Die Zauberflöte

Hello,

This performance of Die Zauberflöte by W.A. Mozart introduced me to the entire Opera repertoire. My love for opera began with this performance of Die Zauberflöte. Never had I ever listened to an entire Opera before.

I still think this is one of the best performances of Die Zauberflöte regarding music and acting.
When you have the time, please give it a try! I loved it! I have to admit that the costumes are not very outstanding, but I liked them actually. It adds some humour to the acting, intended or not.

Conductor: Riccardo Muti.
Wiener Philharmoniker.
Sarastro: René Pape.
Tamino: Paul Groves.
Pamina: Genia Kühmeier.
Papageno: Christian Gerhaher.
Papagena: Irena Bespalovaite.
Königin der Nacht: Diana Damrau.

@Maarten Bauer  I'm glad you are interested in Opera.

It's not the topic of this foro, but anything you want to know, ask. I've always been crazy for opera,  I know very well the repertoire, even the rare (>1000 recording in CD's and some old LPs, I hate mp3 for music, by the way).

Diana Damrau is a goddess. Her voice has a strong agility in the higher register, that's way his Queen of the Night is flawless but powerful. Hi has done the same in Rigoletto, or Rossini. The role of the Queen has several F over the high C. That's not the highest note WRITTEN for a soprano. It was a high G by Mozart in a concerto aria (Poppoli di Tessaglia.... Io non cedo). Richard Strauss also wrote high G (Ariadne auf Naxos).

The world of Opera is amazing, indeed.

Die Zauberflöte was very important. It was the first "serious" opera in German, opening the gates to Beethoven (Fidelio) and many more. Mozart first experimented with opera buffs in German (Die Entführung aus dem Serail). But almost all his previos operas were in Italian.

A confession: I don't like Mozart, except the operas, masses (the Requiem, of course) and some works. I like more his camera music than his concertos and symphonies.

6 minutes ago, Luis Hernández said:

@Maarten Bauer  I'm glad you are interested in Opera.

It's not the topic of this foro, but anything you want to know, ask. I've always been crazy for opera,  I know very well the repertoire, even the rare (>1000 recording in CD's and some old LPs, I hate mp3 for music, by the way).

Diana Damrau is a goddess. Her voice has a strong agility in the higher register, that's way his Queen of the Night is flawless but powerful. Hi has done the same in Rigoletto, or Rossini.

 

Well, I found out that I prefer German Operas. Because I am still a beginner in the opera, I limit myself to <1900. Could you recommend me any German operas?

Fidelio (Beethoven): It was his only opera.

Mir ist so wunderbar is a PERFECT canon in 4 voices. (Mozart "failed" writing a canon for 4 voices in Cosa fan tutte, because the baritone part didn't fit... Surely he could have fixed it, but he always was in a rush).