Roles and Instrumentation
| Role | Voice type | Premiere cast, 30 September 1791 (conductor: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart) |
|---|---|---|
| Tamino | tenor | Benedikt Schack |
| Papageno | baritone | Emanuel Schikaneder |
| Pamina | soprano | Anna Gottlieb |
| The Queen of the Night | coloratura soprano | Josepha Hofer |
| Sarastro | bass | Franz Xaver Gerl |
| Three ladies | 2 sopranos, mezzo-soprano | Mlle Klöpfer, Mlle Hofmann, Mme Elisabeth Schack |
| Monostatos | tenor | Johann Joseph Nouseul |
| Three boys | treble, alto, mezzo-soprano | Anna Schikaneder; Anselm Handelgruber; Franz Anton Maurer |
| Speaker of the temple | bass-baritone | Herr Winter |
| Three priests | tenor, 2 basses | Johann Michael Kistler, Urban Schikaneder, Herr Moll |
| Papagena | soprano | Barbara Gerl |
| Two armoured men | tenor, bass | Johann Michael Kistler, Herr Moll |
| Three slaves | 2 tenors, bass | Karl Ludwig Giesecke, Herr Frasel, Herr Starke |
| Priests, women, people, slaves, chorus | ||
The names of the performers at the premiere are taken from a preserved playbill for this performance (at right), which does not give full names; "Hr." = Herr, Mr.; "Mme." = Madame, Mrs.; "Mlle." = Mademoiselle, Miss.
While the female roles in the opera are assigned to different voice types, the playbill for the premiere performance referred to all of the female singers as "sopranos". The casting of the roles relies on the actual pitch range of the part.
These singers perform with an orchestra consisting of two flutes (one doubling on piccolo), two oboes, two clarinets (doubling basset horns), two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, three trombones (alto, tenor, and bass), timpani and strings. The work also requires a four-part chorus for several numbers (notably the finales of each act). Mozart also called for a stromento d'acciaio (instrument of steel) to perform Papageno's magic bells; an instrument which has since been lost to history, though modern day scholars believe it to be a keyed glockenspiel, which is usually substituted with a celesta instead in modern day performances.
Read more about this topic: Sarastro
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“A concern with parenting...must direct attention beyond behavior. This is because parenting is not simply a set of behaviors, but participation in an interpersonal, diffuse, affective relationship. Parenting is an eminently psychological role in a way that many other roles and activities are not.”
—Nancy Chodorow (20th century)