W.A. Mozart
DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE
Two hearts, burning with love, can never be separated by human failing
“Great works of art are always characterised by clarity and simplicity,
indeed naivity.”
Achim Freyer
Tamino and Pamina:
Searching Achim Freyer staged Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte in Hamburg twenty years ago in 1982. In that production Tamino and Pamina were given a kind of fairy-tale or dream-like setting as they went on their search and so the mysticism, the dualism as well as the ideology of the Freemasons were largely transferred to a more distant sphere.
In the circus arena
In the production in Salzburg Mozart’s “German Opera” has been transferred to a circus arena with appropriate wit and entertaining charm, with the necessary abundance of surprises and virtuosity, with lots of colour and coarseness, with enigmatic numbers and minute indications. Occasionally there are also some overstated gimmicks.
A game with a false floor
A game without a safety net, but with a false floor. With an unbeatable cast that does not neglect moments of calm contemplation but discards any unbearable pathos, and of course is not out merely to achieve spectacular superficial effects – something that apparently did not suit the listening tastes of some old Mozartians.
Heinz Josef Herbort
This is an abridged version of the article that originally appeared in Die Zeit on 8 August 1997.
Alfred Hrdlicka,
Adoration III, 1986
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Die Zauberflöte
Sung in German
Conductor Bertrand de Billy
Stage director, sets, costumes and figures Achim Freyer
Lighting design Kurt-Rüdiger Wogatzke
Chorus master Rupert Huber
Sarastro Alfred Reiter (29.7.-9.8.)
René Pape (11.8.-27.8.)
Tamino Rainer Trost
Sprecher Wolfgang Schöne
1. Priester Dietmar Kerschbaum
2. Priester Markus Eiche
Königin der Nacht Diana Damrau
Pamina Barbara Bonney
Erste Dame Anja Harteros
Zweite Dame Katharina Kammerloher
Dritte Dame Katherine Goeldner
Papageno Simon Keenlyside
Papagena Martina Jankova
Monostatos Robert Wörle
Erster Geharnischter Torsten Kerl
Zweiter Geharnischter Dan Dumitrescu
Drei Knaben
Soloists of the Tölz Boys Choir
Vienna Philharmonic
Concert Association of the Vienna
State Opera Chorus
Felsenreitschule
Revival: 29 July 2002, 1, 3, 5, 9, 11, 13, 17, 21, 25, (3 p.m), 27 (3 p.m.) August 2002 Performances start at 6.30 p.m. unless otherwise stated
All performances are sold out
Telephone: 0043 662 8045-500
Telefax: 0043 662 8045-555
E-mail: info@salzburgfestival.at