2018, Term 3, Week 9: Mozart Magic - opera The Magic Flute

The Magic Flute by Mozart is one of the most well known operas. 

SYNOPSIS OF THE MAGIC FLUTE
PRINCE TAMINO 👦 was being chased by a POISONOUS SNAKE 🐍. He faints😵 just as the SNAKE 🐍is about to unleash its deadly bite, but the creature is killed🗡 by THREE LADIES 👵👵👵 who  appear. They are the servants of the QUEEN OF THE NIGHT🌘 and they leave at once to tell her.

TAMINO 👦wakes up and sees a bird catcher, the feathered PAPAGENO🐦, who says that he killed the SNAKE 🐍. The THREE LADIES 👵👵👵 return in time to catch PAPAGENO 🐦 telling the lie, and they padlock 🔒his mouth 🤐to teach him a lesson. 

The THREE LADIES 👵👵👵show TAMINO 👦a portrait of PAMINA 👸, the daughter of the QUEEN OF THE NIGHT🌘. He  falls in love with her immediately💖💖💖.  PAMINA 👸is being held captive 🔑by the priest SARASTRO 👴in his palace. 🏰

THE QUEEN OF THE NIGHT 🌘arrives and grants TAMINO 👦 permission to marry 💍💒 PAMINA 👸if he rescues her from SARASTRO👴.  TAMINO 👦agrees and sets off on the rescue mission, and PAPAGENO🐦 leaves ahead of him.

PAPAGENO 🐦arrives at SARASTRO's👴 palace 🏰.  A slave called MONOSTATOS👤 brings PAMINA 👸into the room. PAPAGENO🐦  tells PAMINA👸 that a prince 👦is coming to rescue her.

TAMINO 👦 arrives at the palace 🏰.  He believes the QUEEN OF THE NIGHT 🌘is evil and not SARASTRO👴, but he is determined to rescue PAMINA👸. He plays his MAGIC FLUTE🎵🎵 and PAPAGENO🐦, plays his pipes  and bells🎶🔔 so that they can find each other. 

But just as PAPAGENO 🐦and PAMINA 👸 are about to escape they find themselves face-to-face with SARASTRO 👴,who says he cannot grant her freedom, but that she will soon be freed by somebody else.  MONOSTATOS 👤and TAMINO 👦 both arrive, and it is the first time  TAMINO 👦and PAMINA👸 see each other💖💖💖. 

SARASTRO 👴sets challenges for TAMINO👦 and PAPAGENO🐦. If they succeed, he will give his crown 👑 to TAMINO👦 , and he will  find a wife for PAPAGENO 🐦For one trial, they must remain silent 🤐🤐.

Meanwhile, QUEEN OF THE NIGHT 🌘 gives PAMINA👸 a dagger🗡 and tells her she must kill SARASTRO👴 or she will no longer be her daughter. MONOSTATOS 👤 overhears this and tries to bribe PAMINA👸, threatening to reveal the plot, but SARASTRO 👴arrives, banishes MONOSTATOS👤 and forgives  PAMINA👸. 

 An OLD WOMAN👵 visits PAPAGENO 🐦and says he must commit his life to her, or be alone for the rest of his life.  He reluctantly agrees, and the OLD WOMAN 👵then transforms into the beautiful PAPAPGENA😍. PRIESTS arrive and chase her away with thunder and lightning⛈. 

PAMINA👸, not knowing about the trial of silence🤐, is broken hearted  💔when TAMINO 👦will not speak to her. She tries to kill herself with the dagger🗡, but is stopped by THREE SPIRITS.  For the final challenges, TAMINO 👦 must walk through fire🔥 and water🌊. PAMINA 👸stops him and insists they do this together👫. They complete the tasks safely, protected by his MAGIC FLUTE🎵🎵. 

PAPAGENO🐦 is so sad 😢💔because he has lost PAPAPGENA😍,  and he tries to take his own life🗡, but the THREE SPIRITS arrive and remind him of his magic bells🎶🔔. He rings them🎶🔔 and summons PAPAPGENA 😍and she returns 😢.

MONOSTATOS👤, QUEEN OF THE NIGHT 🌘, and THREE LADIES 👵👵👵, plot to destroy SARASTRO's👴 palace, but are stopped my magic forces and are banished into the night🌌.

SARASTRO👴 marries  TAMINO 👦 and PAMINA 👸and everyone cheers👏👏 🎉because they have overcome challenges to find true love💖💖💖.


Now that you have understood the synopsis of the story, here are  a few short videos of it. 
The Magic Flute (46.30 minutes - start about 2 minutes in) 
The Magic Flute  (3.04 minutes - animated plot summary)  

The following images are from books and  productions of The Magic Flute - Can you tell what part of the story each one represents: 

                                   

The opera was written in German, and is usually sung in the German language; however, sometimes versions are sung in English.  

