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A Performer's Reflections on Die Zauberöte

Lawrence P. Vincent

Singing the heroic tenor roles in Mozart's Don Giovanni, Entführung aus dem Serail, Cosi fan Tutte, and Die Zauberöte has been a richly rewarding and an extremely challenging experience for me. Few composers require such a masterful vocal technique, and even fewer understand the delicate marriage of vocal line to orchestral accompaniment. Using only those instruments that are absolutely necessary, Mozart weaves a frustratingly transparent orchestral fabric. With every phrase and nuance, he exposes the strengths and weaknesses of the human voice.

Even among Mozart's operatic masterworks, Die Zauberöte is a unique composition. In combining a fairy-tale adventure with the seriousness of the ceremonial vows taken by the hero and heroine, Tamino and Pamina, Mozart demands a wide spectrum of emotional responses from performers. In addition to these vocal and emotional demands, Die Zauberöte is one of the few operas in which singers must have some command of the German language because spoken dialogue is included.

Myfirst encounter with Die Zauberöte occurred in the beginning years of my undergraduate study. While learning the famous tenor aria "Dies Bildnis ist bezaubernd schön" ("This Image Is Enchantingly Beautiful"), I had a glimpse of, but little understanding for, the genius of Mozart. But with each passing year, my respect for the encompassing mastery of this composer is magnified.

One of the facets of this mastery is his uncanny ability to compose "musical" stage directions. In recitatives (sung monologue or dialogue), ensembles, and arias, these musical cues can help an astute performer better understand when certain movements should take place and what these movements should be. Some subtle, others very obvious, all are built directly into the rhythmic, melodic, and harmonic underpinnings of each musical episode. One very obvious musical stage direction is found in the opening measures of act 1 , scene 1 , when the sixteenth-note motive in the strings suggests Tamino's attempt to escape the evil serpent. One also hears Tamino shooting an arrow as the serpent approaches in measure 13. Such ingenious compositional tools enable an alert and sensitive performer to determine exactly how, musically and dramatically, every phrase of the opera should be interpreted.

Although I have performed the role of Tamino many times, the most exciting and memorable performance was, by far, in Die Wiener Staatsoper (theffienna State Opera). The thrill of performing with world-class singers accompanied by theffienna Philharmonic Orchestra in one of the world's most renowned opera houses is unforgettable. As I sat in my dressing room listening intently to the overture, knowing that Tamino had thefirst aria of the entire opera, my heart raced wildly. Viennese audiences are hard to please and are great connoisseurs of Mozart. How appropriate, I thought, that Tamino's first words are "Help me!"