Die Zauberflote, the opera as prophecy…when characters molt…

I knew his music long before I knew his name.  When I learned who Mozart was I became very distressed, as it seemed he had left everything in a terrible mess for me…I did not understand why I had been put into a family that seemed incredibly immature and superficial.  I had no idea the ill-intent that was being masked.

I wanted nothing to do with the opera Die Zauberflote for a long time.  I refused to visit Germany or Austria when I spent a year abroad.  It wasn’t until my children were small when “Monostatos” insisted we view the Bergman movie of the opera.  A door opened, of course.  At the time I felt relieved; if the opera was prophecy I knew all would turn out well. I had only to do my best…

My children, the loves of my life, fit closely into the Drie Knabchen envisioned by Wolf. Their kindness and patience gave me the courage to forge ahead, knowing by that time that my Mother and her accomplices would try to destroy me at every turn.  Before long a real-life Papageno had become part of our extended family.  I knew I was blessed with a friend who would support me in the trials ahead.  And then came a real-life Tamino– or so I wanted to believe…

However, without my realizing, the characters had begun to molt.  I had not taken into account human nature.  Those who were my greatest source of support became my worst adversaries.  My darling children had been bewitched by my Mother, and by their wicked ex-stepfather “Monostatos”.

And so I began a journey to find answers that led me into uncharted territory, and into places I would never have wanted to go.  That betrayal was almost more than I could bear, but the flute kept me going, as it always has, and told me the truth about everything I needed to know.

And that is the message of die zauberflote…the flute itself, not the opera…:-)

 

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The best way for you to understand die zauberflote is, of course, to hear it. It has a peculiar energy and resonance. It causes some to lock their jaws and grit their teeth, and others to weep tears of joy. For those who hold a gentle heart it blesses them greatly. Those with ill-intent it stops in its tracks. Surely you will find that these characteristics are consistent with those Wolf described in his last major opera? And then you will perhaps come to understand that the opera is, in fact, a prophecy that is now being fulfilled…

Though locked out by a so-called ‘major’ orchestra where the music director is refusing to grant me my credentials, even though I practiced regularly on the darkened stage at the insistence of the players I call “Monostatos” while the sounds of die zaubeflote played throughout orchestra hall. I ask you to listen and decide for yourself what to think…

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A hearty band of warriors…M4B*

As I move forward with the joyous and tumultuous saga that is die zauberflote, I would be honored and privileged if you would consider working with me.  There will be a number of opportunities coming available in the near future.

The current projects are a music video, Out of Night and Fog, for which I will be looking for a film crew,  and an upcoming holiday concert, “Blue Christmas”, for which I will be looking for, ideally, a keyboard player, drummer and a bass player comfortable with the blues and jazz. Both the filming and concert will take place in the Twin Cities.

At one point in my life, when I was quite immature, I joined the DAR.  I was a prized possession simply because of my youth.  At first I felt pampered, but before long came to realize how many slaves served in the Revolutionary War, alongside such as my ancestor, Abijah Weatherell.  I learned that those records were not kept or were so poorly maintained that it was very difficult for their family members to join this exclusive organization.  Then I found out what happened to Marian Anderson and the DAR’s refusal to let her perform at their Constitution Hall.  I ran away from them as fast as I could, and vowed never to belong to any organization that excluded others.  I have kept that promise to this day.

What is my point?  Simply that the team that is being built appears to be that of a group of reverse-exclusivity.  Everyone is welcome, but not all will wish to become involved.  A few are tapped. Some may even be offended.  The two main requirement seems to be a gentle heart and a giving nature.  For those who are saved Christians, I can say that it is best to be mature in your faith and Spirit filled, as die zauberflote will probably turn your life upside down while it puts you into a safe place, as it has me and everyone close to it.

If you are interested, and if anything I am saying makes sense to you, please email me at pamina@mindspring.com a video or audio clip of you playing something of Mozart’s.

You can find videos and clips of my playing on Sound Cloud at https://soundcloud.com/pamela-brown-3 and at pamina58 on Youtube.

