Overture (Adagio — Allegro, E flat major) (1791)
Three solemn chords, then a fugue; the chords return to mark the temple scenes
Recording: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart · Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
Opera · German opera
The Magic Flute
30 September 1791, Theater auf der Wieden, Vienna
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart · libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder
Mozart's last completed opera and his only mature work in German: a Singspiel, with spoken dialogue instead of recitative, written for a suburban popular theatre. A prince is sent by a vengeful queen to rescue her daughter from a supposed villain, discovers that the villain is a benign high priest and the queen the real danger, and passes trials of silence, fire and water to be admitted to his temple. A bird-catcher, who wants only a wife and a good dinner, trails behind him.
How to spot them
- ▸Egypt in a fairy-tale key: a serpent, three ladies, three boys, a set of magic bells and an initiation into a temple of Isis and Osiris
- ▸Voices: Tamino (tenor), Pamina (soprano), Papageno (baritone), Sarastro (bass, with a famously low F), the Queen of the Night (coloratura soprano to top F)
- ▸The aria whose staccato coloratura climbs to a high F, sung by a mother handing her daughter a dagger
- ▸Clue patterns: Singspiel, Schikaneder, K. 620, Theater auf der Wieden, Masonic symbolism and the three solemn chords
Arias & moments — listen
"Der Vogelfänger bin ich ja" (1791)
The bird-catcher's entrance song, punctuated by his panpipes; written for the librettist himself to sing
Recording: Ferenc Fricsay; recorded 1953, released 1955 · Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
"Dies Bildnis ist bezaubernd schön" (1791)
A prince falls in love with a portrait before he has met the woman in it
Recording: Ferenc Fricsay; recorded 1953, released 1955 · Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
"O Isis und Osiris" (1791)
The high priest's prayer for the initiates, sinking to a low F that few basses can sound
Recording: Ferenc Fricsay; recorded 1953, released 1955 · Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
"Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen" (1791)
A mother gives her daughter a dagger and a murder to commit, in staccato coloratura up to top F
Recording: Ferenc Fricsay; recorded 1953, released 1955 · Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
"Papagena! Papagena! Papagena!" (1791)
The comic duet of stuttering P's after the bird-catcher is talked out of hanging himself
Recording: Ferenc Fricsay; recorded 1953, released 1955 · Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
"O zittre nicht, mein lieber Sohn" (1791)
The Queen's first aria — a weeping mother in Act I, before the mask slips
Quick-fire facts
- •Music by Mozart (K. 620), libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder, in German; the German title is Die Zauberflöte.
- •It is a Singspiel: musical numbers separated by spoken dialogue, not sung recitative.
- •It premiered on 30 September 1791 at Schikaneder's Theater auf der Wieden, a suburban Viennese theatre, with Mozart conducting and Schikaneder himself as Papageno.
- •Mozart died on 5 December 1791, about nine weeks after the premiere.
- •Both Mozart and Schikaneder were Freemasons, and the opera's trials, temple and repeated threefold figures are usually read as Masonic.
- •The Queen of the Night's two arias both reach a high F above the staff — among the highest notes in standard repertory; the role was written for Mozart's sister-in-law, Josepha Hofer.
- •Sarastro's music descends to a low F, and 'O Isis und Osiris' and 'In diesen heil'gen Hallen' are the classic audition test for a true basso profondo.
- •Goethe admired it enough to begin a sequel libretto, which he never finished.
- •Ingmar Bergman filmed it for Swedish television in 1975; Kenneth Branagh's 2006 film reset it in the trenches of the First World War.
Drill it — 8 cards
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Sources
- Grove Music Online (Oxford Music Online) — Die Zauberflöte Premiere, cast, Singspiel form and the Masonic reading
- John Warrack and Ewan West — The Oxford Dictionary of Opera Voice types, vocal ranges and performance history