First of all, I have never seen an opera in my life and I wasn’t very familiar with any operatic works either. So I decided to attend the “Die Zaberflaute”, or “The Magic Flute” by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart performed by the UBC Opera production team, I was not too sure what to expect. I have heard about the Magic Flute but frankly knew nothing about it. I hardly knew any Mozart operas or works at that time either. All the more for this reason, the Magic Flute seemed like the perfect place to start exploring opera and works by Mozart. Since I am in the Music Appreciation class, I figured it was time I knew Mozart better. I have to say the whole experience did certainly surpass my expectation and I am now more intrigued in learning more about well-known operatic works and also works by Mozart as well.
At the time I attended this opera, I was learning about the Baroque period music and I was convinced that many music scores in the Magic Flute were influenced from the Baroque style of music. I was able to recognize imitative polyphony with various emotions portrayed by each character throughout the play. Of course, later when I learned more about the Magic Flute in the classical era lectures, I was able to recognize more various styles and purposes behind employing such styles in deeper and wider context.
All of the performers were very impressive. But what struck me first was the amazing vocal range of the Queen. The Aria and Recitative in No. 4, I (“Do not tremble”) was impressive and No. 14, II Aria (“My heart is seething”) by the queen was on another level of amusement. I thought I have never heard of any piece from the Magic Flute but I was wrong; I was very familiar with No.14 II Aria (“My heart is seething”). To be able to hear a piece of music live that I recognized was an amazing experience.
Secondly the strong voices accompanied by the male performers sounded richer as their parts were contrasted to soprano tones by the female performers. Although Papageno’s character is light and witty, his baritone voice gave some weight to the development of character. The bass tone of Sarastro was very deep and enriched, and this complimented the character style that Mozart probably wanted to convey to the audiences. The last excerpt, Finale, II (“Whoever walks this path”) was an emotional piece and it felt almost soothing after listening to such dramatic high and low tones in all the previous excerpts.
Personally, I was glad and relieved the story had the happy ending because I did not want my first experience with opera to end miserably. Overall, I really enjoyed the performance by the UBC Opera production team and the experience is further enriched with more learning in the Music Appreciation class about the Magic Flute. I look forward to watching more operas and certainly keep an eye on more upcoming conerts!