Bob Draper wrote:

>I'll play 'Oberon' often.  'Die Zauberflote' will gather dust on the shelf.
>
>Once again a Mozart work disappoints me.  Still, maybe I'll find salvation
>in the much praised "Marriage Of Figaro", "Cosi Fan Tutti" or "Don
>Giovanni".

Those three operas, all written to libretti by DaPonte, are quite different
from Magic Flute and it is possible that you might like them a lot even
though you're indifferent to Schikaneder's *Zauberfloete*.

I wonder if you aren't distracted from the musical gems in Magic Flute by
the inane plot, the almost nauseating dialogue and (dare I say it) the
passages given to Tamino. Mozart, IMO, isn't always fortunate in what he
has wound up writing for his tenors.  Besides Tamino, Don Octavio in Don
Giovanni comes to mind.  But, getting back to Magic Flute, all of the other
passages, especially the second Queen of the Night aria, and any scene w/
Papageno, make this work worth-while.

Walter Meyer