An enchanting adventure.
Saturday, April 9, 2011 at 8 PM
Tuesday, April 12 at 7 PM
Friday, April 15 at 8 PM
Sung in German with English dialogue and projected English translations.
Music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder
Directed by Michael Cavanagh
Conducted by Tadeusz Biernacki
The Story
When a prince wanders into a strange land, he is asked by the grief-stricken queen to rescue her daughter, Pamina, who has been imprisoned by a tyrant, Sarastro. To aid him in his search, she gives the prince a magic flute and sends along the comical bird man, Papageno. Throughout the fantastical journey there are serpents to slay, animals to tame, and trials by fire and water.
Is this a fanciful fairytale about a prince out to win his princess with the help of a merry bird catcher? Or is it a fascinating allegory of religion, politics, and freemasonry that explores the very nature of virtue?
The Music
Highlights
This magical musical fairytale was Mozart’s final masterpiece and considered his finest opera.
- Papageno’s “Der Vogelfänger bin ich” (I am the Bird Catcher)
- Tamino’s “Dies Bildnis ist bezaubernd schön” (This portrait is beautiful)
- Pamina’s aria “Auch, ich fühl’s” (Ah, I sense his love fading)
- The Queen of the Night’s “O zittre nicht” and “Der Hölle rache” (The Rage of Hell)
OPERA MATTERS: THE MAGIC FLUTE
By Robert Vineberg, Manitoba Opera, Board of Trustees
A look at the background to the operas produced by Manitoba Opera and what was happening in the world and in Winnipeg at the time of those operas were first produced.
“Mozart’s Finest Opera”
Milton Cross, who for decades was the voice of the Metropolitan Opera’s Saturday afternoon radio broadcasts, described the The Magic Flute as Mozart’s finest opera: “In it, he combined simple German folk tunes and classic operatic writing with brilliant effect. The plot is a curious hodgepodge of political satire, the symbolism of Freemasonry, and naïve humor, set against an Egyptian background.” Cross suggests that the focal point of the opera’s action, the Temple of Isis, represents Freemasonry; that Pamina represents all that is best in the Austrian people; that the shrill Queen of the Night was a parody of dowager Empress Maria Theresa, who virulently opposed Freemasonry, despite the fact that her son, Emperor Joseph II, was a Freemason himself and was considered a liberal and enlightened monarch (notwithstanding Peter Shaffer’s parody of him in the play and movie Amadeus). Prince Tamino was likely symbolic of the Emperor. Finally, the trials by fire and water that Pamina and Tamino had to endure, the conflict between light and darkness, goodness and evil and the final triumph of good over evil are all to be found in Freemasonry and were ideas typical of the period known as “The Enlightenment.”
