Program Note
As you know, Mozart’s orchestration in the opera is a tribute to his genius. The colours he extracts from the orchestra are highly varied and original, a magnificent achievement of Classic opera. In the 18th century, however, the full orchestral version was not the only way to listen to opera at home: arrangements for much smaller ensembles were highly typical. Think of the Act II finale in Don Giovanni, when the Don enjoys some of the newest operatic hits performed by an 8-part Harmonie band. At the turn of the 19th century, listening to Haydn symphonies in piano reduction were the norm. So when COVID hit in 2020, we needed to find an opera suitable for the Masters of Music in Opera Performance course that could be reduced for possible live performance, but something that could work for studio and/or just sound and video recording. In this context, Donald made a version of Die Zauberflöte for harpsichord and fortepiano, which still endeavours to recreate the full palette of Mozart’s score, but in a manner that could conceivably have been heard in a salon in the 1820s. The Graf fortepiano is being used according to historical precedent, as described in the book: the moderator effects, bassoon stop, and listen out for the Turkish percussion at the end of each act.
Jane selected Die Zauberflöte not least because the Fairy Tale elements could be depicted in bite sized scenes using video and greenscreen, but also that it could be modernised and set within the context of a videogame, to make the potential of online life and entertainment totally viable. This exciting new element of videogaming unleashed Donald’s imagination to use chiptune. Although using new tools, the result is still guided by 18th-century performance practices. For those of you not interested in the chiptune approach skip to the next paragraph. Recently, “chiptune” has become fashionable in the research circles, part of the discipline known as ludomusicology (study of video game music): Chiptune is especially noted for its limitations: the old hardware can only produce three pitched notes (plus one unpitched) at any one time, and there is not much in the way of timbral options. The software Donald used is a bit-accurate emulator of the soundchips built into the old game consoles of the 1980s: think Atari 2600, Nintendo Entertainment System and the Sega Master System (too far back for you? Never mind!) Everything that was written could be reproduced by the tech under the bonnet of an old NES. In the 2020 “version’, the chiptune was sequenced to be played karaoke style. This is less practical in our 2023 staged environment, so he has programmed the sounds for live performance.
Rather than cutting loose with the chiptune, Donald has restricted its use. It gives voice to Papageno’s panpipe and Tamino’s flute: these are intentionally reminiscent of Super Mario Bros 3 and The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening. And of course, Papageno’s magic glockenspiel. Finally, in the Marsch der Priester and Sarastro’s aria “O Isis und Osiris”, Donald has loaded up the harpsichord, fortepiano and chip together to produce a rich and dense texture for the solemnity and ritual of the beginning of the second act. In some places, the chiptune does come to the foreground. Finales represent a total immersion in the game world: Tamino completes the end-of-level challenge with his newly acquired powerup: the ‘magic’ flute. Thus, most of the orchestration in these sequences is entirely handed over to the chiptune; the keyboards offering a few chords. In these places Donald explored a range of effects: constantly varying the duty cycle on the pulse channels, delay, and using the noise channel. All of these are programmed within the parameters of NES chiptune tech and limitations, such as only three pitched notes at any one time, one noise channel.
Donald used Papageno’s “Ein Mädchen” to allow the chiptune to show off. There is a lovely anecdote recalled by Mozart, who himself played the keyboard glockenspiel during the opening season:
“But during Papageno's aria with the glockenspiel I went behind the scenes, as I felt a sort of impulse today to play it myself. Well, just for fun, at the point where Schikaneder has a pause, I played an arpeggio. He was startled, looked behind the wings and saw me. When he had his next pause, I played no arpeggio. This time he stopped and refused to go on. I guessed what he was thinking and again - played a chord. He then struck the glockenspiel and said, “Shut up.” Whereupon everyone laughed. I am inclined to think that this joke taught many of the audience for the first time that Papageno does not play the instrument himself. By the way, you have no idea how charming the music sounds when you hear it from a box close to the orchestra - it sounds much better than from the gallery. As soon as you return - you must try this for yourself.”
There was a fascination with automatons in the 18th century: mechanical objects that imitated real life creatures, and there is a wonderful parallel here. The magic glockenspiel “comes to life” in this aria, becoming more and more animated with each verse. In the same way, these cute little 1980s consoles have been given free rein to spring forth and sing... or at least, to beep and boop to their heart’s content.
In 2020, we only recorded short clips from the project, but much of the work we undertook was sitting on the back burner. So, when we planned for this year’s production, which needed to accommodate master’s level and undergraduate singers, this opera came back into focus. In a live staging, more depth of sound was made possible by adding strings, and inventive percussion playing has provided key glue for the scene changes. The video elements needed to be slick and fun. Working with Additive, the team of Paul Lim and Bosco Shaw, has been a delight, and so too has been the collaboration with the Masters of Production Design (Stage) student, Atulya Pulikkottil, whose ideas aided to shape the work’s development. Thanks also to Sophie Woodward for her fabulous costume designs.
It has been a massive project, being COVID mindful, we have double cast the whole opera, often with a third cover cast, also required to give all students equitable learning experiences.
- Jane Davidson(Stage Director) and Donald Nicolson(Music Director)