Franz Léhar’s “Land of Smiles” must be viewed differently in 2024 than in the year of its premiere in 1929. The librettists Ludwig Herzer, Fritz Löhner-Beda and Victor Léon describe China in a largely uniform, stereotypical and racist way. The women in the play are also portrayed with little differentiation. In order to bring a contemporary perspective to the old material, the NKO has commissioned two young artists, Elisabeth Pape and Abigél Varga, to completely rewrite the plot and music of LISAS LAND DES LÄCHELNS, making significant changes to the original and reducing or adding musical parts.
The Critical Classics initiative is taking a different approach here: it recently published a text edition of Mozart’s “Magic Flute” that has been brought up to modern standards by diversity and opera experts. Instead of belittling women, quote “a woman does little, chats a lot”, or discriminating against people on the basis of their skin colour, quote “and I should avoid love because a black man is ugly”,“Critical Classics” aims to raise general awareness of discriminatory language in opera libretti with a carefully revised libretto and use practical examples to stimulate a discussion on how to deal with problematic content. The music, on the other hand, remains 99.9% untouched.
The Neuköllner Oper supports the project and offers the libretto and the edited piano score for download here:
Die Zauberflöte (Critical Classics)
Klavierauszug 1. Akt
Klavierauszug 2. Akt
Einführung
Libretto
Libretto (2-spaltig)