#monostatos

[ceoofyaoi1241]

is that a fucking the magic flute by wolfgang amadeus mozart fanart

[song-ofthesky]

i never posted these

[princesssarisa]

@faintingheroine's posts about the Wuthering Heights midquel This Thing of Darkness, and its allusions to The Tempest and equation of Heathcliff with Caliban, have made me think of The Magic Flute.

It's obvious that The Magic Flute owes some inspiration to The Tempest, with Sarastro corresponding to Prospero, Tamino and Pamina to Ferdinand and Miranda, and Monostatos to Caliban. The 2003 filmed performance from Covent Garden even has Sarastro quote the play (in German translation) and murmur "This thing of darkness I acknowledge mine" to himself about Monostatos.

I'd like to see a scholarly essay that compared and contrasted Caliban, Monostatos, and the teenage Heathcliff. All three of these characters are trapped in slave-like circumstances. All three are either explicitly men of color or coded as such. All three love the daughter or ward of their white master/father figure, but are rejected due to social class and race. And all three are framed as villains, yet it's an open question whether they're innately bad or corrupted by abuse and bigotry.

If Monostatos and Heathcliff are both successors of Caliban, then for me, the question is why I have sympathy for Heathcliff, even after all the terrible things he does, yet I struggle to view Monostatos with any sympathy, even as my rational mind says I should. After all, Heathcliff does far worse deeds than Monostatos ever does: Monostatos just makes ineffectual threats most of the time.

But besides the fact that Heathcliff is a (villain) protagonist with much more depth and gravitas, while Monostatos is just a supporting comic villain, there's one big difference. Monostatos wants Pamina whether she wants him or not, and tries to take her by any means necessary, including blackmail or force. Even worse, he repeatedly threatens to kill her if she refuses him her love, and he finally does try to stab her in a jealous rage in Act II.

Heathcliff, believe it or not, wants Cathy to be happy – he even shows some grudging respect for her love for Edgar and refuses to physically hurt Edgar for her sake – and killing her would be unthinkable for him.

(I sometimes wish The Magic Flute didn't have Monostatos try to kill Pamina, because then it would be easier to view him as a more nuanced, tragic figure. Maybe that's why Ingmar Bergman's film changes that part. Even though Bergman's Monostatos is still in blackface and wears a jester-like costume, he does seem more humanized than in the original opera. Both his threats to Pamina and his comic shtick are toned down, he doesn’t try to stab her, and instead of plunging into eternal night with the Queen and Ladies at the end, he more tragically commits suicide. But this is off-topic rambling.)

At any rate, I would love to read a scholarly comparison.

[leporellian]

finished actual reference sheets for all the main characters of my novel finally

[artdecoandmodernist]

1922 Leon Bakst, Costume Designs for Pamina and Monostatos in 'The Magic Flute' by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

[musicainextenso]

Welcome dear Followers to our M is for Mozart Week, here at Musica in Extenso. This series is a special dedication to the memory of a composer who is always bring peace and happiness to all hearts and minds. 

For this Mozart-event the main subject is Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute), his last opera. I had the chance to learn and know the whole opera, because I supervised the whole rehearsal process at the local Opera House as a choir conductor. Back, in my high school days, as a violinist, I was not a huge Mozart fan, because it was mandatory to learn about his compositions... but after I finished my studies at the university, I re-discovered the beautiful and amazing music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Let’s begin this adventurous week with the opera’s famous Overture. The first chords are really representative, known as direct references to the Freemasonry symbols. I consider this overture - especially now - a perfect reflection of our current society and the world’s actual situation.

Today on Musica in Extenso:

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Die Zauberflöte, K. 620

Overture

Please enjoy the absolutely stunning music of our genius, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart! - Editor-in-Chief

[magic-flute-suggestion]

Think critically about the role of Monostatos and it’s implications for representations of black peopke in the western canon

[song-ofthesky]

adoration of the mother