In the magic realism tradition
of Mozart and Emanuel Schikaneder's The Magic Flute,
where music brings safety in harrowing times;
in the tradition of Shakespearean identity subterfuge,
or of Mozart and Lorenzo da Ponte's Marriage of Figaro,
-- based on a play by Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais,
the French playwright who supplied arms to the American Revolution --
The Wedding Celebration of Gunter and Gwen
is a hyperfiction libretto where the unmasking of spies and perpetrators
is woven into a diffuse wedding celebration.
But if it is a time to divulge
how with surveillance and systems of interference
love has been stolen or diverted,
it is also a time to reclaim true love.
Unexpected guests, stories of the lives of Renaissance artists,
the wedding celebration is underway.
"From the Personal Digital Assistant in her pocket,
we heard the unexpected sound of silver bells.
Papageno's silver bells, Tamino's magic flute, a chorus of voices:
'Silberglockchen, Zauberfloten.'
Silver bells. Magic flute."