# Is The Magic Flute good or not? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 13, 2002, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-magic-flute-good-or-not/123663 "2002-08-13T10:46:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![yosemite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/3ab097/32.png) [@yosemite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yosemite)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2002, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-magic-flute-good-or-not/123663/21 "2002-08-14T08:00:55Z")
> [@](#): > > I almost did stood up. Argh. “I almost stood up”. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2002, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-magic-flute-good-or-not/123663/22 "2002-08-14T21:23:24Z")
Okay, to directly adress Rilchiam’s question… There ARE some opera fans who don’t think highly of “The Magic Flute,” but that’s usually not a reflection of the quality of the music. It’s usually more a matter of frustration and boredom. If you live in New York or some other large city, you’ll get to see all kinds of operas, including obscure and cutting edge works. But in much of this country, opera companies tend to stick to a small number of tried and true favorites. It often seems as if there are only 12 operas: 1. “The Barber of Seville” 2. “The Marriage of Figaro” 3. “Don Giovanni” 4. “The Magic Flute” 5. “Twilight of the Gods” 6. “Carmen” 7. “Aida” 8. “Rigoletto” 9. “La Traviata” 10. “I Pagliacci” 11. “Madama Butterfly” 12. “La Boheme” Okay, I’m missing a few other old war horses, but you get the idea. Most opera companies have a small repertoire, and repeat the same old operas again and again. So, a certain number of SERIOUS opera fans get frustrated and angry. They might LIKE to hear some Alban Berg, some Phillip Glass… “Klinghoffer,” maybe, or “Nixon in China.” But each season, there’s another revival of the safe operas, the ones all the little old suburban ladies want to see. So, when you and I see that the local opera company is staging, “The Magic Flute,” we’re happy. But an elite few are likely to groan, “Oh God, not AGAIN!” It’s not so much that such people hate or disrespect Mozart, it’s more that they just feel (with some justice) that his music is played to death. - That said, I’m STILL surprised by the TA’s attitude. You see, I understand why some people might say, " ‘The Magic Flute’ is sweet, light-hearted piffle- ‘Wozzeck’ is REAL opera, tough, challenging!" Oh, I’d disagree emphatically, but I’d understand. Similarly, I’d understand a critic saying, “The Backstreet Boys are frothy, insubstantial pop singers. Bruce Springsteen is a REAL artist.” But suppose that critic said, “The Backstreet Boys are worthless! Listen to 'N Sync! That’s REAL music!” That would make no sense at all! ‘N Sync’s music is as light and frothy as the Backstreet Boys.’ It’s fine by me if you prefer one over the other, but it’s ridiculous to suggest that either group stands head and shoulder over the other in artistic terms. In the same way, Puccini represents opera at its most popular, and its most mainstream. Puccini was always a crowd pleaser. So, while the TA has every right to like Puccini, and even to opine that “La Boheme” is better than “The Magic Flute,” his opinion is not that of a cultured elite! His opinion is shared by millions of little old blue-haired ladies in polyester pants. There are certainly some avant garde opera fans out there who look down on Mozart, but none of them find Puccini any more challenging or cutting-edge than Mozart. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2002, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-magic-flute-good-or-not/123663/23 "2002-08-15T00:40:34Z")
**astorian** : Look at it this way. He was 21. We were 20. How much more than us did he really know? Apparently not as much as he thought he did! And as **screech-owl** suggested, if he got a professorship (don’t know if that was his goal), he’s now free to assign **La Boheme** …and risk having his own TA grumble, “This is tired! How 'bout some Phillip Glass!” But as I already conjectured, **TMF** was probably chosen for its simplicity and appropriateness (is that a word?) for a 100-level course. ---
**Author:** ![jbuck\_919](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee7513/32.png) [@jbuck\_919](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jbuck_919)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2002, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-magic-flute-good-or-not/123663/24 "2002-08-15T06:35:41Z")
I can’t go down this whole thread. I had to stop at the bad German. Unfortunately, the post with the bad German made the essential point. An opera can be no better than its music. In the case of Zauberfloete, it is redeemed by its music. Mozart considered opera his highest calling. This work with its absurd story line is both Mozart’s greatest work (which is saying something) and the greatest opera ever written. Beethoven knew that. Wagner might grudgingly have acknowledged it. Adore it; cherish it. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2002, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-magic-flute-good-or-not/123663/25 "2002-08-15T11:03:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ukulele Ike \* > \*\*The Marriage of Figaro, \*\* And if you listen to The Marriage of Figaro, go get a CD of Rossini’s The Barber of Seville so that you can hear the first half of the story. (The Marriage of Figaro is a sequel to The Barber…) Plus Rossini _rocks_. [sub]And besides: if you’ve ever seen the cartoon “The Rabbit of Seville” you’ll be able to sing along: “There! You’re nice and clean. Al-though your face looks like it might have gone though A Ma- chine” [/sub] 😃 Fenris ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2002, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-magic-flute-good-or-not/123663/26 "2002-08-15T13:09:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by astorian \* > \*\*It often seems as if there are only 12 operas: > > 1. “Twilight of the Gods” > \*\* Good post, but I don’t think this one belongs in with the “light opera” warhorses. Small opera companies avoid Wagner like the plague…much too difficult to stage AND to sing. And if they _do_ decide to pluck one work out of **The Ring** and present it alone, it’s generally **The Valkyrie**. (I won’t say “Gotterdammerung” or “Die Walkure” because I don’t want **jbuck** to shy away like a frightened pony at my Bad German.) ---
**Author:** ![Susan100](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@Susan100](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Susan100)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2002, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-magic-flute-good-or-not/123663/27 "2002-08-15T14:55:42Z")
I’m relatively new to this board, and I’m delighted to find a thread on opera, because I love it. But not all of it. My off the cuff answer to the question “Is The Magic Flute good or not?” would be “If you like it it’s good, and if you don’t it’s not.” I’m not really that much of a relativist though. Actually, I think The Magic Flute is very good, but I don’t like it. It bores me. Some of the music is beautiful, but sitting through an entire performance puts me to sleep. On the other hand, I adore Don Giovanni. It’s one of my two lifetime favorite operas (Verdi’s Otello being the other one). And I like Marriage of Figaro very much. I’m less fond of Cosi Fan Tutte and the Abduction from the Seraglio (I always think of the title in English), and less familier with them, but I enjoy them more than TMF. I’ve enjoyed performances of Idomeneo and La Clemenza di Tito, wouldn’t want them as everyday fare, but I’d still rather see either of them than TMF (not too often though, please). To me, it’s apples and oranges to compare Mozart and Puccini and ask which one is “better.” Yes, Mozart is the greater musician, but Puccini does magical things with the musical drama that, imho, is at the core of opera. I find Puccini’s operas extremely moving and enormously entertaining. I still cry when Mimi dies after what - 100 performances and record-listenings. And this will get more complicated if I bring in Verdi here and compare him to Puccini, so I’ll leave him for another post sometime. Comparisons aren’t “odious,” as the saying goes, but sometimes they’re not very helpful. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-magic-flute-good-or-not/123663.md?page=1)