Thank you so much for your consideration…

M4B=Mozart For Believers

 

 

 

When you listen to die zauberflote…:-0 M4B*

Once I understood the overwhelming consequences, I became convinced that I have no alternative but to describe a worst-case-scenario in regards to listening to die zauberflote…(the real magic flute, not the opera by Mozart written about it)…

This conviction is due to the fact that, when I was a child, one family member died by their own hand and another almost succeeded in doing so, while trying to cause me and die zauberflote harm. I say that ‘the aisles of Orchestra Hall are already full of the corpses of those who thought they could block die zauberflote — why would I wish there to be any more?’ Of course, a statement such as that tends to elicit a curious sort of response; sometimes a ‘deer-in-the-headlights’ look, though at others, a pursing of the lips, a setting of the jaw, that give me a tendency to think they might have already made up their minds to try.

At that point I am tempted sometimes to chastise myself for speaking up at all. “Let the chips fall,” I say to myself. But then I recall the deceased members of the cadre of players at the MO, that I have had no alternative but to call “Monostatos”. I remember with agony the efforts I made to keep my teacher, the then Principal Flute, from suffering the consequences of trying to block me, through outright lies and sending me on useless rabbit trails. At one point I even called the conductor who was trying to have him fired to plead for his job on his behalf. I recall another who slipped away very painfully through brain cancer. And then I return to my conviction that I must speak what I know, and then I will have done my best.

I also ask everyone to simply keep an open mind about die zauberflote, and a gentle heart toward Gd. Those who are able to do this just roll with everything that happens. Then I find that people are greatly blessed, with health and with abundance of every sort, emanating from its Source.

And so, as I will be posting some mp3 clips shortly, I will ask the same of you, and hope that you have ears to hear me…

M4B*=Mozart For Believers

My Mother’s curse…and an interesting coincidence…:-0 M4B*

I sincerely doubt that anyone who met my mother, Katherine, was not bewitched by her charm and poise.  In fact, I would have myself, had I not also been a target of her vicious, even murderous, agendas.  When she was charming it was almost impossible to realize that she could, in an instant, lash out in a demeaning and disrespectful manner.  I quickly became aware of her dual personality and, even as a small child, never trusted her to be honest with me or look after my best interests.  In fact, by the time I turned four, I had come to realize that ‘nothing was as it seems or as I am told.’  It seemed that my Father just stood by and watched things happen.  My younger sister, Angela, seemed to hide and gloat, and did not, or was not able to, help me.

However, as a child, everywhere I turned, there my Mother was.  Only when I was sent to my room (the precursor to being grounded) or allowed to go outside after finishing my homework, to the relative heaven of the fluffy fields, stream and woods surrounding our dead-end street in Fairfield, Connecticut, did I feel that I could calm down and really think for myself.  Her influence was very controlling.

However, the commotion surrounding my most likely having been poisoned by her on more than one occasion caused a terrible upheaval in my birth family.  My Father almost succeeded in taking his own life when he figured out what had happened.  He spent quite a while in a hospital recovering.  During that time, my Mother decided to take things into her own hands (once again).  After returning from a session in New Haven with my Father and his doctors, she came into the livingroom where I was sitting and perched herself on the footstool to my Father’s chair.  At that moment, the air seemed to become both black and white around her.  There was a fearful intensity of negative energy.  Her eyes became black as coal, with a white light of some sort seeming to emanate from them.

“You are just like your Father, Pam. The same thing is going to happen to you!” she spat at me.

At that moment three black frogs jumped out of her mouth.  Not real frogs — something that looked just like ‘frogs’ in a spiritual sense.

At that point the black and white light dissipated.  She left the room and walked upstairs. I felt alone, and frightened.  In our house at that time the Bible sat on a shelf with other books.  It was rarely opened.  I had not read Revelation, and, at the time knew nothing about a possibly analogous mention of ‘frogs’ in Revelation 16:13.  I did not know what that meant at the time, and I can’t say that I do even now.  Some of those writing commentary on this verse seem to tiptoe around the fact that ‘frogs’ are specifically mentioned: http://biblehub.com/commentaries/revelation/16-13.htm.  All I know is that is that ‘frogs’ are what I saw that night…

*M4B=Mozart For Believers

 

Minnegeddon — New York City and the “Babylon” of Revelation 18 M4B*

 

Though born in Chicago, I grew up in Fairfield Connecticut, not far from New York City.  My parents were transplants from South Dakota, so, of course, everything about NYC was exciting to them.  Once we had settled in from the transfer from the Midwest (my father was a metallurgical engineer) we started taking day trips to New York.  One of my fondest memories is of going out to the Statue of Liberty on a foggy morning, watching the astoundingly beautiful monument emerge from the fog as we drew close to it, the golden flame in contrast to the gray drizzle. As I grew older, of course, I wanted to live there.  Who wouldn’t?  Fairfield was tiny, the area had nothing but a charming “seashore” (the Long Island Sound) strewn with seaweed and mussels.  I also sensed that New York City had a darkness, a mystery of sorts, that intrigued and puzzled me.

