The Magic Flute
Hemakumar NANAYAKKARA
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's opera 'The Magic Flute' (German: ' Die
Zauberfloete') is regarded as one of the greatest and most popular
operas of the entire repertoire.
What makes it a great work of music is Mozart's unique ability to
transmit his humanistic ideals into music of extraordinary beauty and
creativity.
'The Magic Flute', the last opera of this genius musician was
composed in 1791 to a libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. This work of
music is presented in a form of a Singspiel that included both singing
and spoken dialogues.
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Papagena and Papageno. www.flikr.com |
The premier opening of 'The Magic Flute' was on the 30th September
1791 in the Theater auf der Wieden, which was located in one of the
suburban areas of Vienna, Austria.
The great Austrian composer, Mozart conducted the music. Schikaneder
himself played Papageno, while the role of The Queen of the Night was
performed by Mozart's sister in law Josepha Hofer who was a German
Soprano of the classical era.
The main charachters in 'The Magic Flute': Tamino, a prince of a
faraway land (Tenor)
Papageno, a bird catcher (Baritone)
The Queen of the Night (Soprano)
Three Ladies, attendents of the Queen (Soprano, Mezzo- soprano, Alto)
Pamina, the daughter of the Queen (Soprano)
Monostatos, a guard (Tenor)
Sarastro, the leader of the Temple (Bass)
Two priests (Tenor, Bass)
Papagena, the bird catcher's mate (Soprano)
The story is a beautiful fairytale for both children and adults, full
of Masonic symbolism that is sometimes not easily understood. Mozart's
music is one of the brilliance in entire opera., ranges from simple folk
like tunes such as Papageno's 'Ein Vogelfaenger bin ich ja' to
incredible vocal pyrotechnics of The Queen of the Night's 'Der Hoelle
Rache.'
'The Magic Flute' is an opera which is performed in two Acts.
An abbreviation of Act I
Tamino screamed for help to escape from a monstrous snake and fainted
of fear. Three Ladies: the attendents of the Queen of the Night killed
the snake and saved Tamino's life. They argued who would lifegaurd
handsome Tamino, eventually all three left to tell the queen about the
incident.
Tamino woke up and found the giant snake was dead. Papageno , the
bird catcher arrived and bosted that he slaughered the snake. Three
Ladies returned and put a padlock on Papageno's mouth as a punishment
for lying. Then, Three Ladies gave a picture of Queen's daughter Pamina
to Tamino. The beautiful Pamina was kiddnapped by Sarastro the leader of
the temple.
Tamino at once fell in love with Pamina as he saw her portrait. Later
the Queen asked Tamino to resque her daughters life.
Three Ladies removed the padlock out of Papageno's mouth and gave him
a magic bell and Tamino a magic flute for the safety on their journey.
They were also introduced to three spiritual guides who appeared in a
form of three little boys. On their way, Tamino and his counterpart
Papageno were seperated and went in different paths.
In Sarastro's place, Pamina was being held against her will by
Monostatos who desired her love. As Papageno arrived Monostatos was
frightened away by Papageno's feather covered body and he fled. Through
Papageno , Pamina got to know that Tamino was in love with her and
intended to save her.
In the mean time Tamino played the flute , hoping to find Pamina, but
the magic of the music enchanted only wild animals . They danced
joyously to it's beautiful melody.
Pamina and Papageno heard the sound of the flute but they were caught
by Monostatos and his men. With the help of Papageno's magic bells
Monostatos and his men started to perform an euphoric dance, in the mean
time Pamina and Papageno made their way to escape.
At the temple of Sarastro, Tamino was advised by a priest, that was
the queen, not the Sarastro who was the evil, convinced him that
Sarastro was in fact a good man.
Pamina and Papageno found themselves in a huge procession in
Sarastro's honour. Pamina confessed the truth to Sarastro but he refused
to set her free and return her to the evil mother.
He told her that she needs a man to show her the path to virtue.
Tamino was captured by Monostatos and brought in to the scene. Then,
Pamina and Tamino saw each other and instantly fell in love.
An abbreviation of Act II
Tamino and Papageno had to face a series of tests to join the
brotherhood of the Temple of Wisdom. These tests were to judge virtue,
abstinence and silence. If they were successful , both would be rewarded
with long lasting love for their destined women.
Monostatos was dishonest to Sarastro and banished by Sarastro.
Monostatos joined the evil forces of The Queen of the Night.
The first test was for silence. Three Ladies appeared and tried to
get words out of Tamino and Papageno. Tamino was silent but the Papageno
failed, but the priests chased the Three Ladies away. Pamina visited
Tamino, and was shocked by his silence.
An old woman appeared to Papageno and he flirted with her, as a
result again he failed the test. How ever the gods gave him another
chance and reappeared the woman.Then, Papageno agreed to love her.
Suddenly the old woman was turned into young Papagena, the perfect match
of Papageno. How ever he was told that not yet worthy enough of her
love.
Pamina wanted to kill herself because she was unhappy that Tamino
totally ignored her. The three boys advised her to be strong and took
her to Tamino.
The final test was to travel through fire and water without fear of
death. Both Tamino and Pamina took this journey together. They were well
protected by the sound of the magic flute.
Sarastro and the followers were over joyed by this successful
attempt. Then Papageno was also saved from an attempted suicide by the
three boys who reminded him to use his magic bells, which summoned
Papagena. Those two lovers were also united and promised to have many
children.
Then, The Queen of the Night and Monostatos made their final attempt
to attack Sarastro's Temple but were quite easily defeated . The power
of light triumphed over the darkness and magic flute carried the final
melody in a joyous finale. |
