HD Met Die Zauberflote

[lennygoran]

We met friends in Rockaway NJ for the Met's HD performance of this opera today-we hadn't seen Taymor's production in many years-it holds up beautifully-a lovely young cast and Rene Pape delivered the goods-the sets are truly spectacular with great costumes and puppet work-a most enjoyable opera experience. Regards, Len

[jbuck919]

I'm afraid I feel the same way about The Magic Flute that John F feels about Marriage of Figarro. I have had it memorized for so long that I really don't need to see a production, though I am glad they still go on. This is from Bergman's Swedish version of the opera.

[lennygoran]

I have had it memorized for so long that I really don't need to see a production, though I am glad they still go on.

I do love listening to the opera music but when there's a production I like opera it's a wonderful experience I don't want to give up. Regards, Len

[lennygoran]

We met friends in Rockaway NJ for the Met's HD performance of this opera today

Forgot to mention this good news-- Gelb and Froemke were interviewed during one of the intermissions by Nadine Sierra who incidentally did a great job with all the interviews and the film The Opera House will be shown at other theaters in Jan here in the US and at some point reach Europe. The film was originally shown early this month right at the Met during the New York Film Festival. Regards, Len

http://www.metopera.org/About/Press-Rel ... peraHouse/

[jbuck919]

Just for fun, and because I have made it clear that this is my favorite opera, here is a better performance of the first quintet, in spite of the (to me anyway) annoying double subtitles. The first lady was once considered a major operatic role. Elisabeth Schwarzkopf sang the first lady.

[lennygoran]

Just for fun, and because I have made it clear that this is my favorite opera, here is a better performance of the first quintet,

[jbuck919]

Continuing, I don't know anything particular about this production, but the Papageno, who cannot be older than about 25, is an astonishing baritone. What I have never understood is how Emmanuel Schikeneder, who wrote the libretto and produced the opera, was able to sing this role. I can't imagine that he did it as well as this young man. Yes, there are relatively silly numbers like Der Vogelfänger bin ich ja, but only a very great baritone on the order of Hermann Prey can manage the difficulties in the following. Also, visuals of the original production still exist, and they show Papageno covered completely with feathers. It is most unusual nowadays to see any feathers on the bird-man at all.

[John F]

Schikaneder was an extraordinarily versatile man. As an actor he didn't just play comedy; in earlier years the Mozarts saw him as Hamlet. And of course he wasn't just an actor but the author of many of his shows and the manager of a couple of theatre companies and the creator of the Theater an der Wien.

We can be sure that Mozart tailored Papageno's songs precisely to Schikaneder's voice and singing skills, however limited, as he always did for every singer when composing an opera. If it wasn't a conventionally handsome baritone voice (I haven't read a description of it), that probably didn't matter; actors who can just about sing have done well in musical comedy, such as Rex Harrison as Henry Higgins and Max Adrian as Dr. Pangloss.

[jbuck919]

Schikaneder was an extraordinarily versatile man. As an actor he didn't just play comedy; in earlier years the Mozarts saw him as Hamlet. And of course he wasn't just an actor but the author of many of his shows and the manager of a couple of theatre companies and the creator of the Theater an der Wien.

We can be sure that Mozart tailored Papageno's songs precisely to Schikaneder's voice and singing skills, however limited, as he always did for every singer when composing an opera. If it wasn't a conventionally handsome baritone voice (I haven't read a description of it), that probably didn't matter; actors who can just about sing have done well in musical comedy, such as Rex Harrison as Henry Higgins and Max Adrian as Dr. Pangloss.

Yes, but Rex Harrison greatly displeased Lerner and Loewe by not actually singing to the tunes, which are lovely show music. Eventually they got used to it, but he is a rare case of someone who could not be studio recorded because he never performed Higgins the same way twice. They had to rig something up to record him live for the movie.

[John F]

Yes, but Rex Harrison greatly displeased Lerner and Loewe by not actually singing to the tunes, which are lovely show music. Eventually they got used to it, but he is a rare case of someone who could not be studio recorded because he never performed Higgins the same way twice. They had to rig something up to record him live for the movie.

That's beside the point, isn't it? Lerner and Loewe may not have liked it but the audience and critics did - Harrison won the Tony for it.

Anyway, there's no indication that the librettist (Schikaneder) or the composer (Mozart) was displeased with how Schikaneder sang "Der Vogelfänger bin ich ja."

[jbuck919]

Yes, but Rex Harrison greatly displeased Lerner and Loewe by not actually singing to the tunes, which are lovely show music. Eventually they got used to it, but he is a rare case of someone who could not be studio recorded because he never performed Higgins the same way twice. They had to rig something up to record him live for the movie.

That's beside the point, isn't it? Lerner and Loewe may not have liked it but the audience and critics did - Harrison won the Tony for it.

Anyway, there's no indication that the librettist (Schikaneder) or the composer (Mozart) was displeased with how Schikaneder sang "Der Vogelfänger bin ich ja."

We must not confuse friendship with talent, and the only reason I mentioned that number is that along with Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen it is the most simplistic number in the opera. You state that Schikeneder performed Hamlet, which I have to believe because of your superior reading, but this was well before the famous German translation by Schlegel and Tieck, which Germans often (and incorrectly) claim to be superior to the original.