Mozart's The Magic Flute: Opera Classics Library Series (Opera Classics Library)

128 Pages·2001·0.39 MB·English

by  Burton D. Fisher

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O C L
P E R A L A S S I C S I B R A R Y
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M o z a r t ‘ s

T M F
HE AGIC LUTE
ALL ABOUT The Magic Flute!!!!
• Commentary and Analysis
(cid:127) Principal Characters and Brief Synopsis
(cid:127) Story Narrative with Music Highlight examples
(cid:127) Discography (cid:127) V ideography
(cid:127) Dictionary of Opera and Musical T erms
and COMPLETE LIBRETTO
with Music Highlight examples

Mozart’s
T M F
HE AGIC LUTE
O C L
PERA LASSICS IBRARY
™
Edited by Burton D. Fisher
Principal lecturer, Opera Journeys Lecture Series
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Opera Journeys Publishing™ / Coral Gables, Florida
O C L
PERA LASSICS IBRARY ™
(cid:127)Aida (cid:127)The Barber of Seville (cid:127)La Bohème (cid:127)Carmen
(cid:127)Cavalleria Rusticana (cid:127)Così fan tutte (cid:127)Don Giovanni
(cid:127)Don Pasquale (cid:127)The Elixir of Love (cid:127)Elektra
(cid:127)Eugene Onegin (cid:127)Exploring Wagner’s Ring (cid:127)Falstaff
(cid:127)Faust (cid:127)The Flying Dutchman (cid:127) Hansel and Gretel
(cid:127)L’Italiana in Algeri (cid:127)Julius Caesar (cid:127)Lohengrin
(cid:127)Lucia di Lammermoor (cid:127)Macbeth (cid:127)Madama Butterfly
(cid:127)The Magic Flute (cid:127)Manon (cid:127)Manon Lescaut
(cid:127)The Marriage of Figaro (cid:127)A Masked Ball (cid:127)The Mikado
(cid:127)Otello (cid:127)I Pagliacci (cid:127)Porgy and Bess (cid:127)The Rhinegold
(cid:127)Rigoletto (cid:127)Der Rosenkavalier (cid:127)Salome (cid:127)Samson and Delilah
(cid:127)Siegfried (cid:127)The Tales of Hoffmann (cid:127)Tannhäuser
(cid:127)Tosca (cid:127) La Traviata (cid:127)Il Trovatore (cid:127)Turandot
(cid:127)Twilight of the Gods (cid:127)The Valkyrie
Copyright © 2001 by Opera Journeys Publishing
All rights reserved
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any
form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the
prior permission of the authors.
All musical notations contained herein are original transcriptions by Opera Journeys Publishing.
Discography and Videography listings represent selections by the editors.
Printed in the United States of America
WEB SITE: www.operajourneys.com E MAIL: [email protected]
“It takes more culture to perceive the virtues of
The Magic Flute text than to point out its defects”
-Wolfgang von Goethe

Contents
THE MAGIC FLUTE Page 11
Commentary and Analysis Page 13
Principal Characters in THE MAGIC FLUTE Page 25
Brief Story Synopsis Page 25
Story Narrative with Music Highlight Examples Page 36
ACT I - Scene 1 Page 26
ACT I - Scene 2 Page 29
ACT I - Scene 3 Page 30
ACT II - Scene 1 Page 32
ACT II - Scene 2 Page 33
ACT II - Scene 3 Page 33
ACT II - Scene 4 Page 35
ACT II - Scene 5 Page 36
ACT II - Scene 6 Page 36
ACT II - Scene 7 Page 37
ACT II - Scene 8 Page 37
ACT II - Scene 9 Page 38
ACT II - Scene 10 Page 38
Libretto with Music Highlight Examples Page 39
ACT I - Scene 1 Page 41
ACT I - Scene 2 Page 56
ACT I - Scene 3 Page 62
ACT II - Scene 1 Page 73
ACT II - Scene 2 Page 75
ACT II - Scene 3 Page 83
ACT II - Scene 4 Page 88
ACT II - Scene 5 Page 94
ACT II - Scene 6 Page 97
ACT II - Scene 7 Page 103
ACT II - Scene 8 Page 106
ACT II - Scene 9 Page 109
ACT II - Scene 10 Page 110
Discography Page 111
Videography Page 117
Dictionary of Opera and Musical Terms Page 119
OPERA CLASSICS LIBRARY Page 8
THE MAGIC FLUTE Page 9
a Prelude........
O C L
to PERA LASSICS IBRARY’s
T M F
HE AGIC LUTE
THE MAGIC FLUTE possesses many levels of interpretation: it is a fairy tale in
which moral forces struggle against evil; it is a political and social allegory of late eighteenth
century Austrian politics; it is an archetypal story of man’s elevation to consciousness
and awareness; and it is an exposition of the ideals of Freemasonry. Mozart’s sublime
music score emphasizes the opera’s underlying intellectual elements; those noble sentiments
of freedom, truth, and human brotherhood that pervaded the minds of men of intelligence
and goodwill during the Enlightenment, that would reach their full fruition in the French
Revolution of 1789.
OPERA CLASSICS LIBRARY explores the greatness and magic of THE MAGIC
FLUTE. The Commentary and Analysis offers pertinent biographical information about
Mozart’s mind-set at the time of the opera’s composition, the genesis of the opera, its
premiere and performance history, and insightful story and character analysis.
The text also contains a Brief Story Synopsis, Principal Characters in The Magic
Flute, and Story Narrative with Music Highlight Examples, the latter containing original
music transcriptions that are interspersed appropriately within the story’s dramatic
exposition. In addition, the text includes a Discography, Videography, and a Dictionary
of Opera and Musical Terms.
The Libretto has been newly translated by the Opera Journeys staff with specific
emphasis on retaining a literal translation, but also with the objective to provide a faithful
translation in modern and contemporary English; in this way, the substance of the drama
becomes more intelligible. To enhance educational and study objectives, the Libretto also
contains music highlight examples interspersed within the drama.
The opera art form is the sum of many artistic expressions: theatrical drama,
music, scenery, poetry, dance, acting and gesture. In opera, it is the composer who is the
dramatist, using the emotive power of his music to express intense, human conflicts.
Words evoke thought, but music provokes feelings. As such, opera’s sublime fusion of
words, music, and all the theatrical arts, provides powerful theater, an impact on one’s
sensibilities that can reach into the very depths of the human soul.
Mozart’s THE MAGIC FLUTE is a work possessing serene spirituality; it remains
a masterpiece of the lyric theater, and a tribute to the art form as well as to its ingenious
composer.
Burton D. Fisher
Editor
OPERA CLASSICS LIBRARY
OPERA CLASSICS LIBRARY Page 10