In early September 2001 I was giving flute lessons at a school for home-schooled students one day a week.  It was across the river from us, in the St. Paul, MN area.  As the school year had just started, there were new instructors.  One of them had a fairly simple last name, but I was unable to remember it correctly.  For some odd reason, I kept calling her Ms. “Huffman”.  I was puzzled, to say the least. Usually, I either remembered a person’s name exactly and forever, or not at all.  This was a bit different.

Every evening I read a chapter of the Bible before bed.  Sometimes there seems to be an inclination to focus on one chapter.  At that time, it was Revelation 18.  As I read through the terrifying prophecy of a city that would be sunk beneath the sea I wondered what it would feel like to see people covered in ashes, and asked myself what sort of disaster would take place in ‘just one hour’.  I tried to imagine how those with ships would stand far off and look at the smoke of this city’s burning.

On September 11 2001 I was sipping coffee, watching CNN, preparing for the day, when the news came in of a plane hitting one of the World Tower buildings.  It must have been a small plane, off its course, I remember thinking.  I don’t recall if anything to that effect was said by a newscaster. Then they showed footage of a gaping hole with smoke pouring out one side of the building.  I recalled for a moment something I had read about their construction long ago, when they were built.  The Twin Towers had ‘load-bearing walls’. One of those had been severely breached.  Below, the first responders seemed stunned and somehow terrified.  Although everyone was hoping for the best, the portents were there.

As news of the Pentagon hit came on the air I decided to still leave (I do not know why) for a dermatologist appointment not far away — it the city of Chanhassen, which is home, ironically, to a large golden pyramid-shaped temple connected to a group called Eckankar.  That temple had always given me an eery feeling; even more so that day.  When I went inside the doctor’s waiting room there was total silence — no TV, no radio.  I felt that I was in a time warp; but at least I was able to take a deep breath for a few moments.  After the routine appointment I went out to my car and turned on the radio and started up the car for the drive back home.  Stations were jumbled on top of each other.  The news seemed almost incomprehensible — both WTC towers had fallen, and a fourth plane had crashed into a field in Pennsylvania; ironically, not far from where I had once gone to school. I was unable to process all the new information, and began to become lightheaded.  I was on side roads by this time and drove carefully, ready to pull over if necessary.

When I returned home, of course, my husband confirmed my worst fears, and the news channels carried nothing else but this disaster.  Our borders had been breached for the first time since Pearl Harbor by, we were quickly told, a group of fanatics.  Two of them had trained at a place called “Huffman Aviation” in Florida.  When I heard that, I began to shake. I went back to Revelation 18.  The entire area near the WTC towers was covered in dust, and everyone looked like mummies.  The cameras panned on lower Manhattan from CNN in New Jersey, showing at a distance the smoke of its burning.   Every one of us watched, helplessly.  And for some reason I even now do not understand, I began to praise Gd — not for the attacks, but for preparing me to see that no matter what happened, His hand was also there in the darkness.  I think He held the buildings up as long as possible to get as many people as possible out.  I wondered if this tragedy would bring the city of New York to its knees in true repentance.

That was not to be — instead, they have rebuilt.

So could 9/11 have been a heads-up?  How about, also, Hurricane Sandy, which actually changed direction and headed directly toward New York City, creating terrible calamity?  Over 300 students at Fairfield University became homeless as a result of its assault on just that small section of the shoreline of the Long Island Sound.

New York City still stands.  But for how long?  Will it become true in reality at some point that “the sound of …flutists…shall not be heard in you anymore?”  Rev. 18:22(a)

*M4B=Mozart For Believers

 

 

 

 

Oh, let’s make fun of the libretto to Die Zauberflote…:-0 M4B*

Throughout the 200-odd years since Mozart’s last major opera, The Magic Flute, was premiered in Vienna on September 30, 1791 (coincidentally, the day which, at midnight, ushered in, thanks to the machinations of a real-life “Monostatos” and his cohorts, the recent lockout of players by the Minnesota Orchestra), there has been scarcely a music critic anywhere who hasn’t felt comfortable and probably had a good laugh taking potshots at the libretto.  Not to be outdone, the curiously anti-Mozart movie Amadeus decried the magic flute, magic bells, etc, as ridiculous. Perhaps we should ask the MO’s own Sir Neville Marriner about this, as he was involved with it!  The point of the objections seem to be that nobody on the planet should take the libretto seriously, unless they want to join the tin-hat UFO believers, or perhaps those who believe JFK was killed by a conspiracy!  In short, it is just not musically-correct to look at the libretto of this opera with an objective eye, much less try to determine what a genius such as Mozart was thinking of when he agreed to it.

