Dear Marion,

Thank you for taking me, albeit vicariously, to the Minneapolis
Magic Flute. Your vivid, lively description makes the performance
that you relate alluring and at the same time intimidating. Best
for me, I think, is to listen to high quality recording of the
music with an orchestral score and in this way to gain a deeper
understanding of the artistry that makes the music compelling.

I forwarded to you de.wikipedia.org URL about "Singspiel" because
of my interest in the distinction between the recitatives of
opera and the intercalated declamations of the Singspiel. I ask
myself why in the Italian libretti of Don Giovanni, Figaro and
Cosi fan Tutte, Mozart wrote such magnificent recitatives, while
in the Magic Flute and in the Abduction the arias and choruses
are linked by awkward declamations which to my ears interrupt
the melody of the music. Arguably the cadence of Mozart's native
German resisted facile transformation into a melodic line. Before
venturing an answer, I would need an intimate acquaintance with
all of Mozart's vocal works, with his songs, his operas and his
masses and also with the Italian language, all far beyond my 
grasp, and "I don't know" is the only response I have. (The last 
time I tried to listen to Fidelio, I found the prose intercalations
so embarrassing in their naivete and lack of poetic grace,
that I turned off the CD player.)

A second source of perplexity is the puppet show, a form of
entertainment which has made me uncomfortable from my German
childhood, when puppetry, - das Kasperletheater -, was considered
the most delightful of children's treats. I couldn't be persuaded,
then or now. In an attempt to educate myself, I've just reread
Kleist's famous essay "Ueber das Marionettentheater" as well as 
Goethe's praise of "das Puppentheater" in Wilhelm Meister's Lehrjahre.
I still don't get it. I've always known there was something wrong
with me. Maybe by exploring my aversion to puppetry, I can get
closer to an explanation.

I've given more thought to my recent exploration of utopian fantasy,
in which I perceive some esthetic and spiritual similarity to the
puppet show. Both puppetry and utopia pretend, very irresponsibly,
I think, to represent and approximate reality. To my mind, it's far
more constructive - and edifying - to try to understand why puppets
are not humans, why utopias are unattainable, than to indulge
oneself in the illusion that they are.

Jochen