Now Opera isent everyones cup of tea, but I was hooked when my Uncle took me to see HMS Pinafore when I was just 10! (at least it dident scare me like Jaw did when my Dad too me to see it the same year!) I loved the singing and the costumes, and for a 10 year old who was addicted to bight colours it was a real treat!...Now a while back I heard that my favorite Opera of all time, Mozart's "The Magic Flute" was being made into a movie, and yesterday I finally watched it!!
Firstly, let me explain somthing of the story and the bacground of this fantastic opera, for the benifit of the uninittiated!
Written in 1791 just before his death, Mozart had a wacky, wild and fantastic libretto to work on which was wrote by his good friend Emanuel Schikaneder...a bit like how I view horror movies as total escapasim, Emanuel Schikaneder's story is totaly fantasy with weird Masonic undertones (both Mozart and Schikaneder were Masons as was my Uncle Bob!) and is the age old story of a battle between goon and evil, which is almost the same as the Ramayana story. It involves the young princess Pamina being in the clutches of Sarastro, and the Queen of the Night begs Prince Tamino, who has fallen in love with Pamina's portrait, to free her!! My favorite character in Papageno, the bird catcher who is Tamino's friend, but he is a very funny, strange but lovable character. Incedently the amazingly beautiful "Aria of the Queen of the Night" was one piece I actually learned to sing in music lessons at school!!! Unbelivably it contains a VERY high F note which I could sing with ease back then, but I couldent do it now!! I was singing along to it while I watched yesterday and could only manage a strangled screech!! LOL!!!! Anyway I have had the privledge of seeing the Magic Flute staged about 4 times now and next time its staged in Northampton I must admit I will be there again! Originally written in German, it is nearly always performed in German too, but today English subtitals are displayed, discreatly on a screen next to the stage so you can follow the story. But with the Magic Flute its not that difficult realy....Now I come to the best bit...How on earth would this fantastic Opera be transfered to a movie???? I must admit I watched the first bit with trepidation as the opening scenes take the viewer back to World War one...for some reason Branagher set this in the trenches, but I must admit it works well...The Opera is sung in English too so no need for subtitals!! and has a feel of being on a journey to Oz with Dorothy, if I am honest! We even have a surreal bit with singing sandbags of all things! But as this film went on I found myself actually glued to my TV screen and this movie is so beautifully filmed, it realy does take you into Emanuel Schikaneder's weird world ( I am convinced the guy was on drugs when he wrote this! LOL) But I found myself falling in love with Papageno all over again as well as thinking what a superb introduction to opera this could be for a younger generation, while also thinking how on earch did they manage to squeeze an Opera which lasts nearly 4 hours, into just over two?? But it works so very well, and I well recommend every one gives this movie a go, even if its just once! Now I am waiting with baited breath to see if they will transform my other favorite opera "Don Giovanni" into a movie! This one too is written by Mozart and is a dark, shivvery, ghost story...but that for another blog...
As previously mentioned, The Magic Flute has undertones rooted firmly in Free Masonry, of which I have had a life long interest which was, like my love of Opera, fired by delightful Uncle Bob (Robert Lord) since I was about 5!! He was a Grand Master of the Warrington lodge untill his death in 1994. But from being a toddler he would entrance me with Masonic stories about King Solomans mines and the Great Architect who created the world (this being is non religous) as well as showing me all his Masonic regalia along with his beautiful apron embrodered with gold thread!! I was even packed off to ballroom dance classes aged 13 so I could attend Masonic Ladies evenings (yes!! there is such a thing oddly enough) with my Auntie Dot, where my uncle would proudly introduce me too his fellow Masons! But crikey if half of them knew anything about what he had taught me about Masonic ritual they would have heartily booted him out!!! LOL!!! But I found it all very fascinating and I still enjoy learning about Free Masonry today. I suppose it fascinates me because its non religeous. So The Great Architect can be seen as God or any other religious daiety so relay it brings men together from all religious backgrounds.........I just love the Masonic concept of truth and tolerence and taking good people and making them better people!

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Below is a trailer for this enchanting movie! Hope you enjoy!!