The key to “The Magic Flute” is surrealism – in converstation with opera director Natalia Babińska
Is it possible to resurrect the Masonic utopia more than two hundred years after the premiere of “The Magic Flute?” Unfortunately, no. There is no perfect ruler. Power corrupts – says director Natalia Babińska whose staging of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s masterpiece opens at the Opera at the Castle in Szczecin on March 1. Magdalena Jagiełło-Kmieciak talks to the artist about the philosophical fairy tale, the key to read of the opera and… about playing with the number “three.”
Anyone who has come across the libretto of “The Magic Flute” will say: what a fairy tale… Beautiful, a masterpiece, a fairy tale nonetheless. Let’s introduce this fairy tale to those who are not familiar with it.
Prince Tamino, lost in the land of the Queen of the Night, is attacked by a giant snake. He is saved by three Ladies who show him a portrait of Princess Pamina, the daughter of the Queen of the Night. The girl was kidnapped by the ruler of the temple of wisdom, Saraster. Tamino is sent to rescue the princess. When he reaches Sarastro’s palace, he learns that things are different from what he was told by the Ladies and the Queen of the Night. Sarastro turns out to be a sage, he cultivates the search for truth and virtue in his temple. Pamina is to become Tamino’s wife if he can prove he deserves her love with his brave and prudent attitude. The trials in the temple of Sarastro (reminiscent of the Masonic temples of the Classical era) are intended to raise Prince Tamino as a wise and just ruler. The prince proves his virtue and Pamina marries him. Happy ending.
A philosophical fairy tale… I know you are not too fond of Saraster, but you like the Queen of the Night. Reading the libretto itself may suggest the opposite interpretation. Sarastro is a temple of wisdom, truth, power, facts, forgiveness, and the Queen of the Night is antipathetic, seething for revenge. You’ve turned this opera upside down…
No. (laughing) I rather excuse the queen because it is impossible to defend some of the things she does, for example when she orders her daughter to kill Sarastro. We have courts to administer justice. At the same time, the Queen of the Night is a wronged woman. She strives to regain what she believes is hers. Sarastro is not flawless, either. Pamina, kidnapped by him, wanders around the gardens of his temple, guarded by slaves, and one of them assaults her… Sexual violence in the temple of chastity leaves a mark on the supposedly flawless initiates. Behind that stands the “good,” “predictive,” authority of Sarastro… It leaves room for interpretation, and I take advantage of that. Yes, I am veering towards feminism. Sarastro says many beautiful and sublime words in “The Magic Flute.” But who says he speaks honestly?
That’s right: room for interpretation. A seemingly naive libretto, but at the same time “The Magic Flute” is considered one of Mozart’s most complex operas. Apparently, directors break their teeth on it. Why?
“The Magic Flute” may seem like a naive fairy tale for children, but it touches upon very serious themes, it is “infused” with seriousness by Mozart. The director can either use humor and give up on featuring serious scenes, or they can do something very serious that will not explain the fairy-tale parts. These two threads are intertwined, and you have to cleverly “understand” the whole thing, which many people fail to do. What can “bury” a director is a lack of humility. If someone thinks that they will find a new, contemporary key to this opera, they may be very disappointed.
How do you deal with the dualism fairy tale – philosophy?
Surrealism is the key. It allows you to connect seemingly disconnected things. We can combine something naive with vastness, space, and eternal yet simple questions. The second thing is honesty. It is my focus here.
Will you play with the number “three”? The Masonic symbolism, since Mozart was a Mason himself, is extremely important in “The Magic Flute” – Three Ladies, Three Boys, Three Trials… How does your staging emphasize the importance of the number? Can it have a new, universal meaning for a modern viewer?
The overture of “The Magic Flute” opens with three chords. I kept a close eye on those trios. For me, the number “three” has no special meaning, but it appears all the time in “The Magic Flute.” I don’t demonize the importance of numbers myself, but I adapt to Mozart. Was he demonizing or was he playing with the number? I don’t know. In any case, people are more important than numbers.
What are the trials Tamino and Pamina are subjected to? Are they reflected in our modern day-to-day struggles? How will you show this metaphor?
Each of us goes through certain trials in life. We don’t know ourselves until we go through a difficult experience and have to make difficult decisions. I was thinking about how to show rehearsals on stage. The trials that Tamino (accompanied by Pamina) undergoes in “The Magic Flute” are called the “fire and water” trials. In my interpretation, these are two different types of human hell. The first is the internal hell, when our soul or body suffers, and the second hell is the one we experience from others. For example, poorly exercised power can bring us hell.
So we have power against…?
Power against people. We cannot be deceived by power. Let’s look at the hands of our rulers, whoever they are. Power corrupts, and William Shakespeare wrote many great plays about the immorality of power. Another thing: despite all the bad things out of our control of, we must shape our own lives as best we can. Let’s create a better world in our immediate surroundings.
A wise society, full of virtue and harmony, is a utopia…
The Masonic Lodge had a vision of a better world, and then the French Revolution showed it eating its own children. Is it possible to resurrect the Masonic utopia, more than two hundred years after the premiere of “The Magic Flute?” Unfortunately not. There is no perfect ruler. Power corrupts. Power gives people a lot, and for that very reason they desire it. Fortunately, there are values over which the authorities have no control.
We have come to the symbolic snake and the titular flute. And the Three Boys.
The snake reminds me of the dead, an obsolete symbol of power, a model according to which humanity governs itself. Power is something that may once have been due to people, but man has already proven that a different system of “ruling” needs to be invented. In my opinion, such a herald of a new order are the Three Boys, emissaries of a cosmic force, free from human flaws. Or maybe they are the embodiment of artificial intelligence? (laughing) For me, the flute and the bells are a clear indication that art and music bring out the best in us.
Love is one of the key themes of this opera. In your vision of “The Magic Flute,” is it the power that outweighs all evil?
Yes, it’s definitely a song about the power of love. But the truly mature one, when two people decide to go through all the trials of this world together, and they stay together for better and for worse. Like Tamino and Pamina: hand in hand.
What interpretation do you propose to make the opera relevant to a modern audience? What is the staging by Natalia Babińska we will we see?
We refer to the nature of the music, which takes a step back towards the baroque. I am also inspired by baroque aesthetics, but since it is a bit surreal, we will have small metaphorical references to modern times. We will add dream motifs to some elements, because some issues and motifs remain timeless. We will see endless snakes on stage as a symbol of the desire for power, spiral staircases taking us up to know and, see more, there will be a world of illusions… But I won’t say more. (laughing)
What is the contemporary lesson in this work about…? Exactly, what is it about for you?
To make a person feel they have power, the good power. That even when they are alone, they do not have to agree to everything, that they are not a passive victim. I don’t hide it – I want to smuggle in a certain revolutionary message: is something wrong? Let’s change it! Let’s break it down!
So it’s a revolution after all. (laughting Thank you for the conversation. And I wish you to break patterns, not teeth, in “The Magic Flute.”