With the death of the
enlightened Emperor Joseph II, who had
commissioned Cosi fan tutte and
is said to have suggested its plot,
Mozart’s source of operatic patronage
appeared to have dried up. Given his
parlous financial state he would doubtless
have welcomed Emanuel Schikaneder’s
suggestion that Mozart compose a magic
opera for his Theater auf der Wieden
in Vienna. The two had resumed friendship
when Schikaneder returned to Vienna
in 1789. They shared the fellowship
of the same Masonic Lodge. The Theater
auf der Wieden was a popular theatre
holding around one thousand and mounted
productions featuring elaborate machinery,
live animals, spectacular lighting and
scenic effects. These were interspersed
with topical jokes, in the local patois,
and songs to suit an unsophisticated
audience.
Various sources have
been suggested for the basis of Schikaneder’s
libretto with much discussion of the
relationship of the trials undergone
by Tamino and Pamina, and the triumph
of good over evil, to the Masonic background
of composer and librettist. The Masonic
influence is also implied by the frequency
the number three occurs in the opera
as it is said that this number is significant
in Freemasonry. Certainly the number
occurs with the Three Ladies, Boys,
and Doors as well as in the musical
structure. What really destroys this
argument for the work being a Masonic
allegory is that there are only two
trials, of fire and water. If there
were any Masonic allusions it would
be the three steps and trials an initiate
has to take and undergo to raise to
the sublime degree of Master Mason.
Die Zauberflöte
is surely in the tradition of the
Theater auf der Wieden where it was
premiered on 30 September 1791 as a
popular entertainment with as much spectacle
as possible. A performance such as that
by Colin Davis (Philips), which seeks
a to confer patina of extra gravitas
via slow tempi and heavy orchestral
colouring, misses the point. At the
other end of the scale is the fleet
conducting of Mackerras with a smaller
chamber orchestra (Telarc, recorded
1992 review).
Abbado’s speeds on this recording are
very similar to those of Mackerras who
also seeks to emulate the practice of
Mozart’s time: decoration of the vocal
line with appoggiaturas and ornaments.
In the middle road of tempi between
the turgidity of Davis and the fleetness
here, come Haitink (EMI, recorded 1981)
and Marriner (Philips, recorded 1989).
Whilst Haitink abbreviates the extensive
dialogue of the original, he does so
to a lesser degree than Marriner and
Abbado, who as a consequence fit the
opera on two CDs and without disturbance
to the flow and continuity of the opera.
It is surprising that
Abbado has returned to opera with Mozart
after his life-threatening illness and
to a work he had not previously conducted.
A consummate Verdi and Rossini conductor
in the theatre and on record, I have
not found his previous sorties into
Mozart particularly appealing or revealing.
This recording derives from a series
of live performances at the Teatro Communale,
Modena. This fact is not clearly stated
and I did not realise it was so until
the applause at the end. What is stated
is that the recording was made with
a young cast in conjunction with performances
in Italy and Germany. I also believe
that Abbado will conduct performances
at the 2006 Edinburgh International
festival. The casts for these various
performances have involved changes of
personnel. I do not know to what extent
DG chose the performances at Modena
for the recording because of the presence
of two well-known singers in the cast,
Dorothea Röschmann as Pamina and
René Pape as Sarastro. Certainly
these two sing their roles with distinction.
Pape’s sonorous tones and expressive
phrasing are heard to good effect in
his two solos, particularly In diesen
heil’gen Hallen (CD 2 tr.6). As
Pamina, Dorothea Röschmann benefits
from Abbado’s fleetness in Ach, ich
fühl’s (CD 2 tr. 10). She has
a pleasing lightness of tone without
erasing memories of Lucia Popp for Haitink
or Kiri Te Kanawa for Marriner. I wonder
if she could have sustained the lovely
legato and tonal richness they exhibit
at the slower speeds adopted by their
conductors?
Of the other soloists,
all previously unknown to me, I was
particularly impressed by the vocal
timbre and expressive characterisation
of Christoph Strehl as Tamino. He has
something of the tonal warmth of Stuart
Burrows, on Solti’s first recording,
with the ease and fluency in the German
of Siegfried Jerusalem for Haitink.
If I dare mention the name, he reminds
me of the young Fritz Wunderlich. The
German lyric tenor fach badly needs
a singer of that quality. Strehl’s legato,
diction and caressing of the phrase
are heard to good effect in Die Bildnis
(CD 1 tr. 5) and his strength of voice
in the act one finale (CD 1 trs. 13-16).
If not quite on that level the Papageno
of Hanno Müller-Brachmann is more
than satisfactory. He characterises
the role well in the various situations
in which the bird-catcher finds himself.
Although his diction is good he does
force his voice a shade too much in
the dialogue. Not as vocally satisfying
is Erika Miklósa as the Queen
of the Night. Once she gets to the stratospheric
heights of Der Hölle Rache
(CD 2 tr. 4) she is fine and her coloratura
is well articulated. Lower down the
scale her middle voice is less steady
and she is variable in pitch.
At the end of the day
this is Abbado’s Die Zauberflöte
and his presence on the podium is
the justification for another recording
of the opera. Ones reactions will depend
on feelings about his conducting and
whether for you he brings any particular
and distinctive illumination to the
work, whether it be a glorified pantomime
or Masonic allegory. Personally, I find
no particular magic that would make
me want to displace my favourite performance,
that by Haitink, the wobbly Sarastro
apart, from my shelves. Also the recording,
whilst well balanced and clear, lacks
something of the ambience and atmosphere
of the best studio versions. Whilst
it is good to hear Abbado back conducting
opera, and to hear a new generation
of German-speaking singers, that combination
is not enough for me to rank this performance
at the top of a very competitive list.
Robert J Farr
Arnold Schoenberg Choir 
