Opera "The Magic Flute" - facts, video, content

V.A. Mozart opera "The Magic Flute"

The original title "Die Sauberflote" is a performance performed in German, and this is the first opera written outside the opera canon of the time, requiring only Italian to be used. The singspiel, the genre in which it is written, is translated as "folk song".

V.A. Mozart always wanted to create a national opera, which would be performed in German. Shortly before his death, he managed to translate his ideas and ideas into reality - he wrote the fairy tale opera "The Magic Flute", which triumphantly completed his entire creative path. The libretto was written by Johann-Emmanuel Schikaneder, based on the tale "Lulu, or the Magic Flute" by Wieland.

A summary of Mozart’s opera The Magic Flute and many interesting facts about this work can be found on our page.

Summary

All the action takes place in Egypt, during the reign of Ramses I. Prince Tamino once lost his way in the valley and was rescued by three fairies, who immediately rushed to tell their mistress Queen of Night about him. Immediately the prince is met by another main character of the opera - Papageno's bird-catchers, dressed in feathers.

Suddenly, the returned fairies told the young man about a beautiful girl, Pamina, who, according to the Queen of the Night, was kidnapped by the treacherous villain Zarastro. Only later the prince learns that in fact the thief is not a sorcerer at all, but a high priest who captivated the girl according to the will of the gods so that Tamino could become the protector of the temple after passing through all the trials. Pamina’s beauty captivated the prince and he immediately went in search of the Queen’s daughter of the night, and she herself promised to marry the girl if Tamino finds her.

Fairies give heroes a magic flute and bells to help them deal with evil forces. Thanks to these wonderful gifts, they manage to find the missing girl, who immediately flamed up with mutual feelings for the prince and rescued her from captivity. Now, lovers have to go through an initiation ceremony, which includes difficult trials to determine whether Tamino and Pamina are worthy of being together and becoming spouses.

Together with the heroes, Papageno's bird-catchers overcomes all the difficulties, as a result of which they acquire the desired happiness in the form of the beloved Papagens. As for the couple in love, Tamino and Pamina pass all the tests that the priests prepared for them, not without the help of a magic flute, and also cope with the treacherous Queen of Night, who wishes to avenge the high priest Zarastro. The opera ends with the triumph of priests and the wedding of lovers.

A photo:

Interesting Facts

• The Magic Flute was written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1791. The libretto of the opera was written by Emanuel Schikaneder, a comprehensively developed man who was a recognized actor, singer and composer.
• With the money received from the production of The Magic Flute, in 1801 Schikaneder and his partner Bartholomeus Citterbarth opened the theater An An Wien, which later became one of the largest and extravagant theaters in the world.
• For the Magic Flute libretto, Schikandeder used several sources, including tales and tales about Egyptian priests, as well as the events and rituals of the covert Lodge.
• Mozart's opera is widely known as the Masonic Allegory. Both Mozart and Schikaneder were “freemasons”, and everywhere in the opera there is a symbolism that they used that becomes easily obvious. The idea of ​​the opera reflects the ideals of the Age of Enlightenment, belief in freedom, progress, knowledge, and religious freedom, as well as deviation from the church and its abuse. The Queen of Night represents the church, while Sarastro represents the Enlightenment.
• The Magic Flute was the last opera by Mozart, first shown to the audience on September 30, 1791 - about 2 months before the author died. The maestro himself conducted the orchestra, while librettist Emanuel Schikaneder sang the role of Papageno.
• Many vocals were written by the author for certain singers. These are the parts of the Queen of the Night and Sarastro, which are still considered one of the most difficult in the operatic repertoire. The ranges of these parts require great skill and vocal flexibility of voice. For less experienced performers, Mozart duplicated their voice melodies in the orchestra.
• The aria of the Queen of the Night "Der Hölle Rache kocht" from the 2nd act is one of the most famous opera arias. The performance of this technically and dramatically difficult aria requires a 2-octave range from the singer, a moving lyric soprano with enough weight and drama to convey the seriousness of the scene.
• Although special evidence of the success of the first productions has not been preserved, it is known that the opera was immediately loved by the public, and in the more than 200 years that have passed since its creation, popularity is only growing. According to Operabase statistics for 2012-2013, opera is in fourth place in terms of the number of productions.
• The score of The Magic Flute can be found in various forms and musical moments of stylization and accurate quotations on many works of composers of that time. Including, on earlier Bach, Gluck, Clementi.
• Attitude to the libretto of the opera received the largest number of interpretations of all theatrical scenes in the world. Opinions of the deepest minds diverged to the opposite, from recognizing the libretto as tasteless, trivial, uninteresting to understanding that the ideas of "long-gone cultures" are hidden in it.
• JS Goethe was so impressed with the content that he wanted to write a sequel to The Magic Flute.
• The mystical number 18, sacred to many religious rituals and rituals, is played up in the opera many times: many numbers last 18 bars, 18 years old Papageno, Sarastro first appears in the 18th scene. The double square of 3 is 18.
• The whole opera is a clear, geometrically verified pyramid. That involuntarily refers to the ancient philosopher Pythagoras, who is considered the creator of not only geometry, but also music as a science. Having established mathematically exact canons of harmony in music, Pythagoras transferred them to the analysis of all natural phenomena, including the relationships between stars and constellations.
• Many researchers are inclined to believe that the life of Mozart himself was strictly subordinated to the dominant number 8, which in various variations accompanied many of the most important events of his life. However, similar mystical connections with this number can be traced to many of the greats of this world - Napoleon, Raphael, Byron. It is believed that many of them came with a certain mission, after which they left, by earthly standards too early ...

