FULL DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE Met New York 2023 Erin Morley, Kathryn Lewek, Lawrence Brownlee, Brenton Ryan, Thomas Oliemans

Information on the Performance

• Work Title: Die Zauberflöte  
• Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart  
• Libretto: Emanuel Schikaneder    Libretto Text, Libretto Index
• Venue & Opera Company: Metropolitan Opera, Lincoln Center, New York City  
• Recorded: June 3, 2023
• Type: Staged Opera Live
• Singers: Erin Morley, Kathryn Lewek, Lawrence Brownlee, Brenton Ryan, Thomas Oliemans, Harold Wilson, Stephen Milling
• Conductor: Nathalie Stutzmann  
• Orchestra: Metropolitan Opera Orchestra  
• Chorus: Metropolitan Opera Chorus  
• Stage Director: Simon McBurney   
• Stage Designer: Michael Levine  
• Costume Designer: Nicky Gillibrand  
• Lighting Designer: Jean Kalman  

Information about the Recording

• Published by: MET Live in Cinema  
• TV Director: Gary Halvorson  
• Date Published: 2023  
• Format: Streaming
• Quality Video: 4 Audio:4
• Subtitles: yessubs, ensubs  

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE

Quoted from Metropolitan Opera:
Die Zauberflöte—a sublime fairy tale that moves freely between earthy comedy and noble mysticism—was written for a theater located just outside Vienna with the clear intention of appealing to audiences from all walks of life. The story is told in a singspiel (“song-play”) format characterized by separate musical numbers connected by dialogue and stage activity, an excellent structure for navigating the diverse moods, ranging from solemn to lighthearted, of the story and score. The composer and the librettist were both Freemasons—the fraternal order whose membership is held together by shared moral and metaphysical ideals—and Masonic imagery is used throughout the work. The story, however, is as universal as any fairy tale.

The libretto specifies Egypt as the location of the action. Egypt was traditionally regarded as the legendary birthplace of the Masonic fraternity, whose symbols and rituals populate this opera. Some productions include Egyptian motifs as an exotic nod to this idea, but many more opt for a more generalized mythic ambience to convey the otherworldliness that the score and overall tone of the work call for.

Die Zauberflöte was written with an eye toward a popular audience, but the varied tone of the work requires singers who can specialize in several different musical genres. The comic and earthy are represented by the baritone, Papageno, while true love in its noblest forms is conveyed by the tenor, Tamino, and the soprano, Pamina. The bass, Sarastro, expresses the solemn and the transcendental. The use of the chorus is spare but hauntingly beautiful, and fireworks are provided by the coloratura Queen of the Night
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