A rocky landscape. Night. The dark-spirited MONOSTATOS has entered stealthily with the QUEEN OF THE NIGHT, accompanied by her THREE LADIES carrying torches. There is thunder, and the sound of water.
MONOSTATOS: But hush, I hear a terrible rushing
like rolling thunder and a waterfall.
THE QUEEN and THE LADIES: Yes, fearful is this rushing,
like the distant echo of thunder!
MONOSTATOS: Now they are in the hall of the temple.
ALL [variously]: There we will fall upon them,
exterminate the pious ones from the earth
with glowing fire and mighty sword.
THE THREE LADIES and MONOSTATOS:
To you, great Queen of the Night,
let our revenge be brought as a sacrifice.
[There is loud thunder and lightning, followed by streaming holiness.]
THE QUEEN, THE THREE LADIES, and MONOSTATOS:
Shattered, destroyed is our might!
We are all plunged into eternal night!
[They sink into the ground.]
Change of scene (without curtain): The Temple of the Sun. SARASTRO stands elevated on an altar, TAMINO and PAMINA in front of him, both in priestly clothing. Beside them the priests of Egypt on both sides. THE THREE BOYS hold flowers.
SARASTRO: The rays of the sun drive away the night,
destroy the dissemblers' ill-gotten might.
CHORUS: Hail to you initiates!
You penetrate the night.
Thanks, thanks, thanks be to you, Osiris!
Thanks brought to you, Osiris!
[Allegro]
Strength conquers and crowns as reward
Beauty and Wisdom with an eternal crown!
Martti Talvela (bs), Sarastro; with Gerhard Stolze (t), Monostatos; Cristina Deutekom (s), Queen of the Night; Hanneke van Bork (s), Yvonne Minton (ms), and Hetty Plümacher (c), Three Ladies of the Queen of the Night; Vienna State Opera Chorus, Vienna Philharmonic, Georg Solti, cond. Decca, recorded 1969
Samuel Ramey (bs), Sarastro; with Aldo Baldin (t), Monostatos; Cheryl Studer (s), Queen of the Night; Yvonne Kenny (s), Iris Vermillion (ms), and Anne Collins (c), Three Ladies of the Queen of the Night; Ambrosian Opera Chorus, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, Neville Marriner, cond. Philips, recorded July 1989
Kurt Moll (bs), Sarastro; with Robert Tear (t), Monostatos; Luciana Serra (s), Queen of the Night; Marie McLaughlin (s), Ann Murray (ms), and Hanna Schwarz (ms), Three Ladies of the Queen of the Night; Leipzig Radio Chorus, Staatskapelle Dresden, Colin Davis, cond. Philips, recorded January 1984
Franz Crass (bs), Sarastro; with Friedrich Lenz (t), Monostatos; Roberta Peters (s), Queen of the Night; Hildegard Hillebrecht (s), Cvetka Ahlin (ms), and Sieglinde Wagner (ms), Three Ladies of the Queen of the Night; RIAS Chamber Chorus, Berlin Philharmonic, Karl Böhm, cond. DG, recorded June 1964
Matti Salminen (bs), Sarastro; with Peter Keller (t), Monostatos; Edita Gruberová (s), Queen of the Night; Pamela Coburn (s), Delores Ziegler (ms), and Marjana Lipovšek (c), Three Ladies of the Queen of the Night; Chorus and Orchestra of the Zürich Opera House, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, cond. Teldec, recorded November 1987
by Ken
When last we met ("Post tease: Sarastro sings a mouthful when he sings, 'The sun's rays drive away the night'"), I was presenting the first of my three musical expressions of feelings I felt on Inauguration Day, namely the tiny block of two lines we had heard five notable Sarastros sing this tiny bit of the dénouement of The Magic Flute now heard buried in the above clips from the same five recordings, which we're hearing now in their proper context: the final minutes of Mozart's Magic Flute.
Our starting point last time comes a little after the one-minute mark.)
SARASTRO: The rays of the sun drive away the night,
destroy the dissemblers' ill-gotten might.
Martti Talvela (bs), Sarastro; Vienna Philharmonic, Georg Solti, cond. Decca, recorded 1969
Samuel Ramey (bs), Sarastro; Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, Neville Marriner, cond. Philips, recorded July 1989
Franz Crass (bs), Sarastro; Berlin Philharmonic, Karl Böhm, cond. DG, recorded June 1964
Matti Salminen (bs), Sarastro; Zürich Opera House Orchestra, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, cond. Teldec, recorded November 1987
WAIT, ISN'T THERE ONE MISSING?
SHOULDN'T THERE BE FIVE CLIPS?
Yes! I've pulled the clip with Kurt Moll as Sarastro in Philips's Colin Davis-conducted Dresden Magic Flute. As I pointed out last time, Moll made -- that I know of -- six commercial recordings of the opera, four audio and two video, spanning a period from 1972 to 1990, a large chunk of time in a singer's career, in this case bringing Moll from, roughly, ages 34 to 52. I thought it might be fun to plunk that 1984 version in between the 1972 and 1990 ones, like so:
Kurt Moll (1938-2017) as Sarastro
SARASTRO: The rays of the sun drive away the night,
destroy the dissemblers' ill-gotten might.
Kurt Moll (bs), Sarastro; Bavarian State Opera Orchestra, Wolfgang Sawallisch, cond. EMI, recorded 1972
Kurt Moll (bs), Sarastro; Staatskapelle Dresden, Colin Davis, cond. Philips, recorded January 1984
Kurt Moll (bs), Sarastro; Vienna Philharmonic, Georg Solti, cond. Decca, recorded May and Dec. 1990
Or, in our more properly contextual version:
[Thunder, and the sound of water.]