Popular arias

Aria Papageno "Der Vogelfänger bin ich ja" (I am known to all birds) - listen

Aria of the Queen of the Night "Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen" (In my chest, a thirst for revenge burns) - listen

Aria Tamino "Dies Bildnis ist bezaubernd schön" (Such a magical beauty) - listen

Aria Paminy "Ach, ich fühl's, es ist verschwunden" (All passed) - listen

Zarastro's aria "In diesen heil'gen Hallen" (Feud and revenge are alien to us) - listen

History of creation

In the first summer months of 1791 (the year of death) Mozart composed the Magic Flute. The very idea of ​​the embodiment of this mystery belonged to a friend and comrade of Mozart in the Masonic Lodge Emanuel Schikaneder. He also wrote a libretto for her, based on Wiland’s fairy tale “Lulu” from a collection of science fiction stories, but having significantly reworked the plot.

In general, the choice of a fabulous genre for this work was not accidental. In those years, Schikaneder was himself an artist and director of his own theater in Wieden, near Vienna. The theater was going through difficult times, it was necessary to attract fading public attention with something bright and massive at the same time. Emmanuel conducted, as they would say now, marketing research. It turned out that the mystical theme was of great interest to the audience.

The opera is full of secret symbolism. According to one of the versions, the cause of Mozart’s death 2 months after the premiere of The Magic Flute could be the revenge of the secret community of the Freemasons, whose secrets of ministry are exhibited in the opera for all to see.

In general, if we compare the two actions, as well as the original source, then there is a mass of inconsistencies and absurdities, some heroes, their character change dramatically. The beginning of the performance is performed in the spirit of an ordinary romantic fairy tale, however, in the second part it acquires a rather religious orientation. There is an opinion that during the writing of the libretto, in one of the theaters there was a premiere of the performance based on the fairy tale "Lulu, or the Magic Flute". As a result, Chikaneder had no choice but to make some changes. At first it seems that this is an opera-tale that glorifies the victory of good and love over evil and deceit. However, this is not quite the case. The Magic Flute is filled with a deep philosophical meaning. Moreover, it clearly traced the hidden symbolism of a secret society, whose ranks included the composer and the librettist.

A lot of content cannot be understood by contemporary listeners; however, to Mozart’s contemporaries every stroke and detail, encoded in the plot, was clear. And with a deeper study of it, it becomes clear that the "Magic Flute" is a ... satirical parody. Many researchers believe that opera boldly mocks the very idea of ​​a secret initiation into the Masonic Lodge.

The fact is that Mozart, for all the seeming ease and frivolity of his music, was a man of deep philosophical views. Having betrayed the mockery of the aristocracy as a class in "The Figaro's Wedding", subjecting, in fact, to doubting the fact of a person's elitism on the basis of the inheritance of a name, he went even further in The Magic Flute.

Mozart devalued and sarcastically mocked the fact that freemasons were presented as secret knowledge for the elect, where access could only be obtained through a mystical initiation into a special caste. At that time, only ideas of the Enlightenment appeared, which the composer deeply penetrated. Knowledge, in his conviction, can not belong to a limited circle of people. The magician Sarastro, the personification of the sun in the opera, triumphs over the darkness, Queen of the Night, which means, in a symbolic arrangement, the victory of Knowledge over Ignorance.

Mozart accepted the proposal to write music for the opera with great enthusiasm, despite the fact that he was working at that moment on Requiem and the end of the opera Titus Mercy. Time for the "Magic Flute" remained ever less. But on September 30, the premiere took place. Mozart himself assessed the reaction of the public as "tacit approval", which he wrote about to his wife Konstanz a few days later. However, the present recognition came to the work in a few years and the enthusiasm and interest in it have not ceased.

All this he did not see. From October 1791, Mozart's ailments became more and more severe. In late November, he came down, after which he did not get up. Until his death on the night of December 4-5, he worked for Requiem, which he did not have time to complete. It is symbolic that Requiem was the last piece of music for him - a requiem mass in Catholic worship. The composer died at the age of 36 years old.

The opera received a well-deserved success in the production and subsequent performances. It is known that partly on the proceeds from The Magic Flute, the librettist Emmanuel Schikaneder built a new theater and decorated it with his own sculpture, in which he was depicted in feathers, as the bird-catcher Papageno. A large number of amazingly beautiful rooms are hotly loved by both true connoisseurs of musical art and ordinary listeners. We invite you to watch the opera "The Magic Flute" and appreciate the beautiful Queen of Night's revenge Arius, Papageno's aria "I am the Most Deft Bird Creator", Tamino's Aria with a portrait and the duet "When a Man Is a Bit In Love", which was still in the time of V.A. Mozart caused a storm of admiration from the public.

We are pleased to offer opera singers and a symphony orchestra to perform arias and excerpts from the opera "The Magic Flute" at your event.