Die Zauberflöte: by Mozart

Die Zauberflöte (otherwise known as "The Magic Flute") was the final opera of the season. I had been anxiously awaiting this opera since it is the one and only opera I actually own and am familiar with. It has taken me all week to process the opera experience and now I finally feel semi-prepared to give my review.

Pros: I LOVED this opera. There is something to be said for intimately knowing an opera. And not just one or two famous arias but the entire thing. From the moment the overture started I was transported back in time to my bedroom. I am 17 years old and I am blasting this opera for all to hear at 6:15 am. It was amazing. The overture was handled masterfully by the orchestra. It was like I was listening to my recording all over again. Tamino was brilliant. Papageno was outstanding. OUTSTANDING. The staging and the costuming were both fantastic. It was everything I had hoped for and then some. Also, since I had only ever heard the recordings of the opera I was unaware that there was so much actual dialogue in between arias. It made the story so much more understandable.

Cons: I really only had a few items that marred the experience. The biggest one was the soprano who performed the role of the Queen of the Night was a bit shaky in the upper register during her aria O zittre nicht, mein lieber Sohn. She struggled a bit in her second aria Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen (video is shown above) but overall it was better than the first. Possibly part of my perfectionism is the amount of times I listened to the recorded version. There was not going to be a lot of leeway allowed for it to measure up to my expectations.

My only other distraction was with costuming. Tamino's first costume so strongly reminded me of Prince Humperdink from the Princess Bride. It took me until halfway through the seond act to finally place why it looked so familiar. And Monostatos costume looked exactly like one of the flying monkeys from the Wizard of Oz. Other than that it was practically perfect in every way.

Must See Rating: *****
This absolutely makes my list of good operas for first timers.