Mozart: Die Zauberflöte (Met Live CD) – George Shirley, Judith Raskin

Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Artists: George Shirley, Theodor Uppman, Roberta Peters, Judith Raskin, Loretta di Franco, John Macurdy, Andrea Velis, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra & Chorus
Conductor: Josef Krips
Number of Discs: 1
Label: Metropolitan Opera
Release Date: December 13, 2021

Recorded live on March 4, 1967

Since it has been at Lincoln Center, the Met Opera has commissioned three striking new productions of Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, each the inspiration of a popular visual artist. The first of these had its debut in the company’s inaugural season at Lincoln Center, on February 19, 1967, with scenery and costumes designed by Marc Chagall. 

Chagall is a symbolic figure in the Met’s presence at Lincoln Center, in the massive murals he created for the lobby of the opera house, always visible from the plaza. The artist’s work was so broadly influential in the 1960s that his name alone was a box office draw. In his New York World Journal-Tribune review of the premiere of Die Zauberflöte, Alan Rich observed, “By the end of last evening, many members of the Metropolitan Opera House’s audience were convinced that Marc Chagall had not only designed the new production of The Magic Flute, but had also composed the music, written the libretto, sung the major roles and conducted.”

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