Search - Mozart - Die Zauberflote Fur Kinder (The Magic Flute for Children) on DVD

'Magic Flute' For Kids -- From Salzburg and in German

J Scott Morrison | Middlebury VT, USA | 08/27/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"After an acclaimed Magic Flute was mounted at the Salzburg Festival in 1978 by Jean-Pierre Ponnelle and starring singers like Christian Boesch, Ileana Cotrubras, Edda Moser, Peter Schreier, Zdzislawa Donat and Kurt Rydl, and with James Levine conducting the Vienna Philharmonic, the Papageno (Boesch) fashioned a version for children which was given in the Felsenreitschule in Salzburg. No adults were admitted to the performance unless they were accompanied by two children and the place was packed. Boesch's version has Papageno as a narrator who with grace and humor (and no little comic arrogance) explains both the plot and the notion of why there is even such a thing as opera where words are sung rather than simply spoken. The whole thing is, of course, in German and there are excellent English subtitles -- and subtitles in German and French as well -- and the whole thing has a joyous quality to it. The children in the audience certainly seemed to respond positively to the whole performance. This DVD is taken from the telecast of the performance aired on Austrian TV; it is beautifully filmed and recorded.



My only concern about this DVD is that for English-speaking audiences, for whom this review is being written after all, the notion of having to read subtitles does interfere somewhat with the spontaneity of the event. And of course we can presume that in the not too distant future the children's version of Magic Flute based on Julie Taymor's Metropolitan Opera production will be out on DVD. For English-speaking children it would undoubtedly be the preferred version.



But for what it is, this is a marvelous DVD. Boesch does a bang up job both as writer and narrator as well as being a truly funny Papageno.



Sound: LPCM Stereo; Format 4:3 NTSC; Subtitled: English, German, French; Region Code 0 (worldwide); Disc format: DVD9; Running time: 106mins



Scott Morrison"

Not for English-speaking children who don't read

Robert Marcus | Mountain View CA USA | 09/12/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This is a wonderful performance, no doubt about it...although it is abridged...for example, the Queen of the Night's first aria is skipped entirely, much of the masonic music is gone, and almost half of the performance is a series of extraneous explanations by Papageno and others of the role of the director, the nature of opera, and explication of plot. Everything is ganz auf deutsch. Kein Wort English..except as subtitles..this might be ok for kids with rapid reading skills, but it was totally lost on my 2 granddaughters, age 5 and 3. It was so disappointing for them not to understand anything that was being said...yet they responded beautifully to the music and singing. Goes to show you that for kids of all ages, nothing is really necessary beyond a fine performance of the original!!"