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Die Zauberflöte
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Composer |
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart |
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Libretto |
Emanuel Schikaneder |
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Venue and Dates |
Metropolitan Opera House, New York 6, 11, 15, 18, 22, 27 November 2000
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Conductor |
Sebastian Weigle [Debut] |
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Production |
Production: John Cox |
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Performers |
Pamina: Angela Maria Blasi [Debut] (except 27 Nov) Ester Heiden (27 Nov)
Jan-Hendrik Rootering (except 27 Nov) Eric Halfvarsen (27 Nov)
James Danner
Garth Dawson (6, 11, 15 Nov) David Frye (6, 11, 15 Nov) Mitchell Sendrowitz (18, 22, 27 Nov) Gregory Lorenz (18, 22, 27) |
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Notes |
From the Met website (27 Nov performance): In Act II, Mr. Finley inserted some new lines. In German according to the text he said, "Which way do I go?" In English he said "Bush?" Then turning to the other side, he said, "Gore?" The audience laughed and Finley proceeded to sing "Ein Maedchen oder Weibchen". [See below for how this was reported in the NY Times] |
James Barron with Joan Nassivera, New York Times, 29 November 2000
No Escaping, Even at the Opera
Operagoers are more likely to demand refunds than recounts. But no one asked for either when Gov George Bush and Vice President Al Gore were mentioned during Mozart's ''Magic Flute'' at the Metropolitan Opera.
The baritone Gerald Finley worked the candidates' names into Act II, Scene 6, on Monday, according to The Associated Press. Mr. Finley, singing the role of Papageno, was alone on the stage, hunting for the prince Tamino.
''Tamino! Tamino! Are you forsaking me?'' Mr. Finley said in German.
That line was in the libretto. Then came a few new words, also in German.
''Which way do I go?'' Mr. Finley said, turning to one side of the stage.
''Bush?'' he said, drawing out the name.
Then he turned to the other side of the stage.
''Gore?'' he said.
The audience laughed. Mr. Finley went back to the libretto, and the opera went on.
At the Met yesterday, no one could say whether Mr. Finley -- who had sung the role five times since Election Day -- had mentioned the two candidates before. A spokesman, Francois Giuliani, said that Mr. Finley had left New York earlier in the day. Noting that Mr. Finley was Canadian, Mr. Giuliani added, ''He may have gone to deal with the Canadian election.''
What the critics say
Allan Kozinn for the New York Times, November 8, 2000
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E01EED71039F93BA35752C1A9669C8B63
Blending Comic and Serious in a Magic Potion
There is an appealing storybook simplicity in John Cox's production of Mozart's ''Zauberflote,'' which rejoined the Metropolitan Opera repertory on Monday evening. In a house where cinematic realism rules, David Hockney's spare sets and his use of stylized painted flats has a certain old-fashioned charm. So do his bright-hued, traditional costumes, to say nothing of the small menagerie of furry animals that are briefly charmed by Tamino's flute.
Perhaps the most important thing about the staging, first seen at the Met in 1991, is that instead of evoking oohs and aaahs, it creates a subtle but magical atmosphere in which the cast and audience can explore this multilayered allegory of Masonic initiation rites and coming of age. Gregory Keller, who has taken over the stage direction, has not made any radical changes in the conception but moves the singers around efficiently and maintains a fine balance between the comic and serious elements.
The company has put the productions in the hands of a young cast, in which the most striking singer was Angela Maria Blasi in her house debut as Pamina. Ms. Blasi's tone is rounded and fully supported, and the sense of warmth and steadiness in her portrayal of Pamina contrasted nicely with Tamino's more hotheaded start. For all that Emanuel Schikaneder's libretto disparages women, there is never much doubt that Tamino's road toward maturity is longer than Pamina's.
Michael Schade did his part in clarifying that point. His Tamino had both the regal bearing and current of heroic steeliness, vocally, required by his stature as a young prince, but the almost Romantic petulance he brought to his first encounter with Sarastro's guards showed the degree to which enlightenment remained in his future.
Gerald Finley contributed a well-sung portrayal of Papageno that made the most of his comic aspects without making the comedy too broad. Danielle de Niese was his well-matched Papagena; their duet was perfectly balanced in both phrasing and flexibility.
Mary Dunleavy's Queen of the Night seemed all the more dangerous for her youthfulness, and brought a fresh, attractive voice to her two big arias -- but not, alas, the high F's, which were a shade flat. Jan Hendrik Rootering was a solid Sarastro, the work's philosophical center of calm.
Sebastian Weigle, in his podium debut, led a comfortably paced performance in which textural niceties were ample.
John W Freeman for Opera News
What made the return of Die Zauberflöte to the Met (Nov. 6) special -- aside from the evergreen miracle of Mozart's music -- were the debut of Angela Maria Blasi as Pamina and Mary Dunleavy's reassumption of the Queen of the Night. Blasi is an American soprano who, since her victory in the 1982 Met National Council auditions, has gained wide experience in Europe's major theaters. A repertoire that includes Richard Strauss, Puccini, Hindemith, Weill and Gounod, as well as Donizetti and Mozart, makes it less surprising that her Pamina has such emotional impact and vocal strength. True, her share of the "Bei Männern" duet had its wonted delicacy and buoyancy. But "Die Wahrheit" glowed with moral radiance, and "Ach, ich fühl's," along with subsequent moments of anguish, took on tragic dimensions that most Mozart singers fail to reach. Dunleavy, whose Queen has been memorably brilliant at City Opera, flamed with new heat at the Met. It wasn't just (!) the flying-dagger high Fs in "Der Hölle Rache"; all three of her scenes boiled with malevolence or guile, depending on to whom she was singing. And at her most poisonous, her face became most softly beautiful.
With two such sopranos facing him, young German conductor Sebastian Weigle could hardly have been less than inspired for his Met debut. When they weren't facing him, however, things went up and down. The ups mostly involved the Met chorus, whose men delivered a particularly thrilling "O, Isis und Osiris." Otherwise, he gave us a neat, steady, but not awesome or ebullient Flute. Michael Schade's Tamino, Gerald Finley's Papageno and Jan-Hendrik Rootering's less-than-profundo Sarastro were always competent, but no more. Emily Pulley, Jane Bunnell and Jane Shaulis blended prettily as the Three Ladies, as did James Danner, Zachary Bernhard and Luca Mannarino as the boys. Dennis Petersen was a nicely nasty Monostatos, and the other small roles were well done. David Hockney's scenery still tickled the eye with its witty Egyptology, even if its 1991 expansion from Glyndebourne origins has its minor misfittings. One serious musico-dramatic gaffe is moving the Sarastro-Tamino- Pamina trio so far forward in Act II. As originally placed by Mozart, it shows Pamina's anguish in "Ach, ich fühl's" escalated into the near-madness that leads to her suicide attempt. In the Met's current displacement, Pamina rides on unconvincing mood-swings, which almost obstructed Blasi's vivid performance.
From the interview, ‘Jigsaw career’ Opera Canada, 22 June 2001 (Paul Baker)
…Last fall, at New York's Metropolitan Opera, Finley reprised the role of his impressive 1998 Met debut. His mercurial bird-catcher demonstrates the baritone's uncanny ability to take a character swiftly from comic bravado to endearing pathos. Unfazed by the Met's huge stage, he larked about athletically, carrying the audience with him as he played off Michael Schade's peerless Tamino.