‘The Magic Flute returns to The Met’

    

The Met

Speaking of Mozart (see post below), The Magic Flute, his Masonic opera, will return to The Met for its annual run soon. I promote this production every season both here on The Magpie and in my travels, but I never hear of Masons or lodges attending the show. As far as I can tell, the ticket price here is the only cost in New York City that hasn’t budged in years (actually reduced from 2025!), but I digress. From the publicity:

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s

The Magic Flute

The Metropolitan Opera

December 11-January 2

Tickets (from $33!) here

The Met’s family-friendly production of Mozart’s dazzling fairy tale returns, sung in English and running ninety minutes. Nicholas Carter and Patrick Furrer share conducting duties, leading a standout cast in Julie Taymor’s magical staging. Tenors Piotr Buszewski and David Portillo share the role of Tamino, the brave prince on a quest to win the clever princess Pamina, sung by sopranos Emily Pogorelc, Kathryn Lewek, and Emma Marhefka. The cast also features tenors Rolando Villazón and Gordon Bintner alternating as the luckless bird catcher Papageno. Sopranos Jeni Houser, Lewek, and Olga Pudova take turns as the Queen of the Night. Basses Morris Robinson and In Sung Sim portray Sarastro.

At every performance of The Magic Flute, audiences can enjoy free activity books and themed photo opportunities throughout the lobby. Special downloadable activities are also available online to explore before or after your visit. Complimentary face painting will be available before all matinee performances. Holiday Open Houses will take place prior to the performances on December 13 and 19. Please note: The December 26 matinee is a relaxed performance. Learn more about what to expect in the Met’s relaxed performances.

The Met

World Premiere: Freihaus-Theater auf der Wieden, Vienna, 1791. A sublime fairy tale that moves freely between earthy comedy and noble mysticism, The Magic Flute (Die Zauberflöte in the original German) was written for a theater located just outside Vienna with the clear intention of appealing to audiences from all walks of life. The story is told in a singspiel (“song-play”) format characterized by separate musical numbers connected by dialogue and stage activity, an excellent structure for navigating the diverse moods, ranging from solemn to lighthearted, of the story and score.

The Met

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-91) was the son of a Salzburg court musician who exhibited him as a musical prodigy throughout Europe. His achievements in opera, in terms of beauty, vocal challenge, and dramatic insight, remain unsurpassed. He died three months after the premiere of Die Zauberflöte, his last produced work for the stage. The remarkable Emanuel Schikaneder (1751-1812) was an actor, singer, theater manager, and friend of Mozart who wrote the opera’s libretto, staged the work, and sang the role of Papageno in the initial run.

The libretto specifies Egypt as the location of the action. That country was traditionally regarded as the legendary birthplace of the Masonic fraternity, whose symbols and rituals populate this opera. Some productions include Egyptian motifs as an exotic nod to this idea, but most opt for a more generalized mythic ambience to convey the otherworldliness that the score and overall tone of the work call for.

The Met

Mozart and his librettist, Emanuel Schikaneder, created The Magic Flute with an eye toward a popular audience, but the varied tone of the work requires singers who can specialize in several different musical genres. The baritone Papageno represents the comic and earthy, the tenor Tamino and the soprano Pamina display true love in its noblest forms, the bass Sarastro expresses the solemn and the transcendental, and the Queen of the Night provides explosive vocal fireworks.