munkus's Full Review: Mozart: Die Zauberfl?te / Klemperer, Janowitz, Ged...
The Magic Flute is a strange work. Undoubtedly it is some of Mozart's most wonderful, and most charming, music. Musical treat spills after musical treat. But the story is a bit of a funny old thing. The commission was for a singspiel (a uniquely German operatic form where the arias- the sing- are interrupted with speeches- the spiels. Fortunately, this recording leaves out the spiels because opera singers speaking text always sounds faintly ridiculous) for a theatre more known for rather silly pantomimes than high art.
Thus we get a story (by impresario Emanuel Schikaneder) with dancing animals, magic flutes, and a bird-man. Tamino is travelling in a distant land (typically a 1700s view of Egypt) when he is attacked by a monster, who is killed by a trio of Three Ladies. Turns out they're servants of the Queen of the Night whose daughter has been kidnapped by the vile Sarastro. Because this is opera, Tamino sees a photo of the daughter, Pamina, and decides he's in love and just the chap to go and rescue her. Along the way he is joined by Papageno, a simple fellow who is a bird-catcher and loves food, wine and good women. At any rate, it turns out that Sarastro is the good guy, and the Queen unspeakably evil. The whole thing ends rather suddenly, with Tamino and Pamina united and the Queen quite literally dying on the spot.
But even then it's a bit stranger still. The Queen of the Night sends Three Boys to help Tamino rescue her daughter but then not only do the Three Boys inexplicably betray their boss but deliver Tamino safely to her arch-enemy. In fact the Three Ladies, who prove loyal to their mistress, provide Tamino with the Magic Flute that will prove their undoing. Sarastro has staff problems too. He leaves Pamina in the hands of Monostatos, a filthy moor, who tries to rape her not once, not twice, but thrice. Then turns to the Queen of the Night anyway.
This idea of once, twice, thrice has sent many a musicologist into raptures and whole forests have been felled to provide enough paper for writers to go rhapsodic about all the Freemason shennanigans in this opera. Lots of things happen in threes, the masonic number- the overture, the Ladies, the Boys, the temples, chords in threes, the home key of E flat major (3 flats), the knocks on the door. The Queen of the Night is supposedly a parody of the Empress Maria Theresa who was very against Freemasonry. Both Mozart and Schikaneder were in the same Masonic Lodge (Haydn's, coincidentally) and much of Sarastro's words come from masonic rituals. Anyway, a lot of it is probably hyperactive imaginations on behalf of the academics, and the sheer speed at which the work was written it is unlikely that either Mozart or Schikeneder had time to weave subtle symbolism into every thread of the work.
Mozart's music takes even his sublime sense of character to exciting new places. Tamino (tenor- one of the few Mozart tenor heros) and Pamina (soprano) have some of his most ardent love music- in terms of sincerity it out-foxes all his other Big 4 operas- Fig, Don and Cosi. Papageno's (baritone) music is suitably rustic and jolly, whilst the Three Boys (trebles) have this creepy ethereal close harmony thing going down. The evil Queen of the Night (coloratura soprano) is icy and (when the soprano is good enough) vitriolic and crystal clear in the absolute stratsophere of the soprano register. By contrast, Sarastro (bass) sings at the lowest reaches of the operatic bass register and his music is steady and regal, calm and reasoned compared to the Queen's histrionics.
