John Halbrooks wrote:

>Judging an opera--or even a play written before the 19th century by its
>realism or "believability" is to apply twentieth-century aesthetics to an
>older form.  Realism didn't become a primary concern of dramatists until
>Ibsen, and it certainly was not the primary concern of composers.  As
>Don Satz suggested in another post, it's the exploration of the human
>condition--of ideas and emotion--that counts, not plausibility.

But there *are* no explorations of the human condition or of ideas or
emotions in Magic Flute!  (Again, w/ the exception of Papageno.) There
are only recitations of platitudes.  What could be more superficial
than Tamino's falling in love w/ Pamina upon seeing her picture? What
personality characteristic, what quality, what insight, what anything does
he have to warrant anybody's love? What real conflicts of conscience or of
emotions occur anywhere in Magic Flute? Where in Magic Flute do we find the
poignancies and wistfulness of the Marriage of Figaro? Where in Magic Flute
do we have the slapstick of the second act of Figaro? Where in Magic Flute
do we have an Elvira juggling a flirtation w/ the noble Don Giovanni while
placating her fiance/husband Masetto and doing both convincingly? Where in
Magic Flute do we have a Dona Elvira caught between her continuing passion
for Don Giovanni and and her knowledge that he's a rogue? And where in
Magic Flute do you have the interplay of Scarpia's sadism, lust for Tosca,
Tosca's jealousy of Mario and her devotion to him, the succession of
deceptions in the course of which Tosca, after having killed Scarpia,
nevertheless takes the time to place two candles over his corpse,
continuing to a mock execution that turns out to be all too real, and
the ensuing suicide, just before Napoleon's liberating army enters Rome?

No, for me, Magic Flute is beautiful music sans the excitement of a good
adventure tale, or even a cleverly told picaresque novel.

Walter Meyer