Walter Meyer replied:

>Now wait a minute!  It's Magic Flute that has a preposterous "plot" which
>I think is best ignored while taking in the music.  The plot of Tosca isn't
>far fetched and actually quite plausible.  (Indeed, doesn't it have some
>historical basis?)

Listening to opera recordings without paying any attention to the plot
seems to me strange.  Magic Flute is wonderful music and would be wonderful
even played on a piano.  But is it a good idea to know only B&W photographs
of Rembrandt's paintings? Gardiner's recording of MF uses earlier version
of libretto, with a lion attacking Tamino in 1st act beginning.  The music
is different from best known accompanying a snake!  Would Margaret Price
be such a wonderful Pamina (Davis' recording) if she didn't change from a
young inexperienced girl (1st act) to an efficient woman (2nd act)? Is good
staccato enough for the Queen of the Night? What is Papageno's 'hmm, hmm,
hmm, hmm' without his mouth locked by the Ladies - an abstract effect? Why
are they all singing words - to practice German?

Krzysztof Lorentz
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