The staging in the Magic Flute opera was both elaborative and unconventional. The opera began with a completely blue background while the orchestra was playing and serving as the focal point of attention. The blu background became increasingly more illuminated to reveal a geometric pattern of triangles, that lifted and gave way to a glass like platform with a circular apparatus behind it. Through this apparatus, shadows of fish were shown. Blue light was shining during the serpent battle, which gave the illusion that the scenery was underwater. After this scene, the lighting shifted to a green tint and the same backdrop that looked like the ocean in the previous scene now looked like grass and trees. The scenery had transformed from an underwater environment to the wilderness. Finally, in a following scene, the lighting darkened to dark grayish-blue and the same glass platform and scenery now appeared to be the middle of the night. What had appeared to be trees in the last scene, now looked like clouds. At the closing of the opera, there were statues on stage with fire in them. These statues evoked feelings of fear, danger, excitement and surprise. In the scenes where Sarastro was present, the background was very bright, illuminated well, and suns were painted on the backdrop. The people in these scenes, who appeared to be Sarastro’s followers, stood in very geometrically perfect lines which showed order in the kingdom, Sarastro’s great power, and Sarastro’s connection to the gods through the images of the sun. It was amazing how the Magic Flute used the same backdrops and set ups for many scenes, but when one thing like lighting was changed, a totally different feeling was evoked.
This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.