A New Perspective on Opera – New York New York

To start off, my take on Opera wasn’t the most optimistic take. I always found Opera to be a bit boring and it really wasn’t my cup of tea. However, after reading Die Zauberflöte, it occurred to me that Opera’s have a complex story behind them. The Libretto reminded me a lot Odysseus’s journey in the Odyssey. Throughout the Odyssey, Odysseus must battle through many missions just to get back to his wife, so as I read about Tamino’s journey to save Pamina, I instantly made a connection to Odysseus.

I thought the beginning of the Opera was very intriguing and it really caught my attention. I did think that it was a bit over-the-top and dramatic because of how the Three Ladies appeared out of nowhere and killed the serpent that was trying to attack Tamino. When the Three Ladies come out of nowhere and say, “Perish, monster, at our hands! Victory! Victory! It is accomplished, the heroic deed! He is delivered by the boldness of our arms,” I just thought the whole concept was ridiculous. However, it was really a great start to grab the attention of the audience and it left me on the edge of my seat.

The story begins to pick up when Tamino sees a portrait of the Queen’s daughter, Pamina. He instantly falls in love with her, which I thought was really pathetic, considering he doesn’t even know her. This really made me think of a really sappy, cliché romantic movie where a character takes one look at another character and instantly falls in love. I made an instant connection to the scene in the Titanic where Jack sees Rose and instantly becomes attracted to her. I thought of this:

I really liked the second act more than the first act because there were many more events that left me speechless at some parts. For example, when Pamina and Tamino get passed the trials of fire and water with the magic flute, I really like how the flute ties into the significance of the whole Opera. I went through a major epiphany when I discovered how important the magic flute was. I was like:

For the most part, I wasn’t a huge fan of the ending. I felt that it was too abrupt. At one moment, the Queen, Monostatos, and the Three Ladies are present, and in no time, they are zapped away by thunder and lightning. I feel that because Act II is so hectic and filled with detail, I was expecting there to be a more dramatic ending. Overall, this story honestly changed my opinion about Operas because now I know that behind Operas lie stories that are increasingly intriguing. This makes me pretty interested in seeing the Opera next Thursday!

j96lee says:

October 8, 2014 at 12:01 am

I agree that the second act was much more exciting and interesting than the first act. I also found the ending to be very rushed, especially when I discovered that the Queen had betrothed Monostatos with Pamina. The ending of the opera actually reminded me of On the Town’s ending. I was not able to receive closure from the ending of the play because I felt like everything was so sudden. Gabey finally unites with Ivy, the sailors return back to the ship, and then three new sailors, on their own quest for love, appear.

Ann Privorotskiy says:

October 8, 2014 at 12:53 am

Totally see the Odyssey reference you made about the beginning of Act 1, and I also had the same initial opinion regarding operas in general. “Over-the-top” and “dramatic” were exactly the two adjectives that came to mind as I was reading this text. I felt as though maybe it only seems that way because we have nothing to go with the text, but once there is a performance in front of us, it may look more natural. The instant love connection between Tamino and Pamina is very cliche, I agree with you. I feel like there were many references and allusions to be made regarding the whole “love at first sight” incident, and The Titanic is definitely an appropriate example. I found it interesting that you preferred the second Act to the first, because for me it was the other way around. I wasn’t a big fan of the ending either, I feel like it left many doors wide open and didn’t give the audience enough sense of closure.