On 8 Feb 2005 at 17:56, Mark D Lew wrote: > On Feb 8, 2005, at 4:52 PM, David W. Fenton wrote: > > >> . . . Is it important to know > >> that _The Magic Flute_ is full of Masonic symbolism? . . . > > > > Perhaps, because otherwise, it's fairly incoherent. I would say that > > proves that it's not a very good opera. > > The fact that Flute has remained popular for centuries in spite of the > fact that 90+% of listeners have no clue about the Masonic symbolism > suggests to me that there is something very good about the opera, > incoherent or not.
No one is a bigger fan of Mozart than I am. But I have always felt that the Magic Flute is incoherent *as an opera* (or Singspiel, technically speaking, I guess). If it did not have some of the most glorious music ever written, it would be a failure. But so far as I can tell, it's really just a string of great tunes held together by a rather incomprehensible narrative. That's not great opera, though it may very well include some of the greatest music ever written. -- David W. Fenton http://www.bway.net/~dfenton David Fenton Associates http://www.bway.net/~dfassoc _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
