THE MAGIC FLUTE (German title: Die Zauberflöte) Teacher study guide Music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder Presented by Bay Shore Lyric Opera Company Children’s Opera Production Bay Shore Lyric Opera Children’s Production Company is proud to present The Magic Flute as part of our Children’s Opera Season. We are striving to give children from pre‐school to 8th grade the opportunity to experience opera in a theater as a fully staged production. The production was developed by Bay Shore Lyric Opera Company to introduce children to opera while educating them in the classics. We are very excited to perform at the beautiful Villa Montalvo in Saratoga and hope that your class will walk away with a melody in the pocket and more love for music in the heart. Jennifer Studley Liliane Cromer Co‐Producers Characters in the Opera Tamino handsome prince, in love with Pamina, Tenor Papageno Queen’s bird catcher, dressed in plumage, Baritone Pamina Sarastro’s prisoner, Soprano The Queen of the Night beautiful evil queen, Pamina’s mother, Coloratura Soprano Sarastro wise priest of Isis and Osiris, Bass Three Ladies servants of Queen of the Night, Sopranos and Mezzo Monostatos servant of Sarastro, in love with Pamina, Tenor Three Spirits will lead the way for Tamino and Papageno Speaker of the Temple priest Papagena beautiful bird‐woman, Soprano Friends, women When Mozart composed The Magic Flute in 1791 he did so in German to appeal to a wider audience. Mozart composed this work in the style of the Singspiel (Sing Play). In this form, spoken dialogue is interspersed among traditional arias or ensembles. With the spoken dialogue, the comical aspect of the libretto was much better served. The audiences wanted to laugh and be entertained; needless to say the Opera was a great success. The story, fairy‐tale like tells of a prince, a queen and an evil sorcerer (who in fact is not evil nor a sorcerer), a bird‐ catcher and a few other comic characters, and their battle up to the ultimate triumph of good over evil. Synopsis A C T 1 Scene 1: Forest Tamino, a prince from a foreign land, finds himself pursued by a serpent and fears for his life. He is so afraid of the serpent that he faints. Three Ladies, servants of the Queen of the Night, enter and slay the serpent. Tamino being unconscious does not realize that the three ladies saved his life. When he awakens he is alone and rather unsure of what happened. He hears the sound of a panpipe in the distance and soon realizes it is Papageno, the silly bird‐catcher. For some reason Tamino comes to believe that Papageno has slain the serpent. Papageno, not shy at all, takes gladly credit for the kill. The Three Ladies return and punish Papageno for the lie. They inform Tamino that it was them who killed the beast and hand him a portrait of the Queen’s daughter, Pamina, and promise him fortune, honor, and glory. Tamino falls in love with the image of Pamina. Tamino was informed that Pamina was captured and held prisoner by the evil sorcerer Sarastro. Now Tamino meets the Queen of the night who promises Pamina’s hand in marriage if he rescues her. Tamino accepts the mission and is given a magic flute; Papageno is given a set of magic bells and ordered to accompany Tamino. They depart led by three spirits to guide him. Sarastro is away from his fortress and has left Pamina in the care of his servant, Monostatos, who mistreats Pamina. Papageno has gone ahead of Tamino and, at the fortress, sees Pamina. Once he has frightened Monostatos away, he tells Pamina of her mother, the prince, and the mission. Tamino is led by the Three Spirits in his journey to find Pamina. He is told that Pamina lives and he expresses his joy by playing the magic flute. Papageno’s answer on his panpipe ad soon they will meet again. When Sarastro returns from his journey he meets Pamina who pleads mercy for her escape, explaining Monastatos’ abuse. Sarastro orders Monastatos punished for his wickedness. Tamino and Pamina embrace then are veiled and led into Sarasto’s temple. A C T 2 Before Tamino can be united with his beloved bride, Sarastro impose his three trials that will test both Tamino and Papageno. They will be tested for their willpower, patience, and trust. Papageno, upon succeeding will be awarded with a wife, Papagena! As their first test, Papageno and Tamino are sworn to silence under the temptation of women and left alone in the dark. This test reveals especially difficult for Papageno who loves to chatter. When they meet an old woman Papageno chatters away until thunder quiets him down. Meanwhile Monostatos, desperate