The Return of the Queen of the Night
Joseph von Sternberg's Der blaue Engel and Die Zauberflöte
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 9852088 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Simon Richter (0000-0003-1908-8690, California University of Pennsylvania, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2008 |
| Volume | 61 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 171-185 |
| Publication date | 2008-01-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | German Life and Letters (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0016-8777 • E-ISSN: 1468-0483 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/j.1468-0483.2007.00417.x |
| OpenAlex | W1971337066 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
After decades of scholarly inattention, the musical complexity of Joseph von Sternberg's Der Blaue Engel (1930) and Friedrich Hollaender's score is beginning to be recognised. In this article, I argue that Sternberg in fact conceived Der Blaue Engel not only in quasi‐operatic terms, but also as a response to the gender politics of Mozart and Schikaneder's Zauberflöte . The Zauberflöte famously lulls its audience into initial sympathy with the Queen of the Night in the first half, only to turn the tables by reversing the perspective, reasserting masculine authority and order, and banishing the Queen of the Night from the Realm of Light. In Lola Lola's triumph over Professor Rath, Sternberg stages the return of the Queen of the Night. Many details of the movie that otherwise seem unmotivated – particularly the preponderance of ‘bird’ motifs – become meaningful when viewed in relation to the Zauberflöte
Art · Art history · Humanities · Literature · MOZART · Musical · Queen (butterfly · Realm · Arts, Culture, and Music Studies · History · Musicology and Musical Analysis · Theater, Performance, and Music History
| Citations per year | 0.17 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2014 - 2017 (4) |
| Highly cited | No |