Die Zauberflöte at the Met

By Peter Clark

Met audiences today are familiar with Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute) in the enchanting production by Julie Taymor that will remain in the repertory even after a groundbreaking new version by Simon McBurney takes the stage in May 2023 (header image).

Mozart’s fantastical tale gives ample opportunity for creative directors and designers to engage their imaginations. And yet at its Met premiere in 1900, Die Zauberflöte was largely regarded as a bizarre and confusing tale with brilliant music. That premiere was sung in Italian, under the title Il Flauto Magico, with sung recitatives in place of the original spoken dialogues. As was the case with most operas at the time, Il Flauto Magico was seen as a chance to showcase a large cast of famous singers. The premiere included the prima donnas Emma Eames as Pamina and Marcella Sembrich (pictured below) as Astrifiammante (Queen of the Night), the leading Wagnerian tenor Andreas Dippel as Tamino, famed Italian baritone Giuseppe Campanari as Papageno, and the imposing French bass Pol Plançon as Sarastro. Even the Three Ladies were lavishly cast, with Milka Ternina (who also sang Brünnhilde, Sieglinde, and Isolde that season) and Eugenia Mantelli (a noted Amneris, Azucena, and Ortrud) in the trio.

As for the work itself, the eminent critic W. J. Henderson reflected the general consternation about the libretto: “The thing cannot be taken seriously.” The production, a copy of a successful Munich staging from the previous year, was praised by Henry Krehbiel in the Tribune as “the bravest spectacle that our operatic stage has yet seen.”

A few years later, in the 1903–04 season, the renowned conductor Felix Mottl conducted a revival that alternated the Italian version with Mozart’s original German Die Zauberflöte for the first time. The language depended on availability of certain singers, but Mottl’s unhappiness with the Italian version was reportedly among the reasons he did not return in future seasons.

A new production in 1912 again elicited remarks about the plot and its “ridiculous initiation ceremonies” but was judged “a feast for the eyes” by the Evening Post. Most notable were soprano Emmy Destinn as Pamina, the company’s reigning Aida and the original Minnie in Puccini’s La Fanciulla del West, and heldentenor Leo Slezak, celebrated for his Otello and Tannhäuser, as Tamino (both pictured below). Baritone Otto Goritz also garnered praise as Papageno, entertaining the audience with his comedic antics. Conducted by Alfred Hertz, Die Zauberflöte was again given in the original German with spoken dialogue.

Following a hiatus around World War I when German opera was banned at the Met, a new production was mounted in 1926 with sets by the famed Russian artist Serge Soudeikine, who provided “a color phantasmagoria for Schikaneder’s unfathomable fairy tale” (Musical America). However only the Pamina of soprano Elisabeth Rethberg stood out for critical praise among the cast, while the “crazy-quilt” libretto continued to be derided. The Soudeikine production only had seven performances across two seasons before Die Zauberflöte was abandoned for 15 years.

When it returned in 1941 in a new production, it was as The Magic Flute, an English-language version no doubt motivated by the long, spoken dialogues. Bruno Walter, the esteemed conductor who fled Nazified Central Europe, was the guiding force behind the production. Virgil Thomson, the acerbic New York Herald Tribune critic, wrote, “The evening as a whole was one of the most delightful I have spent at the Thirty-Ninth Street emporium of music in many years. The first cause of this pleasure was Bruno Walter. … The whole thing sprang as music full born and rounded.”

Walter again conducted a new production in 1956. The production by Herbert Graf, designed by Harry Horner, introduced the Papageno of baritone Theodor Uppman, who would go on to sing the role for the next two decades, racking up a record 60 performances as the bird catcher. The all-American cast included soprano Lucine Amara as Pamina, soprano Roberta Peters as the Queen, tenor Brian Sullivan as Tamino, bass Jerome Hines as Sarastro, and, in a bit of luxury casting, bass-baritone George London as the Speaker.

The new Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center opened in 1966, and that first season featured a highly anticipated new production of Die Zauberflöte designed by Marc Chagall (pictured above). Met General Manager Rudolf Bing had been trying to lure the great artist to design a production for several years. Finally, he correctly calculated that Chagall’s colorful dreamlike works would be a good match for Mozart’s fairy tale, and the painter agreed to Bing’s proposal. It would prove to be the only opera production ever designed by Chagall. Noted conductor Josef Krips made his Met debut leading a cast of luminaries, including soprano Pilar Lorengar as Pamina, tenor Nicolai Gedda as Tamino, soprano Lucia Popp as the Queen, baritone Hermann Prey as Papageno, and bass Jerome Hines as Sarastro. For the first time at the Met, the Three Genies were sung by boys rather than women. Günther Rennert directed.

Gone were the critical dismissals of the work’s storyline, but there were reservations about the attention given the designer. “By the end of last evening, many members of the Metropolitan Opera House’s audience were convinced that Marc Chagall had not only designed the new production but had also composed the music, written the libretto, sung the major roles and conducted” (Alan Rich, World Journal-Tribune). Nevertheless, it was evident that the production was visually arresting. “Everything is rich recognizable, vintage Chagall, the fanciful figures, the slashing, vibrant colors.”

The Chagall production proved popular enough that Die Zauberflöte was performed often over the next 15 years. Then in 1991, a new production designed by David Hockney, another famous painter, premiered (pictured above). Based on a production that originated at the Glyndebourne Festival directed by John Cox, the Met staging was prepared by director Guus Mostart.

With James Levine conducting a cast that included soprano Kathleen Battle as Pamina, tenor Francisco Araiza as Tamino, and bass Kurt Moll as Sarastro, the musical performance shared the limelight with the visual. Donald Henahan wrote in The New York Times, “On this night, eye as well as ear was consistently beguiled. Mr. Hockney’s crazily colored sets and costumes evoked the mood of fairy tale innocence.”

Yet more visual splendor and an entirely different reimagining of Die Zauberflöte charmed Met audiences in 2004 with the premiere of Julie Taymor’s innovative production with sets by George Tsypin (pictured above). Taymor translated the magic of the opera through the theatrical style she had developed based on Indonesian influences and refined in the Broadway hit The Lion King. New York Times critic Anthony Tommasini noted “the elaborate stage effects and exotic imagery that Ms. Taymor, the popular director, costume designer, mask maker, and puppeteer, has brought to Mozart’s mystical fairy tale.” The same reviewer, echoing criticisms of the Chagall production, worried that the visual appeal overwhelmed a fine musical performance by Levine and a strong cast that included American tenor Matthew Polenzani. But he had to admit the audience’s “frenzied ovation” indicated the Met “had a hit on its hands.” And so it has proven, with Taymor’s production returning often to the Met repertory over the last two decades, either in its original German version or in an abridged English version especially staged for holiday family presentations.

(April 2023)