for feminine attention, wants to steal a kiss from Pamina who is asleep in the palace. He is interrupted by the Queen of the Night who chases him away. She then turns to Pamina hands her a dagger and orders her to kill Sarastro. Once left alone, Pamina cries, she can’t kill a man! Let alone Sarastro. Sarastro who has witnessed the scene comforts her and reassures her that all will be fine once he has taken care of her mother, the Queen of the Night. Pamina hears the sound of Tamino’s flute and rushes toward it. She talks to him but receives nothing but sighs in reply. She is dumbstruck by his silence and desperate for a response but runs off in dismay. The old woman that appeared before Papageno and claimed to be his wife returns as a beautiful bird‐woman named Papagena. She vanishes quickly and Papageno too is miserable. When Tamino embarks on his final trial, Pamina rushes to join him in his journey and urges him to play upon his magic flute. The flute protects Pamina and Tamino, as they pass‐through the cave of water and the cave of fire. Papageno believes he will never be worthy of Papagena when the three spirits suggest he play the magic bells. Papagena appears and agrees to marry. Sarastro unites the lovers. Tamino and Pamina live happily ever after, the Queen and her follower succumb to Sarastro goodness and join him. Biography Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg, Austria on 27 January 1756 – and died 5 December 1791 in Salzburg as well. He was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as masterworks of symphonic, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music. He is among the most enduringly popular of classical composers. Mozart showed prodigious ability from his earliest childhood in Salzburg. Already competent on keyboard and violin, he composed from the age of five and performed before European royalty; at 17 he was engaged as a court musician in Salzburg, Austria, but grew restless and traveled in search of a better position, always composing abundantly. While visiting Vienna in 1781, he was dismissed from his Salzburg position. He chose to stay in the capital, where he achieved fame but little financial security. During his final years in Vienna, he composed many of his best‐ known symphonies, concertos, and operas, and the Requiem. The circumstances of his early death have been much mythologized. He was survived by his wife Constanze and two sons. His influence on subsequent Western art music is profound. Beethoven wrote his own early compositions in the shadow of Mozart. Activity: Show your student a map of Europe and all countries Mozart visited when he was a child prodigy. What is OPERA An Opera is a dramatic story told through song. It the most complete art form, combining all of the elements of art, words, music, drama, and dance. The uniqueness in opera is the use of music to convey an entire story/plot. All the forms merge to become this fascinating art. So many artist work on actually making an opera, it is really a team effort from the start. Opera takes any type of dramatic story and tries to make it more exciting and more believable with the help of music. Many famous stories have been made into operas, including Cinderella, Hansel and Gretel, and Romeo and Juliette Who works on making an opera? Step 1. Initial step The librettist: writes the story or takes an original literary work and rewrites it. The composer*: composes the music to the text The publisher: publishes the work Step 2. The people who put on an opera The opera director: chooses to put the opera on the season schedule The casting director: hires the singers to perform in the opera The orchestra manager: hires the musicians to play in the opera The chorus master: hires the chorus to sing in the opera The stage director: stages the opera and works with the technical staff The stage manager: calls all cues when the show is up and running The rehearsal pianist: plays all rehearsals before the orchestra sitz probe Step 3. Behind the stage The crew: handles all the details back stage, scene changes etc... The prop master: makes sure all the props are ready on stage and back stage The prompter: Prompts the singers in case they forget a word The supertitle technician: projects the translation of the text above the stage The Lighting technician: works the lighting board Step 4. Below the stage The costume designer: designs the costumes and accessories The costumer: sows and fits the costumes for the artists The wig master: prepares the wigs and fits the artists The makeup artist: does the makeup for the artists Step 5.