Mozart's Die Zauberflöte is one of the most popular operas ever written. Residentie Orkest The Hague and singers from the Dutch National Opera Academy stage this opera from July 5-9 at Amare. What makes the story of Tamino and Pamina, Papageno, the Queen of the Night and Sarastro so interesting?

Patrick Lange
"You can read it like a fairy tale. By the way, it was also the first opera I ever saw - children's theater, so to speak. But you can also tell this story in a socially critical way or as a critique of the Enlightenment. Die Zauberflöte is open to very many interpretations and is therefore always fascinating - both for the audience and for us who bring the opera to the stage.'

Gabriele Rech
"It is the story of three characters who have different outlooks on life. Tamino faints right at the beginning and gets caught up in a completely new story. He is torn between the very sensual world of the Queen of the Night and the rational world of Sarastro. This is an initiation story where it is not at all clear whether it ends well or not. Pamina is left all alone and must learn to deal with her grief and her fear. Finally, there is Papageno, the creature of nature, whose reactions to the limitations of life are completely unfiltered and spontaneous. They are all searching for the right way to live and must define their relationship with the world. These questions are probably familiar to everyone. At least I remember very well the time when I had to find my way in the world.'

Sarastro's temple of wisdom, the snake or the three ladies with magical gifts are all things that suggest a fairy tale world, but fairy tales are also sometimes quite brutal. How harmonious is Die Zauberflöte?

Gabriele Rech
Monostatos is cruelly punished for his transgressions. The Queen of the Night challenges her daughter to murder and Sarastro has no qualms about the fact that Tamino, Pamina and Papageno might also die during the trials. This story is about life and death, about moral decisions and their consequences for existence. It's not fun at all!

Patrick Lange
Sarastro is often portrayed as a noble, good and perhaps somewhat dull ruler. This ignores the fact that the chorus of priests are clearly very afraid of him. There is much social criticism in Die Zauberflöte - criticism of the eighteenth-century authorities, but we are equally concerned with the theme of the manipulation of the masses.'

Gabriele Rech
"It is not easy for the players to recognize who is good and who is bad. Deception, threats and false promises steer them in a certain direction, but at some point they have to make decisions based on their own moral imperative. The parallels with our society are obvious, but I am not the kind of person to make clear references to contemporary politics on stage. I trust our listeners to draw their own conclusions.' This is not your first time bringing Die Zauberflöte to the stage. Why do you return to this piece?

Gabriele Rech
It has been a few years since I performed Die Zauberflöte in Weimar. At that time, we had a strong focus on references to the former East German regime. That is no longer relevant here and now; I am interested in other contemporary themes. I find the wild mishmash of different theatrical forms enormously exciting. Like Shakespeare, this is a tightrope walk between the tragic and the comic. The result is a succession of great emotions with strong drama and lighthearted moments. All the characters are searching for love and friendship. It is impossible to tell everything in this play; you have to concentrate on individual aspects. This rich treasury will never be exhausted, and so I could never get bored with the play.'

Patrick Lange
"The same goes for the music. This score is so rich that I keep discovering details that I hadn't noticed before. There's a scene where the three ladies almost sound like Richard Wagner's Rhine maidens in Der Ring des Nibelungen. That's hugely forward-looking. Then there is the scene of the two armed men, in which Mozart composes an extended fugue and sets a cantus firmus over it, that is, quotes older musical forms. It sounds like a shadow scene in baroque opera, something otherworldly, which then immediately contrasts with very light-hearted, cheerful music. There is nothing accidental about that. Mozart calculated it precisely and refined it to be effective on stage. Mozart is a theater man through and through. Bringing that to life is an inexhaustible task.' You have experience with this music, while the singers are doing it for the first time. Is that an advantage or a disadvantage?

Patrick Lange
"It's definitely an advantage. No one here is in the routine yet, no one thinks they know exactly how to do it right. Together we work out the musical style needed to make this music sound as exciting as it is beautiful. I have to explain a lot. And some things I have to explain again. And again. Because it's not easy to implement. But the participants don't want to just do what I say; they want to experiment. They want to find their own way to Mozart, and they are very inventive and imaginative. Some of it is pure technique and craftsmanship. How do you formulate? Where is the emphasis of a sentence? How does Mozart write it down and what does he mean by it? If I'm convinced they're on the wrong track stylistically, we discuss it. Then sometimes I slow them down or guide them down a different path. But the joy of experimentation is also very stimulating and inspiring for me. At one rehearsal I had goosebumps, completely out of nowhere, from what they were doing on stage and thought, "I haven't felt like this in a long time!" That's great.

Gabriele Rech
"Every aria is a process of realization. Both for the stage character and for each individual singer. Pamina experiences what it is like to feel completely alone for the first time. The singer experiences for the first time in her career what it is like to represent this desolation in Mozart's music. Some have sung the famous arias before, but none have performed the entire role in a production. This is new to them, and they are very curious about how to tell this story. Some tend to throw their arms in the air and assume a stereotypical lilting posture on the first try. But that disappears fairly quickly as the deeper engagement with the content of text and music begins. Each of these arias is a development of the characters, who usually speak more to themselves than to the audience. The singers begin a relationship with their character; they must understand the process and then communicate it to the audience. Discovering together how this can work is a tremendous pleasure."
Friedrich