The Age Of Enlightenment, By Kenneth Branagh

In Europe, the Age of Enlightenment was a period of intellectual movement which spanned from around the middle of the 17th century until the very beginning of the 18th century (Duignan). It “was characterized by a rational scientific approach religious, social, political, and economic issues” (“age-of-enlightenment”). During the Age of Enlightenment, the Classical Era emerged. At the Classical Era, the scores were lighter and elegant (“Mozart”). The use of woodwind instruments, such as the flute, oboe, and clarinet, helped expand the orchestra ("Classical Era Music: A Beginner's Guide"). The composers of the Classical era incorporated homophonic texture in their compositions (“Mozart”). An example of a homophonic composition is The Magic

It is a two-act opera composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart as the last piece he premiered before his death. It is accompanied by a libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder (Sadie). It was produced during the Classical era during the Enlightenment period. In Germany during the 18th century, it was commonly known as a singspiel, which is an opera compromised of both spoken dialogue and singing (Cantoni). The Magic Flute has been adapted many times. One adaptation is directed by Kenneth Branagh. He puts a modern twist on it, setting the story during World War I instead of the Enlightenment period. Although the overall movie is set during war times, Mozart’s score almost always contradicts with the visual and textual aspects of the film. It is a comic opera. Through sonic, visual, and textual means, Kenneth Branagh’s The Magic Flute explores light and darkness as its

The dark side is shown whenever the Queen of the Night is shown. The queen and her friends are wearing all black and surrounded with a dark background. Using her coloratura soprano voice, as she climbs up the castle, she sings of wanting to get Pamina to marry Monostatos (Branagh, The Magic Flute). Whenever the queen emotionally sings, the chords become disjunct, as do the other characters (Chow-Morris). On the other hand, the light side appears fully from when Tamino and Pamina marry until the end of the film. The last of the darkness is seen before the queen falls from the window. Sarastro does try to save her, but she lets go (Branagh, The Magic Flute), getting rid of the darkness within the film. Sonically, visually, and textually, it now all matches. There is no darkness trying to creep in anymore. In fact, as the camera pans throughout the field, you witness that as the people walk, the grass turns green. It looks like it is removing the darkness that was a part of the film at the