The Queen of the Night as a Temptress

As I’ve watched the various filmed performances of The Magic Flute, I’ve noticed a small trend, particularly among the more recent productions. Namely for the Queen of the Night to behave in a seductive way toward Tamino during her Act I aria “O zittre nicht.”

Of course, the libretto never implies that the Queen behaves this way toward her daughter’s young suitor, but this hasn’t stopped various sopranos from doing it. While as far as I know, the only Magic Flute character ever to say “Mrs. Robinson, you’re trying to seduce me, aren’t you?” has been Papageno to the Old Woman in the Florida Grand Opera’s 2013 production, in some productions Tamino could just as easily say it to the Queen. That is, if he could get a word in edgeways between the Queen’s flights of coloratura.

Picture Book: "Mozart's The Magic Flute," written by Mi-ok Lee, illustrated by Edmée Cannard

 

Here we find another beautiful, memorable storybook retelling of The Magic Flute. I discovered it in the children's corner of the San Francisco Opera's outstanding gift shop. It was first published in Korea in 2016 and was written by Mi-Ok Lee, with illustrations by the French artist Edmée Cannard. It belongs to the series Music Storybooks, which introduces children to classical music in all its forms. This seres also features adaptations of The Nutcracker, Aida, The Marksman (Der Frieschütz), A Midsummer Night's Dream (meant to introduce Mendelssohn's incidental music), Swan Lake, La Traviata (!), The Carnival of the Animals, Turandot, and Peter and the Wolf.

The Problem of Monostatos's Race

 

What to do about Monostatos in modern productions of The Magic Flute?

As far as the libretto’s problems of ethics are concerned, the misogyny can be worked around. The priests’ anti-woman pronouncements can be played in a way that clearly mocks them. Pamina can be given a dimensional and warmly human characterization that’s far more than a standard fairy-tale damsel. The Queen can be portrayed as a tragic villain driven to extreme actions by sympathetic motives, The ending can be staged  as a celebration of man and woman’s unity, in which Tamino and Pamina become fully equal partners who strengthen each other. But the issue of racism can’t be dealt with quite so easily. Unless the libretto is changed, a black Moorish slave is inescapably portrayed as a lecherous and sadistic yet inept comic villain. He preys on the white Pamina and repeatedly threatens to kill her for her scorn, whom Papageno initially thinks he's the Devil because of his dark skin, and he's portrayed as needing to be restrained and punished by his master Sarastro.

Analyzing "The Magic Flute": Joachim Kaiser, "Who's Who in Mozart's Operas"

Of all the scholarly books on opera that I've found over the years, Joachim Kaiser's 1984 Who's Who In Mozart's Operas: from Alfonso to Zerlina is by far one of the most interesting. It's a mini encyclopedia of every character from all of Mozart's major operas, featuring descriptions and analyses of every single character: small ones for the minor characters, longer and deeper discussions for the major characters. While other books I've read have offered character analysis within their discussions of the operas as a whole, or else have been devoted to a specific subset of characters, no other book has been as exclusively devoted to character analysis, or as willing to examine even the most minor characters.

Picture Book: "The Magic Flute," written and illustrated by Kyra Teis

The Magic Flute is widely regarded as one of the best introductions to the world of opera for children. (Having been a child introduced to opera by The Magic Flute, I wholeheartedly support that belief.) So it's no surprise that an array of picture book adaptations have been published to introduce children to the story. Over time I've collected as many of those picture books as I've been able to find. But the one that seems to be the most widely available nowadays is this 2008 edition, written and illustrated by Kyra Teis. Throughout the last ten years I've repeatedly found it in the children's corners of music venues' gift shops and in bookstores with shelves devoted to introducing children to classical music.

Film Review: "Trollflöjten," ("The Magic Flute"), Sveriges Radio/Janus Films, 1975 (conducted by Eric Ericson)

Trollflöjten (The Magic Flute)

1975, Sveriges Radio/Janus Films

(Josef Köstlinger, Irma Urrila, Håkan Hagegård, Birgit Nordin, Ulrik Cold, Ragnar Ulfung*; Swedish Radio Chorus; Swedish Radio Orchestra, cond. Eric Ericson)

(dir. Ingmar Bergman)

Sound Recording Review: Die Zauberflöte," Deutsche Grammophon, 1964 (conducted by Karl Böhm)

Die Zauberflöte

1964, Deutsche Grammophon

(Fritz Wunderlich, Evelyn Lear, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Roberta Peters, Franz Crass, Friedrich Lenz; RIAS-Kammerchor; Berliner Philharmoniker, cond. Karl Böhm)