Some opera arias are so recognisable that they make their way into the broader culture. The Queen of the Night aria from Mozart’s The Magic Flute, which will be performed by Welsh National Opera during our Spring 2023 Season, is a perfect example of this. Whether an opera regular or not, almost everyone will recognise the music – the spectacular high notes and florid scales are unmistakeable. Here are some of our favourite appearances in popular culture.
1. House of Gucci
In this 2021 film starring Lady Gaga and Adam Driver, the famous Queen of the Night aria is sung before a fashion show which is stopped by the police. It is sung by Florence Andrews who plays Jenny Gucci – the opera singing wife of Paolo Gucci.
2. Amadeus
Okay, this one is a slight cheat because it’s a biopic of Mozart himself. Nevertheless, the film had a surprising cultural impact. In this scene from Amadeus, Mozart (played by Tom Hulce) is inspired to write the most famous and glittering passages of the aria while he is being lambasted for his selfishness. Here, the aria is sung by June Anderson.
3. Florence Foster Jenkins
This is another biopic. Florence Foster Jenkins was an amateur soprano born in 1868. She was a talented pianist. But an arm injury forced her to abandon this career. As a result, she decided to throw herself into singing – she had less talent for this. Meryl Streep’s performance in the film has the characteristic flat notes and peculiar tone of Florence Foster Jenkins’ recordings.
4. Kristin
Tony Award winner Kristin Chenoweth was trained as an opera singer before she turned to musical theatre and sang such roles as Glinda in Wicked! In an episode of her sitcom Kristin, she sings The Queen of the Night aria while an argument breaks out. This argument turns out to be perfectly synchronised with the music until someone gets punched on a climactic high note.
5. The Voyager Spacecraft
The Queen of the Night aria has even gone into space. The Voyager Golden Records have many pictures, sounds and pieces of music for any extra-terrestrial life that might stumble across them. The Queen of the Night aria was featured on this disk. NASA are still in contact with both Voyager spacecraft, even though Voyager 1 is currently over 14.5 billion miles from Earth and has been travelling for nearly 45 years.
Welsh National Opera’s brand-new production of The Magic Fluteis directed by Daisy Evans and will be visiting Cardiff, Llandudno, Milton Keynes, Bristol, Birmingham, Southampton and Plymouth during our Spring 2023 Season. This re-imagined version incorporates elements from popular culture, bringing Mozart’s classic firmly up to date.