LA FLUTE ENCHANTEE / PROGRAMME / Bastille / Septembre 2022

Description

In The Magic Flute, a prince from a distant country in search of an imprisoned princess, a giant snake, a boastful bird-catcher, a Queen of the Night and a High Priest imposing strange rites of passage meet. How can we understand Mozart's last opera, created in Vienna in 1791, two months before his death? As a wonderful children's tale, as a reflection of Mozart's and his librettist Schikaneder's membership in the Freemasons, or as the most ardent meditation on human existence? Director Robert Carsen attempts to overcome the Manicheism of the libretto - the opposition between Good, represented by Sarastro, and Evil, represented by the Queen of the Night - by considering that each of them guides the young Tamino and Pamina on the path of wisdom. An optimistic reading which does not evacuate the idea of death, described by Mozart in a letter to his father as "our best friend".