Here is one example of a typical ‘analysis’, at a musical website:

http://www.musicwithease.com/magic-flute-synopsis.html

I have emailed them to let them know that them analysis is a little shortsighted.  That will probably get a chuckle too.

One character in the opera though, who, to my mind, is severely undeveloped, is that of the snake that appears in the opening scene.  It is so terrifying that Tamino faints, and the handmaidens of the Queen of the Night have to kill it for him.  Then, of course, the feathered Papageno enters into the fray, claiming that it was he who was the hero.  A charming scene, no doubt; but somehow Wolf seemed to be missing the point!  This is a terrifying creature.  It might have better been described as a dragon than as a snake.  However, there is, in the Bible, a great and terrifying snake — it is called Leviathan, and is found in the book of Job.  Leviathan represents an evil spirit, or presence, that entwines itself in our faith and in our finances, and seeks to work ill in both.  In fact, one of the most difficult and torturous areas of Christian life seems to be just that — being grounded in faith while not being devoured by a love of money.

In my life, having lived through this opera, viewing it from the inside, I can say without a doubt that this snake is possibly the most powerful long-term character in the opera.  In fact, it is the snake, or dragon, that gives power to the Queen of the Night and to Monostatos.  This Leviathan has insinuated itself into the lives of everyone I know, trying to get them to turn against Gd’s will for them.  And, as I am aware of how some of the characters ‘should’ act, it has been incredibly distressing to watch them ‘morph’ into something ugly.

So, when we decide to take a look at the libretto to Die Zauberflote again, perhaps we might at least give pause, and acknowledge that, perhaps, there is some sort of mystery here?  Something beyond our simple understanding?

Just a thought…:-)

M4B=Mozart For Believers

 

Minnegeddon and Luke 6:22…M4B*

In my morning Bible reading I came across a passage that I had read many times without understanding that it might have a deeper meaning for my situation in being locked-out by Monostatos’ Orchestra.  It is the passage from the Beatitudes that reads, “Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil because of the Son of Man.” (NIV)

I cannot think of a statement that better describes my experience with the Monostatos Orchestra and those players who enticed me to ‘practice’ on the darkened stage at Orchestra Hall in order to exclude me, even target my home and my children, and silence me once and for all.  It is a very odd experience to be excluded.  You may be standing in the midst of people who are, in fact, excluding you.  They refuse to give you a voice.  They look past you and ignore you.  They may band with others to do the same thing. There is nothing to do but accept this apparent indignity and acknowledge the disrespect that accompanies it.

However, for Believers, we have a higher goal.  For every gift of the Holy Spirit will, by its very nature, be excluded by the world, or in the case of music, by what I call the Kingdom of the Night.  When that happens I must gracefully let go and move on.  We are not called to cast our pearls before swine.  We are to wipe the dust off our feet and keep going.  We are to give thanks to Him who went before us, jumping for joy. 🙂

*M4B=Mozart For Believers

 

Minnegeddon: the music of Wolfgang Mozart and the Great Finn-esse…:-0 M4B*

When you have the curious ‘privilege’ of growing up with a Mother who seems to have a lot of tricks of darkness at her fingertips, you quickly learn about the art of finesse.  Basically, this is a bridge term, for a situation where a player is put into a position where they have to give up a card that is a threat to another player whether they want to or not.  Yes, my Mother loved to play bridge.  We earned all kinds of gifts from her and my Father’s winnings — even a cat! I usually ended up as ‘dummy’ so had a lot of time to observe the shrewd machinations that comprised an artful finesse. I watched that strategy used in real life as well, to unearth secrets and information that otherwise a person would have steadfastly resisted disclosing.  And, eventually, I found myself testing the waters of finessing on my own — sometimes to my advantage, others to utter failure.  But I learned and persisted, and have also become an acute observer of finesses-in-process by others.  That doesn’t happen often — finessing may be something of a lost art.

