Engram Harley Barnes, Dima Dmitri Ilushin, Trevor Richard LeSueur, Harry Harrison Tsai

Boswell
Chorale – 4th
12 May 2008
The Magic Flute

The Magic Flute is a famous opera composed by 18th century Salzburg-born

musician, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. This particular opera was his last opera, composed

in 1791, and was first performed on September 30, 1791, in Vienna’s Freihaus-Theater

auf der Wieden. Mozart was a prolific opera composer with many other famous operas

such as The Marriage of Figaro, Così fan Tutte, and Don Giovanni.

The Magic Flute is significant because of its prominent Masonic elements. The

libretto, the text used in an extended musical work, was originally written in German by

Emanuel Schikaneder, but The Magic Flute is now usually performed in English. In

f many performances of The Magic Flute now are in English. It is actually the tenth most

frequently performed opera in North America.

The setting, specified in the libretto, is in Egypt. Tamino is saved by the Queen of

the Night, and is told to save her daughter. He is given a magic flute and bells to protect

him. Three spirits are sent to guide him. Tamino's slave, Monostatos, likes Pamina, but

is scared away by Papgeno, who tells him that Tamino loves her. Tamino is told by a

priest that the Queen of the Night is bad. In the end, Pamina and Tamino are reunited and

protected by the magic flute.