The Magic Flute - Queen of the Night aria

The famous Queen of the Night aria from the 2007 Bel Canto Opera production of Mozart's The Magic Flute. The deranged Queen commands her daughter Pamina to slay her father, Sarastro. Mandy Watsham is the Queen.

You will avenge my suffering from his scorning.
Death to Sarastro!
I have endured disdain and been reviled
You must obey!
I give this awesome warning
If you defy me, you're no more my child.
You must be bold!
Do exactly as you're told!
Or I'll no longer claim you as my child.
You don't know how I hate him
I so abominate him!
You must assassinate him!
or you will pay the price.
I'll spurn you...renounce you
I'll disown you
My heart will turn to ice.
Yes, my heart...the heart that loved you will turn cold.
Be brave! Be bold!
Sarastro shall be slaughtered
Kill! Kill! Kill!
Kill him quickly...
Do as you've been told!

words © Tom Boyd

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Mozart
• Magic
• Flute
• music
• comedy
• Watsham
• Hay
• Boyd
• Bel
• Canto
• opera

[hughdrover]

@briannadominique13 You say of yourself “I'm blonde, talkitive [sic], and Canadian. That's all you really need to know”. Perhaps you should consider adding ‘dogmatic, opinionated and illogical'. By your definition. Die Fledermaus, Carmen, Tales of Hoffmann etc. would not be operas because they have dialogue, whereas the 'through sung' musicals of Lloyd Webber would be operas.

Doesn't quite work like that. The Magic Flute has a German text so that the Austrian audience would understand it.

[DazFromOz]

What's with that ridiculous costume? she looks like she's wandered in from some Elizabethan play!! Actually she sings this very well... but it sounds a lot scarier in German...

[theQiwiMan]

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamaz­ing



[probro9898]

@hughdrover Although the assumption makes a lot of sense out of the plot, Sarastro is NEVER mentioned to be Pamina's father. I studied this opera in one of my University courses, and in one of my essays I suggested that Pamila was Sarastro's daughter. My professor wasn't impressed: she wrote on my essay "If this were the case, don't you think Mozart wasted the opportunity for a dramatic moment of revelation"?

[hughdrover]

@jonnybabes84 From The Oxford Dictionary of Opera, a reliable enough source: “Singspiel - Song-play, a term for a German drama in which musical numbers are separated by dialogue... such works were written in the 17th century. The influence of French opéra-comique and English ballad opera (18th century) helped to develop Singspiel as a genre of comic opera with spoken dialogue."

[jonnybabes84]

@hughdrover wiki is an unreliable source. a singspiel has always been classified as a "comic opera" which was the most popular type of opera in the classical period (1750-1825).

[zingzangspillip1]

@hughdrover I admit that I was wrong to use the word 'always', but Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians describes a singspiel as "an opera, usually comic and in German with spoken dialogue." Grove's is a far more creditable resource than Wikipedia.

[Unkidi]

What's In A Name' It's Just Wonderful Entertainment'''' Enjoy

[AEmylia24]

In any case, she does a fantastic job and in the right octave although a little slower pace than Diana Damrau. It's interesting to hear it in English.

[flowersings]

@briannadominique13 It's an operetta.

[sovietsam1917]

i think it's nice to hear opera in your native tongue occasionally.

[hughdrover]

@zingzangspillip1 what began as music has now become a pedantic quibble of etymology. You appear to be the wrong one by saying "a singspiel has always been classified as a type of opera" . Read what Wiki says, starting with "Some of the first Singspiele were miracle plays in Germany". I think we should now lay the nit-picking to rest. No further gain for anyone - least of all Mozart.