Musical Notes - Act I Friday, August 7

Musical Notes

Die Zauberflote – Act I


#1: Tamino - Energize “z” and longer vowel on “u” of “zu Hilfe”
-More time/air through Schlange

3 Ladies -“Triumph” is only a half-note. Put final –ph together on beat 3.

Allegretto: first “ei, ei wie fein” etc., should not slow down so much, don’t drag the tempo

Allegro: Breathe early and anticipate fast parts (eg. “was wollte ich darum nicht geben”)

AWatch for cute: “Du Jungling, schon und liebevoll” (and don’t drag tempo)


#2: Papageno: Enjoy color of words more. Tell story with diction, not just staging.

#3: Tamino: Long vowel on “Dies” and “wie” (ie – don’t cheat the value of the pick-up note).
-“wie” is same pitch (A flat) as “Dies”
-make second “wurde” different than first
-after “was wurde ich?” – we must see first the thought on your face, then movement (this will motivate the music [the ‘heartbeat’ in celli & bassi] to start again.)

#4: Queen: “O zittre nicht” - with more intensity/energy than “mein lieber Sohn!”
-Don’t rush “dies tiefbetrubte Mutterherz…”
-Connect with me for pickup – “zum Leiden”

#5: Tamino: -words must always sound their meaning. Use words like “Strafe”, “beklagen”, “schwach” etc.

1st Lady: more weight/time/emphasis on “Konigen” and “begnadigt”
2nd Lady: more energy on “luge”
3 Ladies: -longer “L” on “Leidenschaft”
-more time (darker sound) “Traurige” (sing the meaning of the words!)
-bigger difference between color of “Leidenschaft verwandeln: der Traurige”… and “wird freudig sein”
Tutti: start with accent on “O” and diminuendo (“O so eine Flote”)

3 Ladies: line moves to “Furstin” (“doch bestimmt die Furstin dich”)

#7: Pamina: “Bei Mannern…” - we need to hear the two-note slur articulation (ie. Slight lift between syllables) rather than long legato (think a bit more “instrumental”)

#8: Larghetto
3 Knaben: always sing with clear phrase direction
stronger on “sei standhaft”

Recitative:
Tamino: -words must be VERY solid (orchestra cannot place these chords if we don’t know where you are).
-remember recitative must ALWAYS sound like conversation NEVER like an aria. Don’t start “singing” for sake fot eh voice but rather tell a story and “talk” to other characters (just do it with pitches)
-in general, can slow a lot of this down. You’re trying to go too fast and we are losing too many important words.

ALL MEN: sing “zuruck”

Sprecher: slower still on “dich leitet Lieb’ und Tugend nicht”

Tamino: -words: “Er ist ein Unmensch, ein Tyrann!”
-more clear on “Riss nicht der Rauber, ohn’ Erbarmern”
-Longer on “o” at “O ew’ge Nacht”

Tutti/Chorus: “Bald, bald, Jungling, oder nie!”
-“Bald” is only an eighth note, don’t make it longer
-do not stress –ling of “Jungling”

“Pamino, Pamina lebet noch!”
-stress is on “mi” – do not sing “mi” and “na” with same stress.

Tamino: -watch me for pickup to Presto on “vielleicht sah er Pamino schon.”
-on second “wilde Thiere Freude…” – crescendo
-“doch, nur Pamina belibt davon” – is a little slower (depressed)

Tutti/Chorus: -Was soll das heissen?” -EVERYONE sings this!!
-dynamics (p and f) “es lebe Sarastro, der gottliche Weise” etc.