At any rate, during and following my lockout by Monostatos’ Orchestra I gradually and painfully began to realize that I didn’t really have to do much work to create a finesse.  In fact, if I simply stepped back and let everyone else use all their own energy attempting to disrespect me or worse, they would before long end up hoisting themselves with their own petards.  I realized then, as I had before, that the power of die zauberflote is such that it works whether I am conscious of it or not.

I then began to take a look at the music of Wolfgang Mozart — one of the main reasons he was murdered, imo, was to steal his music.  Those who plotted and wished him dead then had the opportunity to wave his music triumphantly, like banners, proclaiming to the rest of the Kingdom of the Night that they could hear his music without consequence and even, if they wished, claim in their hearts to have replaced Mozart!  And thus they went out into the world, telling everyone of the ‘failure’ of Wolf’s earthly life — how it had ended too soon (but then lots of people died in their 30’s back then) and how much they ‘love’ him (while, of course, slandering him in word and libeling him in book).  Apparently, the slander and libel were supposed to create an aura of protection for those who were profiting from his murder.

And so it has continued for well over 200-years.  The little bit of shining light in this dreadful scenario is the wonderful concept of the “Mozart effect” which became popular in the 80’s.  And yes, there IS such a thing as the “Mozart effect” — it works even when his music is performed by people who despise him.  The gift of Gd given to him is so powerful that it can surmount even that indignity.  I soon became aware of that — you can hear the elegant and profound energy of ‘shalom’ in nearly all his pieces, no matter who performs them.  That, in itself, is something of a miracle.

However, there is even more.  I can assure you now, after long years of observation, that all those performing Mozart’s music are, in fact, turned over to the same Gd that created Mozart.  By their pridefulness in performing Wolf’s music while refusing to humble themselves before the Creator, they end up finessing themselves.  And so, one of the group of Monostatos regularly performs the Clarinet Concerto of Mozart, apparently trying to proclaim that they have, after locking me out, in fact ‘replaced’ Mozart…http://m.startribune.com/vanska-minnesota-orchestra-musicians-unite-for-concert-to-aid-syrian-refugees/363393091/

Umm…not gonna happen.

All they probably have done is finn-essed themself! 🙂

M4B=Mozart For Believers

 

 

Misinterpreting the opera Die Zauberflote…:-0

One of the most curious scholastic errors I find myself having to deal with is the lack of intellectual curiosity on the part of scholars interpreting Mozart’s intent and vision with this opera.  For many years the libretto was simply ridiculed — there were ‘two’ Queens of the Night, for example.  How clumsy of Wolf!  How artificial the temple setting…<yawn>…3 children bobbing in and out to keep Pamina from taking her own life in despair, how very trite!  The Queen of the Night ‘must’ have been modeled after Constanze’s mother, Madam Weber.  We all know that!  Oh, and, of course, Sarastro was modeled after Ignaz von Born: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignaz_von_Born. No curiosity there.  End of discussion.

In short, if there is anything about the opera Die Zauberflote that the critics don’t understand, they have just tended to blame Mozart!  To think that he, of all people, would agree to such a lumbering and clumsy plot!  What was he thinking?  :-0

Musicians and their critics have, in my estimation, one consistent shortcoming, and that is a refusal or an inability to think outside-of-the-box.  If it doesn’t come on paper, staff or otherwise, or someone has not ‘told’ them something, they just refuse to consider the possibility. Very unscholarly approach, to my thinking…

If, on the other hand, one considers that a genius such as Mozart knew exactly what he was doing and agreed to, and sensed in a way that he was launching this opera out into a future time and place where it might even conceivably come to exist in the material world, one might actually grasp what Wolfgang Mozart was all about.  For he did not have a mind riveted by limited thinking.  He simply moved forward with assurance and tenacity, not unlike the father of modern rocketry, Wernher von Braun on his quest to land men on the moon and return them safely to the earth.

So to those tempted to settle for superficial clues to what the opera Die Zauberflote is really all about I humbly ask that you consider the possibility that Wolf was describing people who would not even be born on this earth for over 200 years, and that he was doing his very best to describe them. 🙂

Update 12.19.20

In this year of pandemic, when just about everything we thought we knew has been turned upside-down, allow me to heartily suggest that you re-think everything you have heard and thought about this opera. Please keep an open mind and a gentle heart, and you will be blessed.

Imagine a genius so profound that he could prophecy 200 years into the future, in a time and place that did not even exist in 1791.

Then listen to the Zauberflote.  There are many sound files at this site.