Cinéma RITCS : The Magic Flute

Cinéma RITCS : The Magic Flute

02/12 @ 19h00

"The Magic Flute became my companion through life."
Ingmar Bergman

Mozart's Magic Flute is one of the world's best loved operas. The first ever performance took place on 30 September 1791 at the Theater auf der Wieden in Vienna, where librettist Emanuel Schikaneder was the theatre manager. The first performance in Sweden took place on 30 March 1812 at the Royal Opera in Stockholm.

Bergman's film version of Mozart's opera, set in a mock-up version of the Drottningholm Theatre, had gained intense press coverage long before its premiere. Many headlines focused on the production costs, which were steep by television standards. Depending on how you chose to calculate it, the sum would land somewhere between SEK 2,5 and 4 million, by far the most expensive Swedish TV production ever in its day. Just as with Cries and Whispers or Fanny and Alexander, irritated voices were raised about the resources that were allotted to Bergman, and thus denied other, less fortunate, directors and producers.

The concerns, as in the previous cases, turned out to be unfounded. Through sales to several foreign tv networks, TV2 made a tidy profit from The Magic Flute – a couple of million. Also internationally, the film garnered acclaim. And as recently as during the 250th anniversary of Mozart's birth in 2006, Bergman's interpretation was one the most frequently named and requested 'Mozart works'.

Cinéma RITCS
The Magic Flute, Ingmar Bergman

For Dreamers, Coffee shots, Orezza, eau de Saint-Georges !