4.6.02023

Feature photo: Jacuzzi with book

game night

Is there a better way to end a completely relaxed day than with a game? Our current favorite game is Rummikub. But I should have written about that before. And when the day is slowly but surely coming to an end here, it has long since begun elsewhere — my e-mail and message remind me of that.

And so at the end of the day I ask myself how people can still get bored these days, because actually the opposite is the case. Boredom has to be fought hard and hard these days, and if you ever get there, you're bound to be too exhausted to even enjoy it.

With this thought, I'll say goodbye to my readers for today, but first take a quick look at the current e-mail.

Jacuzzi

Finally the weather turned so that I could get back to my favorite pastime, reading books in the warm jacuzzi. Anyone who has read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy will surely know my kindred spirit.

My only problem is how to get what I've read from the book into the Zettelkasten. A few years ago I found it quite good if the notepads used at the time (Palm III) were waterproof. And a good 20 years later, humanity is not much further, at least in this regard, which confirms my suspicion that far too few have fully grasped the actual advantages of a hot tub.

In any case, the world would be a better place if more of us had the opportunity, or the muse, to spend our day in the hot tub.

Die Zauberflöte

At least all former German schoolchildren have seen The Magic Flute at least once in their lives; in case they come from valleys of the clueless, heard it off a record. Whereby all music teachers felt called upon to explain the plot to their students. Everyone else knows the Magic Flute at least in excerpts from television or radio.

So I would never have thought of writing something about the Magic Flute myself, with perhaps one exception, namely when Nancy Gibson the Queen of the Night gave - but that was a long time ago.

Yesterday, however, the Metropolitan Opera brought The Magic Flute to the cinemas and I couldn't help but watch it, especially since the Met has been concentrating on it for a long time in order to transfer older pieces to the present day. Well, if it's The Magic Flute, then a performance by the Met.

And sorry Nancy, but yesterday's Magic Flute was the best I've ever seen. Whether there are better sung performances, I can't say, certainly not since yesterday any better performances! Anyone who was not lucky enough or had the opportunity to follow this performance should buy the corresponding DVD in the Met Opera Shop soon.

simon mcburney did something very special, he brought this opera from 1791 back to life, and Kathryn Lewek gave the best queen of the night in her fiftieth (!) performance. In any case, she was the best singer of the evening.

The cast of Sarastro with Stephen Milling a very good choice and harmony between Erin Morley (Pamina) and Lawrence Brownlee (Tamino) consistent. Also worth mentioning Thomas Oliemans (Papageno), who admitted that he didn't quite get used to the ladder that had been given to him.

But the whole thing has a big disadvantage here in Germany. Because now that you can easily read the text during the performance, it is to be feared that The Magic Flute will soon be banned here until an artist with the appropriate party book has rewritten it.

"A man must guide your hearts,
For without him every woman nurses
To step out of their sphere of influence.”

Sarastro, The Magic Flute (1791)

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