WOLFGANG A M ADEUS MOZART
DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE
.. D I E Z AU B E R F L OT E
SYNOPSIS ACT 1 Prince Tamino is being pursued by a serpent. Three Ladies, emissaries of the Queen of the Night, rush to help the poor man, who has fainted. When he comes to, he sees the bird catcher Papageno, who has come as usual to exchange the birds he has caught on behalf of the Queen for food and drink. Tamino thinks it is Papageno he must thank for saving him – Papageno feels flattered and accepts the compliment. As punishment for his boastfulness, the Ladies, who have now returned, silence him. They show Tamino a picture of their ruler’s daughter. When he learns that the girl has been kid napped, he wants only one thing: to save Pamina. The Queen appears, strengthens Tamino in his resolve to free Pamina from Sarastro’s clutches, and promises to give him her daugh ter's hand. Papageno is to accompany Tamino on his quest. In case of danger, the magic flute and a glockenspiel will help them; Three Boys will show them the way. Sarastro’s slave overseer Monostatos has recaptured Pamina, who was trying to escape. He is filled with desire, but when he tries to approach her, he encounters Papageno, who has been sent ahead by Tamino. Both are frightened by each other, and Monostatos runs away. Papageno tells Pamina about the res cue plan; together they praise love as the fulfilment of human existence. Tamino, led by the Three Boys, has meanwhile reached the interior of Sarastro’s temple precinct. A priest approaches him and warns him to examine Sarastro’s reasons for kidnapping Pamina without prejudice.
Previous pages: SCENE
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SYNOPSIS
Pamina and Papageno are surprised by Monostatos and his slaves during their escape, but the power of the glockenspiel saves them from capture. Now, Sarastro’s return from the hunt is heralded. Pamina admits to Sarastro that she had planned to escape: she wanted to evade Monostatos’ advances. Saras tro punishes Monostatos, although he is also pleased to have captured Tamino. Pamina and Tamino see each other for the first time. Sarastro has Tamino and Papageno led to the tem ple of trials.
ACT 2 In the meeting of priests, Sarastro explains that Tamino and Pa mina are destined for each other by the gods. But first, they are separated and must take their leave of each other. Tamino and Papageno are to undergo a series of trials. Tamino is willing to do this, while Papageno has to be persuaded by the promise of getting a wife. Both are sworn to secrecy. The Queen’s Three Ladies, who have infiltrated Sarastro’s king dom, try to distract Tamino and Papageno from their goal. The enamoured Monostatos tries to kiss the sleeping Pamina. The Queen of the Night intervenes. She demands that Pamina kill Sarastro and hand over to her the powerful sun circle that she wants to have for herself. Monostatos overhears the conver sation and tries to take advantage of the situation. Then, Sarastro appears and promises Pamina that he will not take revenge on her mother. Monostatos decides to use the Queen of the Night to realise his wish. Papageno cannot remain silent. In a conversation with an old woman, he learns that she wants him as her husband; before he grasps who she is, the old woman disappears. The Three Boys bring the flute and glockenspiel that had been taken from the candidates and warn them again to be silent. Papageno gives up the opportunity to be one of the initiates; he wants a wife, a Papagena. The old woman appears again, revealing herself to be a young Papagena, but she is snatched away from him again.
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B A R B OR A HOR Á KOVÁ
THE MULTIPLE ENDINGS OF THE MAGIC FLUTE The opera is called The Magic Flute. To me, that means it must be magic and there must be a flute. The sound of the flute, which is repeatedly heard in a solo role during the piece, is primeval. The flute is perhaps the oldest instrument we have, that has evolved due to the cu riosity inherent in us. Perhaps there was a bone which had a hole in it, and made a sound when it was blown through. And then there was another hole, which sounded different. And this sound had an effect on the people listening. This sound, this art, this music, this some thing we have invented, leads us back to ourselves. To the fact that there are both good and evil people, but the good can perhaps triumph in a certain harmony. The surprising thing is that The Magic Flute was a hit from the start, be cause it is so accessible. And because the dialogue is not so hermetically sealed as in other operas, making it accessible to all. And everyone knows the melodies of more than one aria – and everyone can sing along with all the numbers in The Magic Flute. It sounds so simple, but if you look at the orchestral score, you discover how incredibly complex its structure is, what nuances there are in the chords, and why a particular chord is placed where it is. And if you really want to understand it all, there’s no end to it.! It’s a job for a lifetime. That’s the
great thing about it – the piece makes us rack our brains over it. But ultimately it’s accessible to all, and everyone can identify with it, at least to some extent.
