Prague Cultural Kaleidoscope Don Giovanni & The Magic Flute

INCLUDED

• Journey by Car Rouge, 2+1 seating
• Music tour guide from/to Switzerland
• Accommodation in a carefully selected 5* hotel
• 4 x bed and breakfast (room/breakfast buffet)
• 2 x dinner including drinks
• 1 x lunch including drinks
• 1 x opera aperitif with wine and canapés
• 3 x tickets in the 1st category
• Guided tour of Prague’s Old Town
• Guided tour of Prague Castle, admission included
• Ride on a historic tram
• Car Rouge audio system

Hotels

Opera descriptions

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: “Don Giovanni” – Dramma giocoso

“Là ci darem la mano” – “Deh vieni alla finestra”

The model for the drama is an old folk legend from Castile, the story of the lecherous Don Juan Tenorio. Mozart was already familiar with the contemporary setting by the Venetian Giuseppe Gazzaniga as well as Gluck’s ballet pantomime. The libretto, entitled “Il dissoluto punito ossia il Don Giovanni” (The Rake Punished), is by Lorenzo da Ponte. Mozart’s merry drama was first performed on 29 October 1787 at the Count Nostitz National Theatre in Prague, under the composer’s own direction.

It begins with a murder. “Il giovane cavaliere estremamente licensioso” (the extremely dissolute young nobleman) threatens Donna Anna, Don Ottavio’s fiancée. Her father, a knight of the order, steps in to protect her. In the sword fight, the “libertino” Don Giovanni (D.G.) mortally wounds the “commendatore” (knight commander). Don Ottavio swears revenge. Leporello describes his master’s life as that of a rogue: “La vita che menate è da briccone”. D.G. catches the scent of a young lady (“mi pare sentire odo di femminina”). Donna Elvira, the lady from Burgos, laments that her lover D.G. has abandoned her and curses him as “mostro, fellon, nido d’inganni!” She, too, swears revenge. In his catalogue aria, Leporello lists the 2,064 women whom D.G. has left behind, from Italy to Turkey. The peasant girl Zerlina and her bridegroom Masetto sing of love. D.G. wants to marry Zerlina on the spot: “Là ci darem la mano”. Donna Elvira objects: “Ah fuggi traditor”. Donna Anna tells Don Ottavio how her father died. “Dalla sua pace”: Don Ottavio’s own peace depends on hers. “Don Giovannino mio”, Leporello calls out to his master in diminutive form. In his champagne aria, D.G. calls for a “minuetto”, a “follia” and an “alemanna”. Masetto complains that Zerlina left him on their wedding day. She should simply beat him: “Batti, batti, o bel Masetto la tua povera Zerlina!” At the ball, “maschere galanti” appear. Don Ottavio dances the minuet with Donna Anna; Don Giovanni a contradanza with Zerlina; Leporello “un Balla la Teitsch” (a German dance) with Masetto.

D.G. needs women more than bread to eat and air to breathe. He slips into Leporello’s clothes. What does the servant think of that? “Mi par che abbiate un’anima di bronzo.” Dressed in D.G.’s clothes, Leporello woos Donna Elvira. D.G.’s canzonetta “Deh vieni alla finestra, o mio tesoro!” is also meant for her. Masetto wants to kill D.G. with a gun and pistol. D.G. strikes back and breaks Masetto’s bones and nerves: “mi ruppe l’ossa e i nervi!”. Leporello reveals himself and begs for forgiveness: “Ah pietà di me!” In his aria “Il mio tesoro intanto”, Don Ottavio wants to avenge the murder of Donna Anna’s father. In the duet “Per queste tue manine”, Zerlina ties Leporello to a chair. Donna Elvira despairs over her fate as a betrayed soul: “Mi tradi quell’alma ingrata”.

In the cemetery, D.G. tells his servant of his latest amorous adventures. Then il commendatore appears as the stone guest. Leporello addresses him: “O statua gentilissima del gran commendatore...benche di marmore siate.” Undaunted, D.G. asks the Commendatore: “Verrete a cena?” The statue nods. To dinner music with quotations from “Le Nozze di Figaro”, they drink a “Marzimino” and eat “un pezzo di fagiano” (pheasant). Donna Elvira demands that D.G. change his ways (“che vita cangi”). He retorts triumphantly: “Vivan le femmine!” The stone guest knocks at the door. D.G. accepts his invitation. Amid flames, he is swallowed up by the earth. Joy reigns. Donna Elvira enters a convent, Zerlina and Masetto go off to feast, Leporello to the inn. The moral of the story rings out from all six: “Questo è il fin di chi fa mal!”

