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"Premiered in 1791, The Magic Flute remains Mozart's most-performed opera worldwide. This Companion covers historical context, musical analysis, critical approaches and reception history, and engages with current debates including the representation of gender, race and exoticism. It provides an essential framework for understanding the opera today"--
List of contents
Introduction Jessica Waldoff; Part I. Conception and Context: 1. German Opera in Mozart's Vienna Estelle Joubert; 2. 'The Magic Flute's' Libretto and German Enlightenment Theater Reform Martin Nedbal; 3. Emanuel Schikaneder and the Theater auf der Wieden Lisa de Alwis; 4. 'The Magic Flute' in 1791 Austin Glatthorn; Part II. Music, Text, and Action: 5. Music as Stage-Craft Julian Rushton; 6. Enduring Portraits: The Arias Laurel E. Zeiss; 7. 'All Together, Now'? Ensembles and Choruses in 'The Magic Flute' Nicholas Marston; 8. Musical Topics, Quotations, and References Mark Ferraguto; 9. Instrumentation, Magical and Mundane Emily I. Dolan and Hayley Fenn; 10. The Dialogue as Indispensable Catherine Coppola; 11. Music, Drama and Spectacle in the Finales John Platoff; III. Approaches and Perspectives: 12. Seeking Enlightenment in Mozart's 'Magic Flute' Richard Kramer; 13. Birdsong and Hieroglyphs: Exoticism and Enlightened Orientalism in 'The Magic Flute' Matthew Head; 14. Partial Derivatives: Sources, Types, and Tropes in 'The Magic Flute' Thomas Bauman; 15. Pamina, the Queen, and the Representation of Women Jessica Waldoff; 16. Blackness and Whiteness in 'The Magic Flute' - Reflections from Shakespeare Studies Adeline Mueller; IV. Reception, Interpretation, and Influence: 17. Zauberflöte: A Cultural Phenomenon in an Age of Revolution Ian Woodfield; 18. 'The Magic Flute' in Biography, Criticism, and Literature Simon P. Keefe; 19. The Elusive Compositional History of 'The Magic Flute' Daniel R. Melamed; 20. Staging 'The Magic Flute' Kate Hopkins; 21. Ingmar Bergman's Film Version of 'The Magic Flute' Dean Duncan.
About the author
Jessica Waldoff is Professor of Music at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. She is the author of Recognition in Mozart's Operas (2006; 2011) and has published extensively on the music of Mozart and his contemporaries.
