Magic, Mischief, and... Mental Health?

My blind love for Papageno drove me to make my next musical storytime about Mozart’s singspiel “The Magic Flute.” He is a bird catcher. I love birds. He is a bit silly and can’t follow directions. I can’t follow rules for the life of me. I mean… Mozart’s music was good too. He managed to be the only major classical period composer with a perfect command of the stage. There is just something about the ease and flow of Mozart’s music, combined with his joking personality, that lends itself so well to opera. His magic touch accomplished what Haydn and Beethoven couldn’t come close to. Mozart is to the classical period what Handel is to the Baroque period: masters of the voice.

I also know “The Magic Flute” for its frequently performed overture. I believe it’s especially popular among youth orchestras. Maybe the directors just want to pick out the kids with faulty bow technique. It takes truly mature technique to execute that rapid, light spiccato stroke that’s immediately followed by a biting, subito forte on the string stroke. I sure couldn’t back when I’d been taking lessons for around 8 months…

Good memories. Just look at that Chicken Wing Bow Arm on second stand!

Everyone knows this opera for the famous "Queen of the Night" aria, where the soprano is tasked with hitting a high F! Beyond the virtuosity, Mozart displays his mastery of irony through this aria. While the Queen demands that Pamina kill Sarastro, the music is a light F Major Arpeggio. Hilarious! It reminds me of a story my dad used to tell me. When his mom had to reprimand him in public, she'd give him a fake "hug" and then pinch his back or shoulder. The public would have no idea that she's saying something threatening, just as I had no clue that the happy melody was juxtaposed with such malevolent text. Diana Damrau's performance (at least in this clip) is also stunning. She invokes the action of yelling at her daughter through her vocals while still managing to maintain that classical elegance. There were a few out-of-tune notes, but they hold little importance when considering the sheer amount of things Diana is responsible for executing. She has to project her voice, do all gesticulations and choreography, and be an actor! On top of that, her acting is so effective the audience can get a sense of what's going on without ever understanding the lyrics. I have so much respect for classical sopranos!

As for the “opera” itself - it’s important to make the distinction between an opera and a singspiel. A singspiel is closer to the modern musical, a German language music drama that intersperses dialogue with music. It is characterized by lighthearted - and occasionally magical - subjects. It also has a rather simplified notion of good and evil. In the Magic Flute, there is the conflict between night and day. The day is reasonable and clear-sighted, while the night is unreasonable and full of passion. I find it to be a lot more palatable than say, a Wagner opera (I will never be emotionally ready to watch a performance of Tristian and Isolde). “The Magic Flute” has its moments of virtuosity, humor, and as we will see, a powerful moral.

Much of my life has been an uphill battle against my own mind. I suffer from (thankfully not clinical) depression, anxiety, and a MEAN case of ADD. What did I have for breakfast today? Give me 5 whole minutes and maybe I’ll be able to answer that question. Especially with World Mental Health day just having passed, this often unacknowledged plague has been on the forefront of my thoughts lately.

The last thing I would expect to provide a profound perspective on mental health is a comic opera written in a century where the concept probably didn’t even exist. Astonishingly, the true moral of the story is a testament to why I live my life the way I do. During Act 1, Pamino is given a Magic Flute. The ladies speak of the flute’s priceless value; only this magic flute can magnify happiness and bring peace amidst the tribulations Tamino is about to face. Papageno is given enchanted bells. Towards the end of the opera, Papageno thinks his bad behavior has cost him Papagena for good. He is so riddled with despair he decides to hang himself! But then… the priests remind Papageno of how powerful the magic bells were. How their beautiful sonorities could lift him out of even the most dire situations. Just as Papageno comes to his senses, Papagena comes to save him! And then comes the cutest aria in the history of opera. Period.

“There is no greater joy… than to be blessed with lots of Papageni.”

Priceless!!!

I’m often flabbergasted by why governments continually try and stop the Arts from flourishing. What kind of society are they trying to create? I like to think that the sciences make our lives possible, but the arts make our lives meaningful. Both are equally essential. Papageno’s adorable story reminds me why classical music is so integral to my being. Contained within classical music is the human saga. Heck, there exists one piece alone that contains the human saga: The Bach Chaconne. There is not one nuance of human emotion that master composers fail to perfectly capture. Bach’s “Goldberg Variations” put my mind into a perfect state of equilibrium; the third movement of Brahms’ third symphony immediately releases any feelings I keep bottled up within me. But the best music is that which has an effect on us that no amount of analysis can explain. That is what Papageno’s bells did for him. The effect was so powerful it lifted him out of the deepest abyss imaginable: impending suicide. Classical music does that for me every day. My brain chemicals try to pull me down into the abyss, but with music by my side, I will forever be a joyous person.