The Queen of the Night Aria  is the most well known from the whole of the Magic Flute.  Mozart wrote it specifically for his sister-in-law as he knew she could sing the difficult notes. It's  considered to be one of the hardest for any soprano to sing.  It's also known as Der Holle Nacht  (the German title) or the Revenge Aria.

Here's a compilation of several sopranos singing the same aria - so you can see it done several different ways in different settings. 
 
And here is actress Meryl Streep portray Florence Foster Jenkins  singing Queen of the Night - very badly.  Florence was a wealthy woman in America who enjoyed singing and performing - in spite of bot being very good at it.

This is what the words are in English.

The vengeance of Hell boils in my heart,
Death and despair flame about me!
If Sarastro does not through you feel
The pain of death,
Then you will be my daughter nevermore.
Disowned may you be forever,
Abandoned may you be forever,
Destroyed be forever
All the bonds of nature,
If not through you
Sarastro becomes pale!
Hear, Gods of Revenge,
Hear a mother's oath!

Junior Songs: 
Chumbara
Sarasponda 
Ten in a bed ( all from this blog post)  

And a new song for roll call. 

2018, Term 3, Week 6: More Mozart - Rondo a la Turca

Maori Language week bonus songs: 
Juniors:
bilingual version of 10 Little Kiwi birds. 
Haere Mai song
Alphabet song
Days of the Week - in Maori 

Seniors: 
A song by Stan Walker for Maori Language Week 2104, called Aotearoa 

       

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born on January 27th 1756 and died on December 5th 1791, at age 35. He was born in Salzburg in Austria, where his father, Leopold, was also a musician and composer.

Wolfgang's family called him Wolferl. He was called a child prodigy which means he could do something extremely clever at a very young age. He composed his first piece of music when he was just 5 years old. He was 7 when his first music was published, and when he was 12 he had written his first opera. He was an accomplished violinist and pianist by the age of 6, and he and his sister Maria Anna (called Nanner by her family) travelled around Europe giving concerts and even performing for royalty. Nanner was a very clever musician and composer herself, but she stopped travelling and giving concerts once she reached marrying age.

When he was older, Mozart moved to Vienna to earn a living as a composer and pianist. He was used to being a famous child musician and having a great fuss of him, so it was difficult for him to settle to being an adult performer and not the centre of attention anymore - even though he was still a musical genius.

Mozart married Constanze Weber in 1782. They had six children, but only two survived past infancy. He earnt a lot of money in his life time but wasted it and ended up dying of kidney disease at 35 years old. He was buried in a common grave with no special ceremony.

Mozart composed an enormous amount of music in his short life. It would take over 8 days to play all his music without stopping. He also composed in a wide range of musical forms, such as operas, symphonies, concertos, masses, and chamber music.

This week's music is called: Turkish Rondo - or Rondo alla Turca  from Piano Sonata in A, K. 331. It's also known as Mozart's Turkish March of Rondo alla Turk.  Here is a version played on the piano.  You can find many other versions of it - from glass harps (glasses filled with water) to drum solos, heavy-metal guitars  to  full orchestras.  Chinese pianist Lang Lang is well known for a very fast performance of Rondo alla Turca.   And sometimes, because it's so well known, some musicians like to have a bit of fun and change the way they play it.  In these versions, listen carefully when themes are repeated, you will notice that the second time is usually a little different: often quieter, and sometimes with a rallentando (slowing down) in some places.

This is one person's idea of a listening map for Rondo alla Turca. Can you follow it and see why the images change when they do? Each picture represents a different theme in the music.  

See if you can follow this rhythm pattern for Rondo alla Turca.  This will introduce semiquavers to you.  

This is a five-year-old boy playing Rondo alla Turca. How long would it take you to learn how to play this? 

And this version is a really fast rap full of advice to children - set to Rondo alla Turca. Can you keep up?  

And here's a good reason to keep practising playing the recorder - see what can be done?

Here's something to watch for homework: It's a German animated cartoon series (dubbed in English) based on the life of Mozart as a child (called Amadeus here.) 

This is Part 1: Solo for Amadeus 


Songs: 
Juniors: Scroll down for songs from the past few weeks/ 

Baby Shark Dance has had over one billon views, so let's add another few views to that. 

Notation: 

Here's a song to help you learn the notes E, G, B, D, F on the treble clef. 

Scroll down to the last few blogs for some revision, and then try theses: 

1. Here's a notation game where you click on the note names to spell words. 

2. Now, use the guide  - or your own knowledge - to name the notes and spell the words. 

3.  And here's an interactive game where you can test yourself against the clock. Be careful, it;s easy to make mistakes at speed on this one. 

4. And the test: can you draw (need  data projector on white board)   or indicate where these notes go on the stave.