Die Zauberflöte

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozarts Zauberflöte ist zweifellos eines der vielschichtigsten, tiefsinnigsten, kompliziertesten und daher auch am schwierigsten zu inszenierenden Bühnenwerke der gesamten Opernliteratur. Gattungstechnisch wird sie nur verständlich, wenn man sie als eine Mischung aus vierlerlei sieht: als philosophisch vertieftes Ideendrama mit unzähligen Verschlüsselungen und als naives Märchen, als pralle Komödie und derbes Kasperle-Spiel. Sie fußt dort, wo sich die Traditionslinien der barocken Zauberoper mit der italienischen Buffa und dem Wiener Singspiel treffen, wo alle Wunderlichkeiten denkbar und erlaubt sind.

This production of Mozart’s Zauberflöte received enormous and unanimous approval, when it was premiered in Salzburg. The Theatre wizard Jean-Pierre Ponnellecreated a staging which became part and parcel of the festival programme for over nine years and soon acquired the status of a legend. Of course, none of that would have had the same appeal if it had not been in accord with Mozart’s music, performed with perfect blend of lightness and pathos, humour and profundity, by James Levine and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra; nor would it all have worked without a truly Festival-worthy cast of singers: the Finnish bass Martti Talvela, who departed way too soon in 1989, in his famous role as Sarastro, the incomparable Edita Gruberová as “the best-ever Queen of the Night” (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung), the legendary Tamino Peter Schreier as well as the petite, lyrical soprano Ileana Cotrubas˛ as Pamina. Further, Christian Boesch, who sang the role of his life with Papageno, was credited most for his performance in this legendary Zauberflöte.

This splendid monaural, colorful-if-a-bit-grainy film of Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte was made at the Hamburg State Opera in 1971 and I believe this is the first time it has been made available. Rolf Liebermann was the company’s intendant at the time and he was brilliant, gathering casts, designers, and directors that were the world’s best. This Flute is directed by Peter Ustinov, and while not revolutionary in any way, it is charming, honest, and invariably true to the music. In addition, it makes the singers seem like relatively good actors… Robert Levine (classicstoday)

"This is certainly the most desirable version using modern instruments to appear since Solti’s second recording in 1990. (...) [Christoph Strehl's] is a wonderfully virile, vital reading that gives pleasure to the ear, as much in ensemble as in aria (...) [Dorothea Röschmann's] full-throated, positive singing, finely shaped, cleanly articulated, is a true match for Strehl's. Hanno Müller-Brachmann is a properly lively and amusing Papageno, and delivers the role in a richer bass-baritone than many interpreters provide (...) The Hungarian coloratura Erika Miklósa has been making a speciality of Queen of Night over the past few years and shows just why in a technically secure and fiery account of her two arias. René Pape sings Sarastro: now at the peak of his career, he conveys all the role's gravity and dignity in a gloriously sung performance. (...) As a whole I felt the performance conveyed a welcome immediacy and spontaneity. (...) I very much warmed to the daring of Abbado’s way with the score."

Alan Blyth, Gramophone Magazine / June 2006

Mozart’s final opera Die Zauberflöte is also his most famous. The general public is familiar with its array of popular arias, most notably the Queen of the Night’s breathtaking coloratura. Since its premiere in 1791, two months before the composer’s death, the opera’s fairy tale plot, eccentric cast and fantastic scenery have exerted an almost childlike fascination on generations of audiences. The production is infused with an all-pervading sense of playful joy – packed with wonderful effects including flying machines, colourful costumes and magical scene changes…

W.A. Mozart’s timeless masterpiece at the Salzburg Festival is always an event! Especially when Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute) receives such a ‘spectacular and virtuosic staging’ (Le Figaro) by director Lydia Steier. Steier introduces the role of the grandfather, a narrator reading the opera like a fairy tale to his three grandchildren, performed by the famous actor Klaus Maria Brandauer (Out of Africa, James Bond). This ‘trick’ in combination with the gigantic moveable sets by stage designer Katharina Schlipf, allows new views on Mozart’s magical opera, with its different worlds. Thanks to conductor Constantinos Carydis, who ‘seems to breath with the music’ (Tagesspiegel), there is a new Mozart to be heard too: Carydis draws ‘precise phrasing and plenty of crisp articulation’ (Financial Times) from ‘the musicians of the great Vienna Philharmonic’ (New York Times).