Metropolitan Opera Archives

Mozart's "Magic Flute" presented by the Metropolitan Opera Co. at the Civic Opera House last evening, drew one of the largest audiences of the season. It was natural, indeed, that many persons should have been enticed by this performance, for the opera had not been given in Chicago since 1931, when it was interpreted four times in German under the direction of Egon Pollack.

There were, of course, representations of Mozart's masterpiece in those earlier days before the Chicago Opera Company came into existence - when the Metropolitan artists gave their seasons in this city. Probably not many remember them; but those who do surely must carry fragrant memories of the great voices that were heard then - the voices of Sembrich, Melba, the De Reszkes, Gadski.

Presented in English

The Metropolitan management decided to present "The Magic Flute" in English, presumably to give the listeners a chance to discover what the story was about. It was an interesting experiment, and to a large extent a successful one. The plot, the action and the properties are undeniably of the nursery order, but its complications were made clearer, and the action more reasonable, when the details were set forth in the language which everyone could understand.

While the success of last night's representation had much to do with the work that was accomplished by the singers on the stage, it was inevitably the notable direction of the opera by Bruno Walter which was responsible for the musical beauty, the superlative style and the imagination of the whole.

Mr. Walter is not only one of the world's outstanding directors, he is a great Mozart specialist as well. It is easy to imagine that a performance of a work by the immortal Salzburg master would be in the nature of a religious rite to him, to be carried through with reverence and love. In that spirit "The Magic Flute" was set forth last night.

Conductor Under Spell

If the expression of the conductor's face was any criterion, none enjoyed the opera as much as he. The music of Mozart's melody was still magic to him, although Mr. Walter must have conducted the work a multitude of times; its spell was just as potent, its beauty as fresh as ever.

Of the extensive cast, Charles Kullman stood out as a manly Tamino, whose voice, while not of the pearly lightness of some other Taminos, was solid and well used. The aria in the [first] scene with the flute was charmingly sung.

John Brownlee was the interpreter of Papageno, and he made a diverting business of it. His diction was so distinct that not a word was lost, and his comedy was played in the modern rather than the 18th century spirit, which made it all the more amusing. Nor did Mr. Brownlee fail the composer when it came to singing. "Der Vogelfaenger bin ich ja" was projected with all requisite lightness and his other airs were in no way less effective.

Antoine Sings Brilliantly

One of the reasons why "The Magic Flute" is less often played than "The Marriage of Figaro" and "Don Giovanni" is the difficulty of finding coloratura sopranos who can negotiate the terrific complexity as well as the range necessary to sing the arias of the Queen of the Night. That character was given into the keeping last evening of Josephine Antoine.

It must be said at once that this artist accomplished brilliant singing. Her voice, to be sure, does not reach the high F, which Mozart wrote in the aria, "Der Hölle Rache," so the music was cut down a tone, but even a high E flat is not within the range of most sopranos.

Pamina was sung by Jarmila Novotna, who was a sympathetic exponent of the role. Her singing of "Ach! Ich fuhls es ist verschwunden" was one of the finest examples of her art, both in vocalization and expressiveness that Miss Novotna has as yet given to the town. Beautiful, also was the work of Ezio Pinza in the part of Sarastro. Never has "O Isis und Osiris" been delivered with greater dignity and power than he gave it. There was appropriate gravity, too in Norman Cordon's exposition of the music and action of the High Priest.

John Garris and Lillian Raymondi, respectively Monostatos and Papagena, were less important parts, but well sung in each case.

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