IMAGERY AND MEANING If we start to think about the Magic Flute, the deeper we look, the more confused we get, and the less we under stand. Something I find so incredible is the multiple points of view the piece offers. Should we focus on the symbolic aspects, or the historical context? Is the opera really a comedy, or is it just a fairy tale? Is it all supposed to make sense, or not? We do know that fairy tales always have major philosophical and symbolic content. You can say things, for exam ple about political systems, which you aren’t always allowed to say out loud, but only behind a fairy tale veil or mask. The Queen of the Night is the suffering mother at first, before becoming the evil creature intent on harming humanity. However, if we look at her history, we see what traumas are at work in this character – the wrong done to her, what was taken from her that she can not come to terms with, as so often the case with ongoing traumas people can not shut down. This leads to unending conflict, as for example in Palestine and
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THE MULTIPLE ENDINGS OF THE MAGIC FLUTE
Israel. If you can think of it all in global terms, it goes round and round in your head. The same goes for Sarastro and his macho followers: he is initially a dicta tor, with everything under control, very cunning and knowing exactly what to do. But then he becomes increasingly hu man. As a woman, I’m initially horrified by this hierarchy and the elitism, which has no place for women. But by the end, I’m thinking that perhaps the man means well somehow, even if he’s going at things completely the wrong way. Per haps he understands that wisdom and reason should not be abused to keep hold of power. And perhaps this makes him a bit more feminine and gentle.
GROWING OLDER TOGETHER – AND GREATER I always think The Magic Flute has mul tiple endings. There’s one ending as it is in the fairy tale, where the two leading characters have passed a test. But you can’t be too sure, was that really the test? Was it the end of the test? When did the test start? What were the earlier tests? Why is Pamina only involved in these tests at the end? And then you realise, she was actually always part of the test! Because when Tamino is abducted, she is already there! Who is actually being tested here? This is where her test starts, because she has to accept that someone might die. Like the Ukrainian mothers, wives, sisters, lovers, who have to accept that their men are going to war. And that is the test. The eternal fear and uncer tainty of losing a loved one. And this is why I’ve moved the trio of Pamina, Tamino and Sarastro “shall I, beloved,
never see you again?” from the end of act 2 to the start of the act. When we start with this, we see that she is also being tested. And then there’s another test, the test of silence. Tamino is no longer talking to her, but she still must not lose hope. And then she actually goes physically with him through fire and flood. This piece, which seems mi sogynistic on first reading, has a protag onist, Pamina, who actually is the one who holds it all together. And this is why I also want the two of them to age in the piece. So that we learn that while we are there to try and understand things, we may not under stand anything by the end – but we stay together. This is about the proof of love, to have and hold for better and worse, in sickness and health. This is why Pamina and Tamino have the puppets of older people. Then the puppets are gone, and the couple are still there, and they start all over again. You never stop learning. That is one ending. And then there’s another ending. There, we learn about Papageno’s good fortune, which has led him to a loved one. We live in a couple-oriented soci ety. We need to feel and give love. Even a bird catcher can’t bear to be alone and is actually longing for someone else. He realises this very early on in a duet for Pamina, which for me has the whole philosophy of the world in it. “Man and wife, and wife and man, together are di vine” – and it doesn’t matter if it’s wife and wife or man and man, being to gether with someone makes you bigger, you can grow beyond your own bound aries in a way you can’t if you’re alone. As a bird catcher or bird man, Papa geno is a fairy tale character, and at the same time the most human character in the piece. He reveals that people
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