Koor en Orkest La Petite Bande - Sigiswald Kuijken

Mozart is generally regarded as the greatest phenomenon in the field of opera: his Italian 'opere buffe' achieved a new synthesis between the Neapolitan opera, the Italian opera and the opéra comique. In 'Die Zauberflöte', he set the cornerstones for the development of the German romantic opera. The fairy-tale story has a mysterious, deeper undercurrent, with allusions to free masonry. It is generally assumed that Emanuel Schikaneder, who was director of a travelling theatre ensemble and was one of Mozart's jolly lodge brothers in Vienna, wrote the libretto. Magical comedies of this kind were highly popular in his time. Since the premiere in 1791 to the present, this masterwork has received a mixed reception. From the start, the music was met with enthusiasm, but concerning the libretto the verdict was less obvious. Another enduring dispute concerns the spoken dialogues: they make it difficult for both conductor and director to maintain the needed level of suspense. For this reason, Sigiswald Kuijken opted for authentic, musical manner of performance of the spoken dialogues in this concertante version, just as they were laid down in the 18th Century.