Robert Peters ([log in to unmask]) wrote:

>I have been asked to clarify why I think that the Magic Flutes libretto is
>racist and against women.  Following are quotations from the libretto in
>German and a translation into English.
>
>1) Racist:
>
>Monostatos: ich soll die Liebe meiden, weil ein Schwarzer hasslich ist.
>(I have to abstain from love because blacks are ugly)

Only if you accept that 'black' then meant the same as today.  Given that
Beethoven was referred to as "Der Scwarzer" and that there is a whole slew
of the "Black Irish" (Descendants of shipwrecked members of the Spanish
Armada), I don't.

Deryk Barker
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