Character tenors are usually called on to embrace extremes—for instance, roles that are utterly malevolent, such as Spoletta in Tosca, or utterly foolish, such as Franz in Tales of Hoffmann. Furthermore, these roles are generally so short that they must be delineated boldly and swiftly, rather than gradually unfolded. (One prominent character tenor likes to describe his roles as “hit it and quit it.”) The fact that a role lacks complexity does not mean, however, that it need be unmotivated or external. Monostatos is purely malevolent, but his malevolence stems from his sense of grievance. Others scorn him for his wicked actions, but he believes that his actions are a result of their unjust scorn. Others perceive him as brutalizing Pamina; he believes that his sentiment for her is simply the same “love” others feel. His ability to justify his actions to himself is encapsulated in his aria.
Friedrich Lenz, who sings Monostatos in the Karl Bšhm recording of Die Zauberflšte, would have been even more effective had he sung his aria with the dynamic shadings suggested here by Joseph Smith.
Since Monostatos intends to ravish Pamina while she sleeps, a hushed delivery of the aria is a dramatic necessity. Mozart not only marks the accompaniment “sempre PP” but also explicitly demands that all be played and sung so softly that it seems to sound from the far distance. Because composers of the classical period generally give only the barest of performance indications, we give this extreme directive great importance. In a soft dynamic, the strong projection of consonants will help give the voice presence, and special emphasis of the unvoiced consonants gives the impression of whispering, “Alles fühlt der Liebe Freuden.” Obviously, this aria is not a vehicle to display amplitude of voice. What it does display, though, is the singer’s readiness to sacrifice conventional vocalism to the specific demands of the dramatic moment.
Any strophic aria (the same music repeated with different words) presents the danger of monotony. In such cases, we must look to the text for variety. It will usually provide a rationale for coloring the verses differently. In fact, the two verses of Monostatos’s aria have a substantially different mood. The first verse is a complaint: he laments that he is denied the love that all other living creatures enjoy and to which he feels himself entitled. The second verse is an oath: He determines to have Pamina. The middle section (bars 25 through 31) is particularly intriguing.
In the first verse, the rest in bar 26 breaks up a clause: “Ist mir denn” (rest) “kein Herz gegeben?” Since it serves no syntactical function, the rest can be used as a little sob of self-pity. In the second verse, however, the same music is set to two little clauses: “Weiss ist schön! Ich muss sie küssen.” Here, Monostatos is suggesting that he is not to blame; Pamina’s beauty is compelling him to kiss her. The first phrase can be gentle—a little love song! In the second phrase, the word “muss” (must) requires a special emphasis. This word is crucial to his self-justification. In the first verse, the “mf” accent in bars 29 and 32 underscores the rhetorical question “bin ich nicht von fleisch und blut?” In the second verse, the accent falls on the direct address. Monostatos is imperiously commanding the moon to hide itself (and conceal his act). Therefore, the final “t” sound of the word “Mond!” can be sharply bitten off, rather than connected to the next note. The accent is marked only in the orchestral part, but this is Mozart’s practice: markings in the voice parts are generally reserved for ensembles in which the various voices have different dynamics from one another. In arias, we must decide which of the orchestral dynamics are suitable to the expression of the vocal line.
This line delivered to the moon could be taken as figurative: “Hide yourself, moon. If it bothers you [to watch what I am about to do], close your eye.” But it is hard to “play” a figure of speech. Isn’t it possible that Monostatos actually believes that the moon can hear and react to him? Such a belief would render him all the more exotic, and delivering the line as an imperious taunt gives an especially strong conclusion to the aria. The libretto of The Magic Flute embodies attitudes toward race and gender that we now deplore. I was delighted to hear of a production that managed to subvert its racial bias without altering its text: in one historically black university, all the roles were sung by black students with the exception of Monostatos, for which a white character tenor was engaged.
The respected New York coach Joseph Smith has prepared singers for engagements in the world’s leading opera houses. He has written the opera entry of the NYPL Performing Arts Desk Reference, articles for the Kurt Weill Newsletter and the Seattle Opera Magazine, and has lectured for the New York Wagner Society.
