Opera Essentials: The Magic Flute

Mozart’s The Magic Flute is a fairy-tale opera in two acts. Set in a fantastical land, it is a coming-of-age story about true love and the search for wisdom, with an enchanting cast of characters.  

When the Queen of the Night tasks young Prince Tamino with rescuing her daughter, Princess Pamina, Tamino falls in love with Pamina’s portrait immediately. Accompanied by his reluctant sidekick, the bird-catcher Papageno, they set out on their quest, encountering a mysterious brotherhood of men led by Sarastro, Pamina’s captor. Although Sarastro may not be the villain that Tamino has been led to believe he is, he still orders Tamino to undergo a series of trials before he and Pamina are finally, joyfully united. To Papageno’s delight, he also finds the woman of his dreams, Papagena, in the opera’s lively finale. 

The opera is a Singspiel, (literally a ‘song-play’), featuring spoken dialogue and music. It is Mozart’s last opera. To find out more about the life and other works of Mozart, visit our Mozart Creative Spotlight page. 

Who Wrote The Magic Flute?  

What is the Story of The Magic Flute?  

What Type of Opera is The Magic Flute?   

What is the Famous Song from The Magic Flute?  

Does The Magic Flute reference freemasonry?  

Tamino (tenor): A Prince lost in a foreign land. 

Papageno (baritone): A bird-catcher, Tamino’s reluctant accomplice.   

Pamina (soprano): Daughter of the Queen of the Night. 

The Queen of the Night (coloratura soprano): A powerful ruler. 

Sarastro (bass): Leader of the temple.  

Monostatos (tenor): A lecherous villain. 

Papagena (soprano): A mysterious woman who initially appears in disguise. 

Act I 

Tamino is pursued by a monstrous serpent and falls unconscious. Three Ladies slay the monster and decide to inform their mistress, the Queen of the Night, of the Prince’s arrival. When Tamino wakes, Papageno the bird-catcher takes the credit for rescuing him. The Three Ladies punish Papageno’s lies by padlocking his mouth, and show Tamino a portrait of Pamina, the Queen’s daughter. On the Queen’s instructions, Tamino – who has fallen in love with Pamina - vows to rescue her from her evil captor, Sarastro. To protect Tamino and Papageno, the Three Ladies present them with a magic flute and magic bells, as the Three Children guide them on their way. 

Papageno rescues Pamina from the lustful advances of Monostatos, and together they flee in search of Prince Tamino. At the Temple of Wisdom, the Speaker informs Tamino that Sarastro is a wise and noble ruler. Tamino plays his flute and strange animals gather around him, while Papageno’s magic bells prevent Monostatos from attacking him and Pamina again. Sarastro punishes Monostatos but informs Pamina and Tamino that they cannot be united until Tamino obtains wisdom.  

Interval 

Act II 

To Papageno’s dismay, Tamino has decided to undergo the trials to enter Sarastro’s brotherhood. The Three Ladies attempt to persuade the Prince and the bird-catcher to break their vow of silence but are unsuccessful. The Queen of the Night orders Pamina to kill Sarastro, threatening to disown her if she doesn’t. Sarastro reassures Pamina that love, not evil, will triumph in his sacred halls. Pamina is heartbroken when Tamino – still observing his vow of silence – shuns her. Meanwhile Papageno’s magic bells summon an old woman who turns into the woman of his dreams – Papagena! – only for her to be taken away from him. 

Pamina unites with Tamino for his final trial. Aided by the magic flute, they triumph and are welcomed into the brotherhood. Longing for Papagena, Papageno contemplates suicide, when he suddenly remembers his magic bells, and they are reunited. Sarastro banishes the Queen, her Ladies and Monostatos to infinite darkness. Day has defeated night, and everyone joins in a hymn of praise. 

The Magic Flute was Mozart’s final work.  

The opera had its premiere at the Vienna Theater auf der Wieden in September 1791, just two months before the composer died at the age of 35. It followed a series of important opera premieres for Mozart elsewhere in the city, including The Marriage of Figaro, in 1786, Don Giovanni in 1788, and Così fan tutte in 1790. The Magic Flute was an immediate success, with huge crowds flocking to the suburban theatre to see Mozart’s opera.  

