Book contents
- Mozart’s Operas and National Politics
- Mozart’s Operas and National Politics
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Musical Examples
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Authenticity and Ethnicity
- Part II Monuments and Politics
- Part III Translations and Adaptations
- 5 Wenzel Mihule and Don Giovanni
- 6 Die Zauberflöte and Czech National Theater
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
6 - Die Zauberflöte and Czech National Theater
from Part III - Translations and Adaptations
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 July 2023
- Mozart’s Operas and National Politics
- Mozart’s Operas and National Politics
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Musical Examples
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Authenticity and Ethnicity
- Part II Monuments and Politics
- Part III Translations and Adaptations
- 5 Wenzel Mihule and Don Giovanni
- 6 Die Zauberflöte and Czech National Theater
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
This chapter explores how Czech translations and productions of Die Zauberflöte intertwined with the development of Czech national culture between the late eighteenth and late nineteenth centuries. The history of the Czech Zauberflöte adaptations illustrates the gradual transformation of the Czech national movement from a branch of Bohemian regional patriotism into a confident and even aggressive nationalistic movement with strong anti-German tendencies. Die Zauberflöte was the first Mozart opera to be translated into Czech in 1794. In the early nineteenth century, Czech nationalists called for a new translation that would express their anti-German sentiments. Similar sentiments also dominated Czech criticism of Die Zauberflöte in the 1860s, according to which Mozart’s Singspiel was inferior to his Italian operas. In the 1880s, the Czech National Theater managed to incorporate Die Zauberflöte into the canon of national operas, but only by suppressing Schikaneder’s original plot and rearranging Mozart’s music.
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- Mozart's Operas and National PoliticsCanon Formation in Prague from 1791 to the Present, pp. 220 - 260Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023