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This photographic view of the 19′ tunnel section of the Hudson River tunnel reminds me a little bit—I mean, it reminds me in a sparkly sense—of the 1815 stage set by Karl Friedrich Schinkel (1781-1841) for Mozart’s Magic Flute (from the original gouache, measuring 463 x 616 mm, and part of the collection of the Staatliche Museen, Berlin). Again, its just the initial reaction to the perspective pulled up the Schinkel more than anything else, except maybe for a non-existent underground image from Jan Vredeman de Vries’ book on perspective. That said, the set design I’m thinking of features the arrival of the Queen of the Night/Königin der Nacht, so perhaps this association isn’t too meshuga…excepting the ripped-to-shreds lust for revenge that the Queen of the Night sings about, which hasn’t much to do with digging a tunnel. 

(And just in case you’ve never seen Amadeus by Milos Forman, you should, if for nothing more than watching M conduct the Queen of the Night aria.) Also, I’m writing this note at the tail end of the day of Beethoven’s 248nd birthday, and Mozart (although he would conduct the premier of the opera) wouldn’t live out the year of his opera. I don’t know what that has to do with anything, though it almost does. 

Source for the Friedrich Schinkel image: https://www.wga.hu/support/viewer_m/z.html