Today at the Proms - Prom 51

Continuing our daily coverage of what's on at The Proms 2019, Susan Omand has a quick look at the programme for Prom 51: The Magic Flute ...



THE MAGIC FLUTE!!!!



Okay, yes, I'm a bit excited about this one. What can I tell you about The Magic Flute that I haven't already said, countless times, because it's one of my favourite Mozart operas and I tend to go on about it a lot and make people watch/listen to it if they haven't seen it before and...



Erm... nothing really, it's all in this article.



So, main tl;dr story highlights:



Tamino, a handsome Prince, has fainted after being attacked and almost killed by a serpent but is saved by the handmaidens of the Queen of the Night who disappear before he regains consciousness. He wakes to find a birdcatcher, Papageno, standing over him and believes that Papageno has saved him. Papageno of course takes all the credit but the handmaidens re-appear, scolding Papageno for lying. They give Tamino a picture of the Queen of the Night's daughter Pamina, telling him that she has been captured by an evil sorcerer, Sarastro, and, if he rescues her, he can marry her. So Tamino and Papageno, with the help of the handmaidens' magic flute, set off on the quest to rescue Pamina.

I would normally make you listen to the Queen of the Night aria [What, again? - Ed] but you're probably getting a little bit sick of it by now [as if! - Ed] so, instead, here's The Magic Flute overture (from the soundtrack of Amadeus) which, as all good overtures should, teases all the main themes from the whole opera. 

Enjoy!

Here's the full programme for this evening's Prom which you can listen to live from 19:30 on Radio 3 or on the iPlayer 



Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
The Magic Flute(155 mins)

(semi-staged; sung in German, with surtitles)


Image - Photo © Chris Christodoulou