Die Zauberflöte
The opening scene of Die Zauberflöte’s Libretto seems very dramatic and reminds me a bit of Hercules because of fight against the serpent. The opera reminded me even more of the Roman myth when the “The Three Ladies” entered the scene and saved Tamino. When they were all fighting over who gets to stay with Tamorino, I immediately thought of the 3 witches from the Disney version of Hercules:
When the Queen tells Tamino that he must save her daughter, she says, “You will go to free her, you will be the rescuer of my daughter. And if I see you as victor, then may she be yours for ever.” The situation where the hero has to save the princess is very familiar to everyone and personally it makes me think of this cliche “damsel in distress” scenario:
I’ve never seen this opera so I was unsure of what effect the magic flute or Papageno’s bells had when they were played. After Papageno uses the bells for the first time, they causes Monostatos and the slaves to lose all control as the melody hypnotizes them. They are enchanted by its notes, and sing, “I’ve never heard or seen the like! Lalala la la lalala!” Then the play says that “they dance off.” I laughed at how quickly the music changed the scenario completely, and turned this angry mob of people led by Monostatos, into a dancing frenzy. I don’t know what dancing the bells elicited out of the mob, but I imagine it went something like this:
As the second act continued, I got a better sense of the characters. In my mind, Papageno looked like a big, furry, kind giant. Like a creature that would appear frightening at first, but means no harm. I found it funny that when the priests asked if Tamino and Papageno were willing to submit to the trials, Tamino readily accepted, meanwhile Papageno was afraid: “Fighting isn’t my thing. I don’t basically want any wisdom either. I’m a kind of child of nature, taking pleasure in sleep, food and drink.” Tamino is a human yet he is braver than this cowardly giant. When the priests imposed silence on Tamino and Papageno, Tamino kept repeating things like “Gossip, repeated by women” and “She is a woman, with the mind of the woman,” I was just like:
I felt as though through the course of the Libretto, there were many subliminal stereotypical remarks made about women, which is understandable considering how old this opera is.
I was a little confused when in the middle of Act 2, Sarastro tells Pamina that he wants her to be happy with Tamino. I thought it was strange that the whole reason he kidnapped her, was to unite them. As if there wasn’t a simpler way to make that happen? As Act 2 continued, I felt like it moved faster and faster, which made it kind of difficult to keep up. It was very over dramatic when Pamina was so willing to stab herself because she thought Tamino didn’t love her, and when the priests brought her to him, it was all done very quickly. Overall, the storyline moved fairly quickly but it was straightforward for the most part.
