Die Suglingsernhrung

Die Zauberflöte von Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart mit dem Text des Theaterprinzipals und Schauspielers Emanuel Schikaneder war am 30. September 1791 im Theater auf der Wieden in Wien erstmals über die Bühne gegangen. Damit nahm eine unvergleichliche Erfolgsgeschichte ihren Anfang. Davon wird auch der Mainzer Hofmusiker Franz Heinrich Ehrenfried (1747-1828) mit seiner Bearbeitung der Zauberflöte für Flötenquartett profitiert haben. Ehrenfried, der offenbar eine besondere Vorliebe für Besetzungen mit dem Modeinstrument Flöte hatte, gelingt mit diesem Quartett ein kompositorisch und spieltechnisch anspruchsvolles Stück.

Raff completed the score of Die Eifersüchtigen (‘The Jealous Ones’) a few weeks before his death. He wrote the libretto himself and was scrupulous in differentiating his characters through their music and adopting a precise formal construction. With tight organisational control, a strong grasp of musical and dramatic relationships, and speech melodies based entirely on German prosody, Raff’s final opera is marked by clarity, concision and economy of means.

Raff completed the score of Die Eifersüchtigen (‘The Jealous Ones’) a few weeks before his death. He wrote the libretto himself and was scrupulous in differentiating his characters through their music and adopting a precise formal construction. With tight organisational control, a strong grasp of musical and dramatic relationships, and speech melodies based entirely on German prosody, Raff’s final opera is marked by clarity, concision and economy of means.

Otto Klemperer brings his customary nobility of conception to Die Zauberflöte, with its symbolic drama, and is joined by an exceptional cast. Gundula Janowitz sings Pamina with sublime beauty and the young Lucia Popp is brilliant as the Queen of the Night, the role that first made her reputation.