MONOSTATOS: But hush, I hear a terrible rushing
like rolling thunder and a waterfall.
THE QUEEN and THE LADIES: Yes, fearful is this rushing,
like the distant echo of thunder!
MONOSTATOS: Now they are in the hall of the temple.
ALL [variously]: There we will fall upon them,
exterminate the pious ones from the earth
with glowing fire and mighty sword.
[There is loud thunder and lightning, followed by streaming holiness.]
THE THREE LADIES and MONOSTATOS:
To you, great Queen of the Night,
let our revenge be brought as a sacrifice.
[There is loud thunder and lightning, followed by streaming holiness.]
THE QUEEN, THE THREE LADIES, and MONOSTATOS:
Shattered, destroyed is our might!
We are all plunged into eternal night!
[They sink into the ground.]
Change of scene (without curtain): The Temple of the Sun. SARASTRO stands elevated on an altar, TAMINO and PAMINA in front of him, both in priestly clothing. Beside them the priests of Egypt on both sides. THE THREE BOYS hold flowers.
SARASTRO: The rays of the sun drive away the night,
destroy the dissemblers' ill-gotten might.
CHORUS: Hail to you initiates!
You penetrate the night.
Thanks, thanks, thanks be to you, Osiris!
Thanks brought to you, Osiris!
[Allegro]
Strength conquers and crowns as reward
Beauty and Wisdom with an eternal crown!
Kurt Moll (bs), Sarastro; with Willi Brokmeier (t), Monostatos; Edda Moser (s), Queen of the Night; Leonore Kirschstein (s), Ilse Gramatzki (ms), and Brigitte Fassbaender (ms), Three Ladies of the Queen of the Night; Bavarian State Opera Chorus and Orchestra, Wolfgang Sawallisch, cond. EMI, recorded 1972
Kurt Moll (bs), Sarastro; with Robert Tear (t), Monostatos; Luciana Serra (s), Queen of the Night; Marie McLaughlin (s), Ann Murray (ms), and Hanna Schwarz (ms), Three Ladies of the Queen of the Night; Leipzig Radio Chorus, Staatskapelle Dresden, Colin Davis, cond. Philips, recorded January 1984
Kurt Moll (bs), Sarastro; with Heinz Zednik (t), Monostatos; Sumi Jo (s), Queen of the Night; Adrianne Pieczonka (s), Annette Kuettenbaum (ms), and Jard van Nes (c), Three Ladies of the Queen of the Night; Vienna State Opera Concert Chorus; Vienna Philharmonic, Georg Solti, cond. Decca, recorded May and Dec. 1990
BELIEVE IT OR NOT, WE'RE NOT QUITE DONE
WITH THIS CLIMACTIC BIT OF THE MAGIC FLUTE
For one thing, I have a feeling I'll have something to say once I've had a chance to listen to some of these clips side by side, now that I can hear them side by side. In the main, the fuller versions of the performances we sampled last time follow the pattern established in our 50-second teases. I still have occasional reservations about Colin Davis's Dresden recording, but much of what we here hear is strikingly beautiful. (And isn't Robert Tear a nifty Monostatos?) I'm afraid the Harnoncourt performance is heard to still less advantage in this fuller form -- it turns out that even a reined-in, Matti Salminen brings welcome life to the proceedings; I don't get what he thinks he's up to.
Our two "new" recordings this week are both interesting. Wolfgang Sawallisch's especially good sense in realizing detailed moments while maintaining perspective on the larger picture is made to order for the infinite intricacies and vast scope of The Magic Flute; I like the 1972 recording a lot, and the 1983 video (made from live performances that September) even more. Moll, it should be noted, is the only cast holdover, and as we know he would recording Sarasto yet again, in Georg Solti's 1990 remake, enabling us to do a bit of comparing.
As I said last time, I'm extremely fond of both of Solti's Magic Flute recordings. It seems clear to me that he had a deep feeling for the piece. I can't help wondering whether this goes back to his experience as an assistant conductor to Toscanini at Salzburg in the '30s. No doubt coincidentally, the same thing applies to Falstaff, of which again made two excellent recordings. (I don't remember being as taken by the Unitel film version, though I'd want to look at it again before commenting.)
In addition, I've got two more Magic Flute recordings I want you to hear snatches of, to help pin down this special quality I get -- more in some performances than in others -- at the end of the opera, that deep feeling of in-the-nick-of-time rescue from threatened doom. And of course we still have ahead of us another musical encounter with those blessed rays of the sun, not to mention almost the opposite mode of rescue, as Debussy's Pelléas's immeasurable relief at his emergence from the stifling, unbreathable atmosphere of the subterranean vaults, seemingly unaware of the even greater danger he has just escaped.
THE 2021 "INAUGURAL EDITION"
(SUCH AS IT IS, SO FAR)
No. 1: "Wanna hear in full the marches we heard in part during today's (pitch-perfect, I thought) inauguration?" [1/20]
No. 2: "Post tease: Sarastro sings a mouthful when he sings, 'The rays of the sun drive away the night'" [1/24]
No. 3: "While I toil away at this week's Inaugural-themed post, let's hear the end of The Magic Flute in our five performances -- plus a couple of 'new' ones" [1/27]
No. 4: "It's not just Sarastro who sings to us about the miraculous restorative powers of the sun's rays" [1/29]
No. 5: "Post tease: Has any operatic act begun more beautifully? (Not to mention suggestively?)" [1/31]
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