- Mozart’s singspiel (spoken play with sung portions) Die Zauberflöte premiered in Vienna in the Theater auf der Wieden on September 30, 1791.
- The libretto was written by the director of the Theater auf der Wieden, actor and singer Emanuel Schickaneder.
- Story: Set vaguely in Egypt, The Magic Flute is a fairy tale in which Prince Tamino is tasked by the Queen of the Night with rescuing her daughter Pamina from Sarastro, who is evil…or is he…?
- The opera is actually meant by Mozart and Schickaneder as an allegory for self-discovery, and for the rituals and ideas of Freemasonry.
- Some Zauberflöte Original Cast Fun Facts
- Schickaneder (the librettist) played the role of Papageno in the premier.
- During a performance Mozart intentionally goofed around with the glockenspiel part in Papageno’s act 2 aria, just to mess with Schickaneder.
- Benedickt Schack, who created the role of Tamino, actually played the flute in the finale.
- The original Queen of the Night was Josepha Hofer, Mozart’s sister in law.
- The original Pamina was Anna Gottlieb, who was 17 at the time. She had formerly created the role of Barbarina in The Marriage of Figaro (she would have been about 14 at the Figaro premiere!)
- Schickaneder (the librettist) played the role of Papageno in the premier.
- The overture:
- It opens with three chords (three is a significant number in Masonic thought). The idea of three, or three sets of three, appears more than once in the structure of the overture.
- The main theme from the Allegro of the overture is borrowed from a piano sonata by Clementi.1
Sources
- Julian Rushton, “Zauberflöte, Die,” Grove Music Online (2002), accessed November 20, 2019, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-5000907810.
Cut IDs
40241, 45035