Papageno In Front Of Stadsschouwburg Theatre – Bruges, Belgium
Posted by: 
dtrebilc
N 51° 12.637 E 003° 13.459
31U E 515668 N 5673270
This statue of Papageno stands in front of one of the best preserved theatres in Europe.
Waymark Code: WMFDGB
Location: West-Vlaanderen, Belgium
Date Posted: 10/02/2012
Views: 21
Bruges is one of the best preserved Medieval cities in Europe. It manages to maintain its historical architecture whilst at the same time keeping up to date with the modern world.
Papageno is a bird catcher in Mozart’s opera ‘The Magic Flute’. It was based on Emanuel Schikaneder's Libretto.
This
website gives a brief description of all the characters of the Magic Flute. Of Papageno it states “the birdcatcher, a clumsy, comical character written for the librettist to play, is the heir to the Kasperl and Hanswurst figures of Viennese popular theatre, a trace of whose accent he retains. The attribute of this ‘know-all’ who really knows nothing is a set of panpipes that can charm birds (he will also make incidental use of a set of magic bells). In a sense he lies at the centre of the opera: his failed, even parodic initiation sets in perspective the gravity of the itinerary followed by the Tamino/Pamina couple and the solemnity of a discourse which thus always remains human and accessible. He emerges as an amiable coward with a tendency to put his foot in it, deeply in love with life and with his Papagena, and his feathered person and catchy tunes add a touch of bright colour to the austere interplay of shadows and light which structures the drama.”
In the play he first appears in a costume made out of bird feathers and carries his pan pipes and a bird cage on his back. In this statue, sculpted by Jef Claerhout, he is wearing a costume with a bird’s head covering his hair and wings on his back. In his right hand he has pan pipes and in his left a small bird cage with 3 birds in it.
According to the English translation of this Dutch
Wikipedia page "Jef Claerhout ( Tielt , 1937 ) is a Belgian artist . From him are many bronze statues or artworks in Bruges Ommeland and Tielt and region (province of West Flanders ).
Metalworking belonged to the family tradition, so it was quite natural that Jef metal sculptures made. With various welding techniques and deformation in metal he tells the amazing stories his grandfather told him as a child: folk tales, in which humor, irony and mythology incorporated into fabulous figures, animals, birds and horses. He also made ??a number of more realistic images of people or characters, such as General Stanislaw Maczek and Briek Schotte ."
The statue has 4 plaques on the sides of its plinth.
PAPAGENO
DER VOGELFANGER BIN ICH JA
ARIA UIT DE TOVERFLUIT
OPERA VAN
W.A. MOZART
1756 - 1791
This can be translated as
THE BIRDCATCHER IS AN
ARIA FROM THE MAGIC FLUTE
OPERA OF
W.A. MOZART
1756 - 1791
INGEHULDIGD DOOR
FRANK VAN ACKER
BURGEMEESTER VAN
DE STAD BRUGGE
1 JULI 1980
This can be translated as
UNVEILED BY
FRANK VAN ACKER
MAYOR OF
THE CITY OF BRUGES
1 JULY 1980
The following is a quote from the character Prince Tamino who like Papageno is also looking for the love of his life. Because of Papageno’s naievity and strange costume he asks of Papageno.
WER ICH BIN?
DRUMME FRAGE !
MENSCH WIE DU
According to
this website which describes the plot of The Magic Flute he is saying
I DON’T KNOW IF YOU ARE HUMAN!