Norbert Orth

The Queen of the Night persuades Prince Tamino to rescue her daughter Pamina from captivity under the high priest Sarastro; instead, he learns the high ideals of Sarastro's community and seeks to join it. Separately, then together, Tamino and Pamina undergo severe trials of initiation, which end in triumph, with the Queen and her cohorts vanquished. The earthy Papageno, who accompanies Tamino on his quest, fails the trials completely but is rewarded anyway with the hand of his ideal female companion Papagena.

Production of Mozart's opera about the Spanish nobleman who seeks to rescue his beloved Konstanze from the hands of the Pasha. Karl Bohm conducts the Chorus and Orchestra of the Bayerischen Staatsoper with the right balance of serious purpose and light lilting lyricism. This production, staged by August Everding with set and costume design by Max Bignens, was filmed from a live television production relayed on the First Programme (Channel 1) of German television on 25 April 1980,

On available record, the great Austrian conductor Karl Boehm had three Enthurung recordings: the 1945 mono with Dermota/Schwarzkopf; the 1974 with Schreier/Auger/Grist, and this his last opera conducting in 1980. So you see, this was Karl Boehm's last opera conducting, and the emotional side of the whole thing WAS evident. Boehm came out at the end of curtain calls all by himself, saluting the orchestra members. It was a very moving event by istelf. Back to the performance. A special event is a special event. There is no need, absolutely no need, to prick the legend and excruciate imperfections, which there WERE, given the high tension of the event. The singers here, with the exception of Reri Grist, are all in their prime. As Konstanze, Gruberova is very capable vocally, but she did not give a perfect performance. Her duet with Belmonte at the last Act is one-sided and there was no chemistry between her and Araiza at all.