Fluting It Out on Mozart's Die Zauberflöte
The Best Moments
Die Zauberflöte, K. 620, opera in two acts (1791)
I'm Mozart, and these are the best moments of my opera Die Zauberflöte. I'll take you along with Tamino and Pamina through their trials of fire and water, where a magic flute guides them through music that turns from playful to solemn. Elsewhere on this site, my fellow composers and I also teach you to recognize our pieces when they play, so give the Trainer a go and see how it feels.
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Clearing My Throat
I open the Overture with three slow, solemn chords from the brass, like someone tapping a glass before a big announcement. Then the music hurries off into a lively fugal Allegro, and I wrote all of it last, just before the premiere.
A Man With a Net
After that grand beginning, I bring on the bird-catcher Papageno with a song marked stets lustig, which means always cheerful, so you know he'll be in a good mood. He tells you what he does for a living, sings heissa, hopsasa, and in the second verse he wishes he had a net for catching girls instead of birds.
Not a Good Time to Ask for Favors
Later, in Act 2, I give the Queen of the Night her big moment in D minor, and I send her voice climbing all the way up to a high F6. The title means "Hell's vengeance boils in my heart", and she sings it while pressing a knife into Pamina's hand and ordering her to kill Sarastro.
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So, did you enjoy learning about the best moments of Die Zauberflöte? I hope it gave you a little of the pleasure I had in writing it. I composed this opera in 1791, the last year of my life, and it turned out to be my final one. Because of that, I'm glad it is so full of warmth and humor, and that it ends with the light winning over the darkness. I wrote it for a popular theater in a Vienna suburb, for an audience of ordinary people rather than for the courts, and I was happy when they loved it from the very first performance. There is still a lot more in Die Zauberflöte to explore. You could follow Tamino and Pamina through their trials of fire and water, or find out what the magic flute and the magic bells do for the people who carry them. You could also wonder how much of the story is really about Freemasonry, which people still argue about today. If any of that makes you curious, please click on the links provided and keep exploring Die Zauberflöte. And the next time you hear those three solemn opening chords, I hope they sound to you like an old friend knocking at the door.