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Won't See It: It's Not True To Mozart's Original Concept

posted 18 years ago by FloatingOpera7
20 replies | jump to latest

I hate HATE HATE when they "modernize" an opera. I hate the Peter Sellars opera productions for that matter or the Pierre Chernouz/Boulez Wagner Ring Des Nibelungen, which butchered Wagner's original Nordic mythology concept. I've seen dozens of modern interpretations of operas and I hated all of them. I've seen Carmens which take place during World War II, Tosca set in Mussolini/Fascist Italy and I've seen bizarre versions of Madame Butterfly and Wagner's Parsifal (like the Syberberg movie). The newer opera productions of Robert Wilson are equally terrible. If this new version Mozart's "Magic Flute" will be updated to World War I or II I won't see it. They're butchering a classic. How will the story fit into the Egyptio-Masonic fantasy world of Queen of the Nights, Solar Priests, Princes, Princesses, Serpents and Bird-Men ? They will kill a classic and I won't be there to see it. Kenneth Branaugh, I must tell you: Mozart is turning in his grave because of you.

[–] peterpaulparty 18 years ago

You're probably right about purism...
but have a look at what Kenneth did with Shakespeare....
he didn't change a word...he didn't modify the soul and the structure of the play....he did just some little modification on the setting...
and it works!

[–] Labyrinth_X 18 years ago

The feeling I am getting from what I've heard about the production is that Tamino is somehow whirled back to this fantastic place full of serpents and bird-men. He has always been an outsider to the world. I don't think it's right to judge a movie before it even comes out. It could be very, very good. (Or it could be crap -- the point is, I don't know yet.)

jessika
Je dois partir maintenant parce que ma grand-mère est flambé.

[–] 18 years ago

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[–] little_lambda 18 years ago

i think even if it's always a risk to modernize a play or an opera it is still something that HAS to be done! it can't be the sense of art to never change anything, to always "stick to the old things". Art means to "try out" and also to find different ways of presentation. the world and the people change and i think art has to change in a certain amount with it, otherwise it looses the connection. of course, sometimes those "modernizations" go extremly wrong, but when has art ever pleased everyone? you can't change things without trying out. and - honestly - i think kenneth branagh is just the right person to do the magic flute and "modernize" it up to a certain amount without loosing all the magic that is connected with it. and judging from the pictures i saw until now it really looks like he did a great "magical" job. :)

[–] angharad83 18 years ago

well, I can live without "modernizing" - I have yet to see a modern production that has really worked for me. I agree that you can try different angles on a piece, but so often these productions are filled with senseless gimmicks that just disturb the flow of things for me and don't mean a thing - merely pseudointellectual.
I agree that full costumes and props aren't necessary to convey the message of a piece - a minimalistic production concentrating on the essentials would be a breath of fresh air. Instead we often get ridiculous stints, like absolutely absurd choreography during an aria etc. - this is too much for me to take and IMO does not add in any way to getting opera up to date.
When it comes to the fact that art has to change: I don't believe neither the Mona Lisa nor the Waterlillies have been painted over with spray paint to update them - modern art takes care of that. There are modern day composers who should perhaps have more chances to get their modern operas on stages, and we could have both. Just like we have had Da Vinci, Monet, Warhol and Bacon

Am not saying any of this about Branagh's magic flute though, not before I've seen it.

[–] smegzilla 18 years ago

well i'm not going to judge until i've seen it because i love mozart and this opera and i like branagh's work. But, i do wonder how this will work in a WWI setting...i hope it retains all of the fantasy. I don't like modernising much either. Especially when it's done with shakespeare and opera. The only modern production that i've seen that was tolerable was La Boheme being set just after WWII ended. It didn't really mess with the story, the costumes and sets were just different.

[–] critic-2 14 years ago

the WWI setting does not ruin it, just as the 19th-century setting didn't ruin Branagh's "Hamlet". Branagh is far more subtle than Peter Sellars or Pierre Boulez, and his setting is made to work well in the context of the story. This is not the type of war film in which someone sings an aria and then gets blown up.

The serpent chasing Tamino at the beginning becomes poison gas in this version. The Three Ladies are three nurses. Sarastro runs a field hospital, and one of the three trials that Tamino must undergo is a battlefield trench which becomes flooded. But the Queen of the Night still has magic powers, the flute and Papageno's bells are still magical, and Papagena still goes from being an enchanted old hag to a beautiful woman. Papageno uses pigeons to test for poison gas.

The whole opera is done in English. None of the music has been cut or changed, only some of the dialogue, and although updated, it's similar enough to the original that it sounds like it could be a direct translation.

There is no mention of anything involving Freemasonry. Sarastro's aim is world peace, not merely the triumph of good over evil. When he sings his solo aria at the beginning of Act II, he doesn't mention Isis or Osiris, although he sings the same music.

[–] scn657 14 years ago

Mozart's original vision - sorry guys, but do you realise Mozart's role was primarily to set music to the libretto, written by Schikaneder? The vision is mostly the writer's, of course, massively brought to life by Mozart's music. Mozart was well known for his sense of fun, and I don't think he would be that stuffy about adaptations, especially ones that honour his music. There is also quite a lot intentional fun in the staging of The Magic Flute, let's not ossify it.

[–] sky_masterson 18 years ago

me too but when is the magic flute actually set? i mean it's a fantasy world like you say......... do you mean you prefer an 18th century fantasy world to modern one?

[–] ZaneyMcBanes 18 years ago

Technically, Mozart's original concept was to create an opera that the normal person would like, one that would be relevent to them, and as such, I think this is VERY true to Mozart's original concept.

"I close my eyes, and I still see his face"-Marian from "The Woman in White"

[–] bex-28 18 years ago

I agree with this completly!

Besides, even if the setting is different, the themes incorporated into the story are just the same :)

[–] christortise 18 years ago

HOW ON EARTH DO YOU KNOW WHAT MOZARTS' ORIGINAL CONCEPT WAS?! DO YOU KNOW HIM PERSONALLY??? DID YOU FIND SOME RARE MANUSCRIPT THAT SPECIFICALLY SAYS "DO NOT SET IT AT WORLD WAR 1 PLEASE"???????????????

Grow up, please. Critics are raving about it, so go and see it. If you can say it's awful then, fair enough.

[–] 18 years ago

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[–] Casiguapa 17 years ago

so the Egyptio-Masonic fantasy world could only have existed in the 18th Century? fantasy world can exist in anytime so WW1 is as plausible a setting as the original. No-one knows whether Mozart expressly wanted Die Zauberflöte to only have the setting he created.

Also to the person who compared modernising a set to spray painting over an orginal work of art is somewhat mislead. Variations on works have been around since the renaissance period of classical music. This is simply a variation on setting and nothing else. If I'm wrong on that then I apologise, but if anyone can take a great work of literature or music, and meaningfully adapt it, then it's Kenneth Branagh.

Let's all just see the film first before we criticise. Let's be safe in the knowledge that in Fry and Branagh, we have two of the most gifted performers in the U.K working on a truly great Opera

"Freedom costs a buck o' five"

[–] pfdocwilson 14 years ago

<< Variations on works have been around since the renaissance period of classical music. >>

Shakespeare only wrote one original story in his entire career, and that was one of his worst -- MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR.

HAMLET's an adaptation, ROMEO AND JULIET's an adaptation, TWELFTH NIGHT's an adaptation, all ten history plays are adaptations -- not just from history, but from previously published sources. Shakespeare's genius was what he did during the process of adapataion.

Or, as Picasso once said: "Ordinary artists always copy other artists; geniuses steal."