Marlies'Artbeat: Mozart's "Magic Flute" -- A Holiday Special from Live-at-the-Met-in-HD

By Marlies Wolf

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Die Zauberfloete, the Singspiel that was to be the very last of his fantastic output of 21 operatic compositions, had its debut in Vienna in 1791. Its transmission around the world via Satellite premiered in 2006. That first transmission inaugurated the very successful series of Live Met Opera performances, now seen in over 2000 movie theaters, in 70 countries around the globe.

The full-fledged version of this particular Met Flute, with James Levine in the pit, and a splendid cast with which to work, was the brainchild of Broadway’s famed Julie Taymor. She, not only produced it, obviously directed, but also designed the costumes, and invented the puppetry. That last, with the assistance of Michael Curry.

Though fully appreciative of Julie Taymor’s immense talents, I think she overshot the mark here. Her gigantic ballooning animals and the massive flag-like images accompanying the Queen of the Night’s arias, for instance, simply overwhelmed the beauty of the music. (Several opera aficionados told me they closed their eyes to ward off the intrusiveness of the elements.)

I, too, felt that strongly when I saw the original, but somehow was more tolerant this time, trying to see this abridged version as an exciting spectacle for children and others who become antsy when an opera is too long. Sung in English but with helpful subtitles, it surely could not bore anyone.

The full story, a comedic fairy tale that turns serious with the injection of Freemasonry, does not hang together all the way. Its librettist is, Emanuel Schikaneder, the impresario, singer, actor, dramatist, composer and womanizer (though who would have thought he had time for that!) But the clever English adaptation by J.D.McClatchy turns it into an easily understood entertaining entity.

Everyone, indeed, was in for a treat when it came to interpreting Mozart’s enchanted music. The part of the Egyptian prince, Pamino, was most ably sung by the tenor Matthew Polenzani. He is familiar to Met audiences for the many roles he has performed over the years. The object of his affection, Pamina, whom he is ordered to “rescue,” fell to the talented soprano Ying Huang.

The role of Pamina’s mother, the aforementioned Queen of the Night, has to perform what many considered the two most difficult arias in the coloratura repertory. Here, the fireworks were fantastically supplied by the Hungarian soprano Erica Miklosa. She brought the house down for both arias, hitting the challenging high notes, not only perfectly, but with easy beauty.

Germany’s great basso, Rene Pape, tackled his meaningful, expressive arias with the grandeur we always expect from him. The hellishly low notes demanded, did not have him waver. But somehow he did not match the elegant benchmark set by the basso cantante, Ezio Pinza in the 1940’s.

The baritone Nathan Gunn, as the utterly delightful bird-catcher Pagageno, is a born comedian, gifted with a wonderful voice. Called upon to perform with gymnastic agility, he is the ideal comic relief and the house showed its overwhelming approval.

Levine with his splendid orchestra kept a lively pace throughout. But the “magic” of Mozart’s sublime overture was almost eradicated by accompanying it with behind-the-scenes rehearsal of the giant balloonings, and the singers getting into their costumes or having their make-up supplied. A grave esthetic error in my estimation. It even robbed us of any surprise as to how the balloonings were managed.

I welcome new approaches to this often performed musical-confection-with-a-deeper-message. But this one robbed the music by being just too over the top. And why garb Sarastro in a costume that seems to inhibit his movements? Or why is Pamino’s wig oriental? That hardly seems right for an Egyptian prince. Frankly his entire outfit, and the totally unflattering dress Pamina wears, had me wondering what Taymor had in mind. I suspect I may be missing something. Taymor is far too clever not to have these touches have symbolic roots.

Mozart’s original 2-act Singspiel (so called because it includes lots of spoken words) premiered in Schikaneder’s opera house with Mozart conducting from the keyboard, and Schikaneder, himself singing the comic part of Papageno. It was an immediate success and the impresario benefited for years ahead. Poor Mozart lay in his famous unmarked grave shortly after the auspicious start of the work.

The Magic Flute has continued to be so successful throughout the Centuries that it is counted as Mozart’s fourth most important operatic work. Learned personages have come up with elaborate theories as to the symbolism involved; volumes exist to explain all.

One thing is certain. The Freemasons, Mozart and Schikaneder, were sticking out their necks by portraying Masonry as the enlightened truth and most ethical pursuit. Both the royal and Catholic authorities were strongly opposed to Masonry.

Fascinating is the fact that Mozart composed the various arias with the vocal capabilities of the particular singers hired for the parts. Since he knew his sister-in-law, Josefa Hofer, was a fabulously dependable coloratura soprano, he dared create the two arias for the Queen of the Night, that have been an exciting super-challenge ever since.

When it comes to the fact that the story seems to change course someplace along the line, may have a decidedly mundane reason. Evidently while the libretto was being written, a rival theater company had opened with a successful musical offering, named, of all things, Casper the Bassonist or The Magic Zither. Schikander had only a short time to rewrite. So we’ll never know what the real thing might have been…

But come, enjoy the truly lovely vocal and musical performance offered here in a mere two hours. The Encore is available on Wednesday Evening, Dec. 16th, 2015 at 6:30 EST.