Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Musical Rambling III: Damrau in Der Hölle Rache

A friend and true opera's lover has brought to my attention this outstanding interpretation of the immortal Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen ("Hell's vengeance boils in my heart") by coloratura soprano Diana Damrau.

Magic Flute is my all-time favorite operatic masterpiece. It is at once:

  • an unbelievable musical tour de force
  • a deep masonic & alchemical journey
  • an amusing, spirited fairy tale

I can hardly imagine anything more appealing to my taste.

As for the Queen of the Night, she says it all in the final somber pentameters:

Hört, Rachegötter,
hört der Mutter Schwur!

Hear, Gods of Revenge,
hear the mother's curse!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Outstandig! Diana Damrau so agile and yet powerful. Thank you for posting this.

Polymathicus said...

Thank you Guido for dropping by.

Yes, she is truly amazing: since the good times of the legendary Callas, there are not many great voices around who also have impressive acting skills.

Damrau is really scary here, as befits the mighty Queen of the Night.