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: “The Magic Flute”

Tamino: “This portrait is enchantingly beautiful”

The libretto is by the Hamlet actor and director Emanuel Schikaneder. The Egyptian settings were taken from the novel “Sethos” by Jean Terrasson, in the translation by Matthias Claudius. Mozart’s last opera was written between spring and September 1791. He conducted the premiere on 30 September at the Theater auf der Wieden in Vienna. A year later, theatre director Schikaneder was already able to schedule the 100th performance.

Prince Tamino, in hunting dress, is terrified of a serpent. Three ladies of the Queen of the Night slay the monster with their silver javelins. They admire the handsome young man. Papageno, with a bird cage on his back and a little faun’s flute in his hands, sings his entrance aria as the bird catcher. His mother is said to have served the “starry-blazing Queen of the Night”. For his birds, the Three Ladies give him sugar bread and sweet figs. He claims to have slain the serpent himself. So today he receives water, a stone and a golden padlock for his mouth. The Three Ladies give Tamino the portrait of the Queen’s daughter Pamina. His reply is the aria: “This portrait is enchantingly beautiful!” She has been abducted by a villain. The Queen of the Night laments the abduction in her coloratura aria: “Zum Leiden bin ich geboren” (I was born to suffer). In the quintet, the Three Ladies free the silenced Papageno from his padlock and give him a glockenspiel, and Tamino a golden flute that is said to grant him omnipotence. The two are to seek out Sarastro’s castle, to which three boys will show the way.

Scene change. In an Egyptian chamber, three slaves make merry at the expense of the cruel Moor Monostatos and Pamina’s escape; she reminds him of Sarastro, who puts her in chains. Papageno recognises her by the portrait around her neck. In the duet “Bei Männern, welche Liebe fühlen” (Men who feel love), the two speak of love and its purpose: “Nothing nobler than man and woman. Woman and man reach up to the divine.”

Scene change. Three temples: of Wisdom, Reason and Nature. The three boys exhort Tamino: “This path will lead you to your goal”. Two gates turn him away. An old priest opens the third gate: “Where are you headed, bold stranger?” Tamino hates Sarastro. The priest: “So a woman has bewitched you?” Pamina is alive! Animals of every kind rush in to the sound of the magic flute. Monostatos threatens with “ropes and bonds”. Papageno plays his glockenspiel: “That sounds so wonderful...” Sarastro’s entrance is accompanied by trumpets and timpani. Pamina tells of the importunate Monostatos. The ruler of the Temple of the Sun does not want to force her to love, yet neither will he give her her freedom. The couple Pamina and Tamino are led to the Temple of Trials.

The 20-year-old prince is to unite virtue, discretion and charity within himself. Sarastro calls upon Isis and Osiris to strengthen the couple with patience in the face of danger.

Scene change. In the forecourt of the temple, Papageno and Tamino are afraid of the thunderclaps. His goal: “Wisdom shall be my victory; Pamina, the sweet maiden, my reward.” Papageno is already content with sleep, food, drink and a pretty little wife. The second priest promises him “Pa-pa-pagena”. The three ladies see the two lost in Sarastro’s hands and plunge down through the trapdoor.

Scene change. Pamina in the middle of a grove. The Queen admits her powerlessness. Pamina’s father once handed the sevenfold circle of the sun to Sarastro. The Queen demands that her daughter kill Sarastro with “steel” in order to win back the circle of the sun: “Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen” (Hell’s vengeance boils in my heart). Pamina is to love Monostatos! Sarastro’s consolation: “In diesen heil’gen Hallen kennt man die Rache nicht” (Within these sacred halls, vengeance is unknown).

Scene change. A flying machine on stage. Papagena woos Papageno, ten years her senior, disguised as an old woman (18 years and 2 minutes old). Pamina meets Tamino. He remains silent. She sings: “Ach, ich fühl’s, es ist verschwunden” (Ah, I feel it, it has vanished).

Scene change: the vault of the pyramids. Chorus of priests: “O Isis und Osiris”. Papageno, in good spirits: “Papageno wishes for a girl or a little wife!” She transforms into a young woman. In the garden, the three boys prophesy: “Soon, to herald the morning, the sun shines on its golden path”. Pamina wants to stab herself out of grief.

Scene change: two great mountains with a waterfall and fire-spewing vents.

Pamina and Tamino are united: “By the power of music we walk joyfully through the dark night of death!” Papagena and Papageno find each other as well.

Scene change: the theatre as a sun. Monostatos, the Queen and her ladies sink from view. Sarastro proclaims: “The rays of the sun drive away the night and destroy the hypocrites’ ill-gotten power”.

The chorus of priests thanks Isis and Osiris: “Strength has triumphed and, as a reward, crowns beauty and wisdom with an eternal crown!”