Description
Book SynopsisSince its premiere in 1791, The Magic Flute has been staged continuously and remains, to this day, Mozart''s most-performed opera worldwide. This comprehensive, user-friendly, up-to-date critical guide considers the opera in a variety of contexts to provide a fresh look at a work that has continued to fascinate audiences from Mozart''s time to ours. It serves both as an introduction for those encountering the opera for the first time and as a treasury of recent scholarship for those who know it very well. Containing twenty-one essays by leading scholars, and drawing on recent research and commentary, this Companion presents original insights on music, dialogue, and spectacle, and offers a range of new perspectives on key issues, including the opera''s representation of exoticism, race, and gender. Organized in four sections ? historical context, musical analysis, critical approaches, and reception ? it provides an essential framework for understanding The Magic Flute and its extraordinary afterlife.
Table of ContentsIntroduction Jessica Waldoff; Part I. Conception and Context: 1. German Opera in Mozart's Vienna Estelle Joubert; 2. 'The Magic Flute's' Libretto and German Enlightenment Theater Reform Martin Nedbal; 3. Emanuel Schikaneder and the Theater auf der Wieden Lisa de Alwis; 4. 'The Magic Flute' in 1791 Austin Glatthorn; Part II. Music, Text, and Action: 5. Music as Stage-Craft Julian Rushton; 6. Enduring Portraits: The Arias Laurel E. Zeiss; 7. 'All Together, Now'? Ensembles and Choruses in 'The Magic Flute' Nicholas Marston; 8. Musical Topics, Quotations, and References Mark Ferraguto; 9. Instrumentation, Magical and Mundane Emily I. Dolan and Hayley Fenn; 10. The Dialogue as Indispensable Catherine Coppola; 11. Music, Drama and Spectacle in the Finales John Platoff; III. Approaches and Perspectives: 12. Seeking Enlightenment in Mozart's 'Magic Flute' Richard Kramer; 13. Birdsong and Hieroglyphs: Exoticism and Enlightened Orientalism in 'The Magic Flute' Matthew Head; 14. Partial Derivatives: Sources, Types, and Tropes in 'The Magic Flute' Thomas Bauman; 15. Pamina, the Queen, and the Representation of Women Jessica Waldoff; 16. Blackness and Whiteness in 'The Magic Flute' – Reflections from Shakespeare Studies Adeline Mueller; IV. Reception, Interpretation, and Influence: 17. Zauberflöte: A Cultural Phenomenon in an Age of Revolution Ian Woodfield; 18. 'The Magic Flute' in Biography, Criticism, and Literature Simon P. Keefe; 19. The Elusive Compositional History of 'The Magic Flute' Daniel R. Melamed; 20. Staging 'The Magic Flute' Kate Hopkins; 21. Ingmar Bergman's Film Version of 'The Magic Flute' Dean Duncan.
