening section on ‘The opera and its composer’ and the ensuing ‘Who’s who and what’s what’. Further elaboration may be found in the sections entitled ‘The interval: talking points’ and ‘Act by act’.
The footnotes and boxes are an integral part of the information. The reader is encouraged to go to these by clicking on the links.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Michael Steen OBE studied at the Royal College of Music, was organ scholar at Oriel College, Oxford, and has been chairman of both the RCM Society and the Friends of the V&A Museum. He is a trustee of the Gerald Coke Handel Foundation and Anvil Arts, and Treasurer of The Open University.
MOZART’STHEMAGICFLUTE
A SHORT GUIDE TO A GREAT OPERA
The opera and its composer
Who’s who and what’s what
The interval – talking points
Act by act
THE OPERA AND ITS COMPOSER
Mozart took his seven-year-old son, Karl, and his granny to The Magic Flute. Karl was allowed out from a school which his parents thought was pretty useless. He ‘was absolutely delighted at being taken to the opera’, according to his father. Children have always been enchanted by Die Zauberflöte. Why? It has a strong resemblance to pantomime.
But it is no pantomime. There have been many different interpretations of what it is about, some elaborate and psychological. It has roots deep in Freemasonry, but also in the Commedia dell’arte played by the traditional strolling masked players, and various other sources.
It is an allegory. Two ‘lofty’, ‘noble’ lovers must pass through various trials of constancy, endurance and discretion, before they can come together and attain ultimate bliss. The story contains messages, conveyed using the symbolism of Freemasonry, about love for humanity, and its role in the quest for self-betterment. Progress, presided over by a priesthood, is made through the reconciliation of opposites: light and darkness, good and evil, enlightenment (i.e. the use of reason) and superstition.
The opera ends with a hymn to beauty and wisdom; and, at ‘half-time’, the chorus proclaims that when virtue and justice prevail, Earth becomes Heaven, and mortals become gods. Later, the High Priest declares in his second exquisitely beautiful aria that happiness comes from fraternal love, not from revenge.
The target audience for Mozart and his librettist was not the usual sophisticated high society. It was suburban, and middle or lower class. In a development well ahead of its time, they were using opera to disseminate ethical messages. To appeal to this new audience, the high-faluting material needed softening, lightening. Thus, it was interspersed with farcical incidents involving a comic, primitive man who has no hope at all of achieving ‘lofty’ objectives. These are the pantomime aspects which delight children. They also provide dramatic contrast.
The ‘lofty’ and the comical merge, almost embrace, in the beautiful duet Mann und Weib
