What is the opening music?
I would be grateful if someone could let me know the name of the piece of music which opens the film, because it's beautiful.
shareTalking to myself here, but I'll leave this up in case anyone else wants to know.
I e-mailed Werner Herzog's office about this, and got the following reply:
It is: Tamino's aria "Dies Bildnis ist bezaubernd schýn" from "Die
Zauberflýte" by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart."
They don't know which recording it is, but it definitely isn't Caruso as he never did any Mozart.
That's "This Portrait is Enchantingly Beautiful" from "The Magic Flute".
It's an opera about the triumph of rationality over superstition, which fits quite well with the themes of the film, in a more-or-less ironic way.
Good move to e-mail Herzog's office, I would never have thought of that...
It's a recording by 1911 by Heinrich Knote. (from the video inlay). Apparently, when Herzog heard this on the radio while driving, he nearly crashed the car !!
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Herzog discusses the piece at some length at the end of the 'Commentary' on the DVD.
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