The first scene has some absolutely divine ensemble writing, with the Three Ladies fighting for solo sentry watch of Tamino who has passed out in fear from the monster (what a wimp- and surely an unlikely choice to rescue a kidnapped princess). The Queen of the Night's first aria, Zum leiden bin ich auserkoren has a heartachingly slow beginning as she explains how her lovely daughter Pamina was snatched away by wicked Sarastro before launching into supersonic bile, flying up to the hemisphere of the soprano register. A showstopper when done well, absolute agony when done sub-par. The scene finishes with another superb ensemble- between the Three Ladies, enamoured Tamino and Papageno, who has reluctantly been coerced into the role of Tamino's sidekick. The 'Hm-hm-hm' quintet goes through multiple moods before ending serenely and beautifully. All the more remarkable for the supremely elegant trio between the Three Ladies which comes and goes in an instant and a lesser composer would kill for, and draw out for an entire act. The other stand outs in the score (and, really, it is all sensational)- the Queen of the Night's famous aria Der holle rache (one of those bits of opera you probably know already), and when the Boys prevent both the suicides of Pamina (who thinks Tamino has deserted her and has just sung the devastating Ach ich ful's) and Papageno (who thinks there is no Papagena in the world for him) with their best bits in the score. However, this leads into one of my favourite bits in all of opera.
The Pa-pa-pa duet between Papageno and Papagena is perhaps the best evidence of Mozart's childish humour. In it, the two new lovers sing the pa syllable forty-two times, alternating or singing at the same time and it's so wonderfully cheerful and joyful you can't help but laugh and be moved by simple love at the same time.
The performances on the CD are a collection of stellar operatic greats which are an operasexual's wet dream. Conductor is famous Otto Klemperer (more on him soon) with the Philharmonia Chorus and Orchestra. Tamino is sung by Nicolai Gedda who can sing Tamino's surprisingly high romantic arias with seeming ease. Pamina is sung by lyric soprano Gundula Janowitz. The biggest criticism of Janowitz is that she concentrated on beauty of sound above all else. However in The Magic Flute, and with a role like Pamina, this works exceptionally well. The jolly Papageno, one of opera's greatest comic creations, is sung by Walter Berry. Berry sounds older than I'm used to for this role, and his big voice was better suited to the heavier repertoire. However, he proves a deft Papageno indeed, knowing just how to perfectly balance the comedy and pathos in his attempted suicide scene. Lucia Popp made her debut as the Queen of the Night, and you'll hear how it launched her stellar (and sadly, short-lived when she died suddenly in 1994) career. Each note, including the ones out in the heavens, is perfectly placed and shaped. Her abilities in both the fiendishly difficult arias is astounding. Sarastro is Gottlob Frick has a massive bass sound, well suited to the regal (and in my mind kinda dull) Sarastro. The Three Ladies are an astounding trio- Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Christa Ludwig and Marga Hoffgen. Ay carumba!
The biggest flaw with this recording is that Klemperer, always known as being somewhat of a ponderous conductor, keeps the music at positively glacial speeds. You will not hear a slower Pa-pa-pa-pa duet on record. O Isis und Osiris, which most conductors take ludicrously slow in the first place, barely moves. However, probably because of the outstanding cast, it works- listen to Popp's Der holle rache for the best example. Each note, including those Top F's, is just sublime as she has the time to prepare and place perfectly, as opposed to most sopranos who are just doing their valiant best to hold on and have enough breath at the end of the phrase to reach for the stars.
Another slight quibble is the casting of three women as the Three Boys (Josephine Veasey, Anna Reynolds and Agnes Giebel). All three sing beautifully and near-perfectly, but with mature womanly voices, the close harmonies of the music for the 3 Boys loses its spooky crystalline sheen.
Despite these minor flaws, this is one of the authoritative recordings for one of Mozart's Big 4 operas, and probably his most charming. It is a CD remastered by EMI Classics from 1964 vinyl but sounds as if it was recorded yesterday, and it comes with a comprehensive booklet including full libretto (omitting the dialogue, instead replacing it with a summary of the spiel action not recorded).
Vital Stats
Original Language Title: Die Zauberflote
Common Title: The Magic Flute
Music: Mozart
Libretto: Emanuel Schikaneder
Premiere: Vienna, 30 September 1791
Sung In: German. However it is quite common for the spiel bits to be done in the language of the audience, because opera singers delivering spoken word is painful enough, so we may as well understand what they're saying.
Want to know what the hell I'm talking about? Here is a good place to start.
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