Magic Flute Tickets

Details of Magic Flute and the Ticket Luck value

Magic Flute
The Magic Flute (German Die Zauberfl?te, K. 620) is an opera in two acts composed in 1791 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a Singspiel, a popular form which included both singing and spoken dialogue.

Since its premiere The Magic Flute has always been one of the most beloved works in the operatic repertoire, and is presently the tenth most frequently performed opera in North America. The opera celebrated its 100th performance in November 1792. Mozart did not have the pleasure of witnessing this milestone, having died of his illness on December 5, 1791.

The Magic Flute is noted for its prominent Masonic elements; both Schikaneder and Mozart were Masons and lodge brothers. The opera is also influenced by Enlightenment philosophy, and can be regarded as an allegory espousing enlightened absolutism. The Queen of the Night represents irrational-diabolic obscurantism, whereas her antagonist Sarastro symbolizes the reasonable sovereign who rules with paternalistic wisdom and enlightened insight. Of reception of the opera, Mozart scholar Maynard Solomon writes: Although there were no reviews of the first performances, it was immediately evident that Mozart and Schikaneder had achieved a great success, the opera drawing immense crowds and reaching hundreds of performances during the 1790s. The success of The Magic Flute lifted the spirits of its composer, who had fallen ill while in Prague a few weeks before. Solomon continues:

Mozart's delight is reflected in his last three letters, written to Constanze, who with her sister Sophie was spending the second week of October in Baden. 'I have this moment returned from the opera, which was as full as ever,' he wrote on 7 October, listing the numbers that had to be encored. 'But what always gives me the most pleasure is the silent approval! You can see how this opera is becoming more and more esteemed.'... He went to hear his opera almost every night, taking along [friends and] relatives.

The opera was premiered in Vienna on September 30, 1791, at the suburban Freihaus-Theater auf der Wieden. Mozart conducted the orchestra; Schikaneder himself played Papageno, while the role of the Queen of the Night was sung by Mozart's sister-in-law Josepha Hofer.

The opera was the culmination of an epoch with immense involvement by Mozart with Schikaneder's theatrical troupe, which since 1789 had been the resident company at the Theater auf der Wieden. Mozart was a close friend of one of the singer-composers of the troupe, tenor Benedikt Schack, and had contributed to the compositions of the troupe, which were often collaboratively written. Mozart's participation increased with his contributions to the 1790 collaborative opera Der Stein der Weisen (The Philosopher's Stone), including the duet (Nun liebes Weibchen, K. 625/592a) and perhaps other passages. Like The Magic Flute, Der Stein der Weisen was a fairy-tale opera and can be considered a kind of precursor; it employed much the same cast in similar roles.

A particularly demanding aria is Der H?lle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen (The vengeance of Hell boils in my heart), often referred to as the Queen of the Night aria. It reaches a high F6, rare in opera. At the low end, the part of Sarastro includes a conspicuous F in a few locations. While the female roles in the opera are assigned to different voice types, the playbill for the premiere performance referred to all of the female singers as sopranos. The casting of the roles relies on the actual pitch range of the part.

Mozart evidently wrote keeping in mind the skills of the singers intended for the premiere, which included both skillful and ordinary comic actors, asked to sing for the occasion. Thus, the vocal lines for Papageno and Monostatos are often stated first in the strings so the singer can find his pitch, and are frequently doubled by instruments.

In contrast, Mozart's sister-in-law Josepha Hofer, who premiered the role of the Queen of the Night, evidently needed no such help: this role is famous for its difficulty. In ensembles, Mozart skillfully combined voices of different ability levels.