The setting of The Magic Flute is a temple in the ancient Egyptian empire. The opera shows the conflict between a world of darkness and a wisdom world.
Konigin der Nacht (the queen of night) controls the world of darkness and Saratro rules the wisdom world. The philosopher Sarastro kidnaps the queen’s daughter in order to protect her from the adverse effects of the queen. Therefore, the queen is so angry that she turns Tamino over to her side to reclaim her daughter. The queen gives the magic flute to prince for self-defense that even subdues a wild beast. She also gives a magic bell, which makes a distinct sound, to a bird catcher Papageno. Then the queen comes to Pamina during the night to make her kill Sarastro. However, Pamina is already persuaded by Sarastro and she betrays her mother’s world. Therefore, the queen becomes vengeful and she tries to undermine the ‘Empire of the Sun’ of Sarastro. In the end, the victory of this war leads to the world of light.
A member of the audience, Park Kil-hwan (Dept. of English Language and Literature, ’13), said, “This was my first time watching an opera, because this genre was unfamiliar and usually the tickets are expensive. But I now feel more comfortable with operas than before, which was in a good quality and a low ticket price. I hope this kind of performance is offered more often at school.” When the performance finished, audience gave the actors a round of applause.
By. Kim So-jeong