Relayed from Sadler's Wells Cast in order of appearance :
Conductor, LAWRANCE COLLINGWOOD
Producer, CLIVE CAREY
The theory that the story of The Magic Flute is in some way mixed up with Freemasonry has been used to explain, or indeed to excuse, the extraordinary inconsequence and hopeless complexity of the libretto. but considered as a framo work to carry some of the most lovely music even Mozart ever wrote, it admirably serves its purpose. After the overture-one of the greatest of all overtures-the curtain rises on the hero Tamino (tenor) fleeing from a snake. Three mysterious ladies appear and kill it, disappearing immediately. The bird-catcher Papageno (baritone) then introduces himself to Tamino, and brags that it was he who killed the snake. The three ladies reappear and seal his mouth with a padlock as a punishment for the untruth. Next, listeners will hear the Queen of the Night (a brilliant coloratura soprano part) tolling Tamino that her daughter Pamina is in the hands of the priest, Sarastro, and bidding him win her back. The three ladies take off Papageno's padlock and give him a set of magic bells, and Tamino a golden flute (it gives the opera its name), by the help of which they will win through their perils. In the next scene, in Sarastro's palace, a new figure appears, a wicked Moor, Monostatos (tenor); he is pursuing Pamina, who is saved from him by Papageno. Tamino is then led by the three youths, who have been given him as escort, to a grove with three temples, and in the music which follows we hear the tones both of the magic flute and of Papageno's chime of bells. Towards the end, the High Priest, Sarastro, makes his entry to the sound of impressive trumpet tones,, and Tamino and Pamina are brought to the Temple of Ordeals to begin the itrials which are to prove whether they are worthy of happiness.