David W. Fenton wrote:
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.
Might not be great opera, but it sure is the formula that has helped many a composer to Broadway fame! Mozart was just ahead of his time in this aspect. :-)
-- David H. Bailey [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
