Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

The Magic Flute, Act 2, Scene 8

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's (1756-1791) singspiel Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute), K. 620, was written in 1791 and premiered on September 30th of that same year at the Freihaus-Theater auf der Wieden, the theater run by Emanuel Schikaneder, who wrote the original libretto. An allegorical tale, Schikaneder's plot was influenced by Mozart's interest in Freemasonry, and involves the main character's (Prince Tamino) initiation into that philosophy as he, in attempting to rescue the Queen of the Night's daughter Pamina from the priest Sarastro, instead comes to admire Sarastro's ideals and joins his community instead along with Pamina. This excerpt is from near the end of the opera, scene 8 of Act II. It begins with Tamino's ally Papageno, having lost his love Papagena, deciding to hang himself in despair until three child-spirits intervene, resulting in a quartet. The spirits encourage Papageno to play his bells to summon Papagena, and she appears, resulting in a duet where the couple stutter astonished bird-like sounds to each other before planning their future together. After the Queen of the Night aria, this duet likely remains the best-known part of Mozart's last opera. Instrumentation: 2.2.0.2: 2.0.0.0: Perc(1): Str (4-4-3-3-3 in set): Soli SSSST (choral parts not included in set).