Ever since the role of Papageno was first performed by Emanuel Schikaneder, the character of Papageno has always been a favourite with audiences. Schikaneder was the librettist of the opera, and was well known as a singing-actor. This is reflected in the smaller vocal range of the role, compared to the stratospheric vocal range of The Queen of the Night.

The first Magic Flute cast 

Mozart was close friends with Benedikt Schack, the tenor who sang the first Tamino. Schack was a member of Schikaneder’s theatrical troupe, and Mozart had spent time working with Schack and the ensemble in 1790 on a collaborative opera, Der Stein der Weisen (The Philosopher’s Stone). Anna Gottlieb, the young soprano who premiered the role of Barbarina in The Marriage of Figaro at the age of 12, performed the role of Pamina, aged just 17. Mozart’s sister-in-law, Maria Josepha Hofer, was the first Queen of the Night, and Sarastro was sung by Franz Xaver Gerl. 

Composition and orchestration 

Mozart began by composing the melodic and bass lines of the opera’s arias, later adding harmonies and orchestration. Following on from the success of the trombones in Don Giovanni (the first major opera to use this relatively new instrument), Mozart included them again in his orchestra for The Magic Flute, alongside flutes (and a piccolo), oboes, clarinets, bassoons, horns, trumpets, timpani and strings. Today, Papageno's magic bells are played on a celesta (the same instrument heard in Tchaikovsky’s Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker). The original instrument (described by Mozart as a stromento d’acciaio, or 'instrument of steel') is lost to history. Papageno’s pipes are another unusual addition to the typical instruments in an opera orchestral pit. The opera features a chorus, who feature prominently in the finales to each act. 

Premiere and legacy 

The premiere took place in the suburban Theater auf der Wieden, and was a sell-out success, with crowds flocking from far and wide. Mozart conducted the performances and played the magic bells. Thanks to the beauty of the music, the story’s timeless themes and the rich humour of the opera, it remains a hugely popular work, to date enjoying over 375 performances at the Royal Opera House. 

Mozart’s legacy and death 

Mozart fell ill in September 1791, while he was in Prague for the premiere of his penultimate opera, La Clemenza di Tito (The Clemency of Titus). Despite his poor health, he conducted the Vienna premiere of The Magic Flute on 30 September 1791. His condition worsened in November, and while bedridden, he started composing what was to be his final work, the Requiem. He suffered a fever and died on 5 December 1791, leaving behind considerable debts and a legacy of sublime musical works. His funeral was relatively humble, but memorial services followed in Vienna and Prague. The score of The Magic Flute was first published in full score in Bonn in 1814 by Nikolaus Simrock. Mozart’s opera, and his legacy as a creator of sublime musical works, lives on. 

To find out more about the life and other works of Mozart, visit our Mozart Creative Spotlight page. 

Key musical moments from the opera include the Overture, with its three imposing chords (one of many masonic references), serene introduction and lively, bustling semiquavers making the work a popular standalone piece in concert. Other famous, catchy arias from The Magic Flute include Papageno’s song, ‘Der Vogelfänger bin ich ja’ (‘I am the bird-catcher’), featuring lively panpipe runs, and Papageno and Pamino’s touching duet, ‘Bei Männern welche Liebe fühlen’ (‘Men who feel love’), and ‘Pa-Pa-Pa-Pa-Pa’, the comic duet between Papageno and Papagena at the end of the opera.

Other highlights include Tamino’s aria, ‘Dies Bildnis is bezaubernd schön’ (‘This portrait is bewitchingly beautiful’) and Sarastro’s great bass arias, ‘In diesen heil’gen Hallen’ (‘In these holy halls’) and O Isis und Osiris (‘Oh Isis and Osiris’). Pamina’s heartbreaking aria, ‘Ah, ich fühl’s’ (‘Ah, I feel it’) is also a poignant dramatic moment in the course of the opera.