Opera in Concert: Mozart’s Magic Flute

COMPOSER: born January 27, 1756, Salzburg, Austria; died December 5, 1791, Vienna

WORK COMPOSED: between April and July 1791, on a libretto by Emanuel Schickaneder

WORLD PREMIERE: Mozart led the premiere at the Freihaus-Theater auf der Wieden in Vienna on September 30, 1791

INSTRUMENTATION: Tamino (tenor), Papageno (baritone), Pamina (soprano), Queen of the Night (coloratura soprano), Sarastro (bass), 3 Ladies (sopranos), Monostatos (tenor), 3 Child-Spirits (treble, alto, mezzo-soprano), Speaker of the Temple (bass-baritone) 3 Priests (tenor, bass, speaker), Papagena (soprano), 2 Armored Men (tenor, bass), 3 Slaves (2 tenors, bass), SATB chorus, 2 flutes (1 doubling piccolo), 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani, and strings

ESTIMATED DURATION: 90 minutes

During the summer and fall of 1791, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart juggled several projects: his final opera, La clemenza di Tito; the singspiel The Magic Flute, the Requiem (which Mozart left unfinished at his death), and the Clarinet Concerto. In September 1791, as Mozart raced to complete The Magic Flute, he was also opening La clemenza in Prague. This hectic schedule resulted in long days, sleepless nights, and hours traveling between Vienna and Prague, in less than comfortable conditions. After he premiered La clemenza, Mozart fell ill; he spent the final two months of his life frantically trying to complete as much music as possible while he could still work. He died on December 5, 1791, seven weeks before his 36th birthday.

Both the story and music of The Magic Flute reflect Mozart’s style and personality; conductor Bruno Walter called it “Mozart’s own spiritual will and testament.” Written in German, Mozart’s mother tongue, the fanciful tale incorporates many of the Enlightenment ideals to which Mozart aspired: noble virtue, the universality of mankind, integrity, and the heroic striving for knowledge. These lofty aspirations combine with unapologetically lowbrow humor to make The Magic Flute a true masterpiece, one Mozart wrote for everyday people rather than the aristocracy or the Church.

In technical terms, The Magic Flute falls into the category of singspiel (speech-song) rather than opera, as it incorporates spoken dialogue rather than recitatives between songs. Singspiels, a form of German comic opera, were quite popular in Mozart’s time. He was familiar with the style, having previously composed several singspiele, including Bastien und Bastienne, written at the tender age of 12, and The Abduction from the Seraglio, the first large-scale stage work he wrote after moving to Vienna in 1782. Singspiele are especially well-suited for plots that feature magical, whimsical, or “exotic” elements. Librettist, actor, and theatrical impresario Emanuel Schikaneder no doubt had singspiel in mind for The Magic Flute, whose story combines elements of several earlier tales. Research suggests Schikaneder may have been influenced by a 12th-century roman, Yvain (Owain, a knight of King Arthur’s Round Table), as well as the 1731 fantasy novel Life of Sethos, Taken from the private Memoirs of the Ancient Egyptians. Schickanader’s theatrical company was also known for its productions of Zauberoper (fairy-tale operas), particularly Oberon and The Philosopher’s Stone.

In 1784, Mozart became a Freemason, drawn as he was to the group’s belief in Enlightenment and humanist values. Many of Mozart’s friends and colleagues were also Masons, including Schikaneder, who found in Masonic symbology a perfect vehicle for telling a fanciful tale. The Magic Flute abounds in Masonic references. The number three has particular Masonic significance; the overture, set in the key of E-flat (three flats), begins with three bold chords, meant to represent the three knocks that open secret Masonic rites. These chords return later in the overture, and recur at pivotal dramatic moments in the opera.

Opera plots are known for their convoluted storylines, particularly comic operas, with their reliance on misdirection, deception, and mistaken identity. Schikaneder’s story is less purely complicated and more puzzling, however. Prince Tamino is given a quest by the Queen of the Night to rescue the Queen’s daughter, Pamina, from the evil clutches of the wicked sorcerer Sarastro. This sets up the premise that Tamino, Pamina, and the Queen are “good” characters, while Sarastro is presented as “bad.” Halfway through the story these assumptions are turned upside-down. During his travels, Tamino, accompanied by the half-man, half-bird Papageno, finds Sarastro and comes to understand that Sarastro was rescuing Pamina from the Queen, who is actually the evildoer in this story. Along the way, as Sarastro charges them to perform three “trials” to prove their bravery, loyalty, and honesty, Tamino and Pamina fall in love (Papageno eventually finds love himself in the form of the adoring half-woman half-bird Papagena), and the Queen is defeated.

Musicologist Luke Howard offers an intriguing explanation for this narrative about-face. “These plot peculiarities can be understood in terms of a larger universal story that untangles the complexities of façade and inner truth,” he writes. “In this interpretation, The Magic Flute is a sophisticated symbolic vehicle, a lesson in epistemology that represents a philosophical exercise commonly known in German as Sein und Schein (Reality and Appearance). It invites the viewer to look past first appearances, and examine the premises and assumptions on which those appearances are based. In other words, it takes the story much further than a mere fairy tale – where characters are “types” and the distinction between good and evil usually well-marked – and turns it into a more meaningful and profound allegory … the audience … discovers the true Sein (Reality) beneath the deceptive Schein (or Appearance). This makes the first part of the opera an intentional deception, trying to convince Tamino that good is evil, and evil good. The second Act then pulls the curtain back and reveals the Truth that the Queen had hidden in the opera’s opening.”