Mozart's Magic Flute

[Amalie]

We thoroughly enjoyed a superb performance of Mozart's Magic Flute at the Coliseum in London on thursday night.
It really was an excellent performance and the stage scenery and design and lighting of Sarastro's Temple in particular fantastic. It was obviously a very
faithful and authentic performance.
And of course Papageno who represented natural simplicity, very much an earth bound creature, like Caliban in Shakespeare's Tempest.
Every time Papageno played a few notes on his magic flute a white dove would appear on the stage, obviously trained to land on a wicker basket.
I can't quite get my head around what the Queen of the Night represented.
We can see all the masonic overtones and ritual and I think there is theory that the masons did away with Mozart because he purportedly revealed secrets of the masons.
It is certainly an Opera with a lot of themes and has got me thinking.
Any input will be gratefully received.
The singing and of course the music was fantastic, and the Orchestra were on top form.
In the final scene where the nest slowly descends first with Papagena in singing to Papageno, both dressed in colourful in bird plumage, then both ascend again in the nest singing to each other was so very, very beautiful and moving.

It is interesting to learn that Goethe wrote a part 2 of the Magic Flute and picked up themes in the original opera and to show really that things had not been conclusively finished in the original opera.
I like the idea in Goethe's sketch Papagena and Papageno are childless until there are presented with three bird eggs.






[This message has been edited by Amalie (edited March 20, 2004).]

[Peter]

Yes the opera is imbued with masonic imagery. From the three chords followed by a pause in the middle of the overture (3 knocks in succession is central in the masonic ceremony) - the key of Eb with its three flats, three boys, three ladies. The symbolic passage from darkness to light is integral to the St.John ceremony. The fire and water trials are representative of the Sovereign Rose-Croix degree , the 18th in the 'ancient and accepted Scottish rite 33' - the number 18 is significant again - the orchestral introduction to this scene contains precisely 18 groups of notes. Sarastro first appears in Act.1 scene 18. When he enters there are precisely 18 priests and 18 chairs and the first section of Osis and Osiris is 18 bars long. When Papageno asks the old woman who turns out to be Papagena how old she is, she replies 18. Some of the libretto uses actual words from the masonic ceremony - stength, beauty, wisdom.

It has been suggested that Mozart revealed these secrets (in collaboration with Schikaneder) in an attempt to preserve the craft that was under threat.

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'Man know thyself'

[spaceray]

From the memoirs of Ignaz Franz Castelli 1861
"The late bass singer Sebastian Meyer told me that Mozart had originally written the duet where Papageno and Papagena first see each other quite differently from the way in which we now hear it. Both originally cried out "Papageno" "Papagena" a few times in amazement.But when Schikaneder heard this he called down into the orchestra "Hey Mozart;That's no good,the music must express greater astonishment.They must stare dumbly at eachother,then Papageno must begin to stammer a-papapa-pa-paPapagena must repeat that untill both of them get the whole name out" Mozart followed this advice,and in this form the duet always had to be repeated"

[Amalie]

Originally posted by Peter:
Yes the opera is imbued with masonic imagery. From the three chords followed by a pause in the middle of the overture (3 knocks in succession is central in the masonic ceremony) - the key of Eb with its three flats, three boys, three ladies. The symbolic passage from darkness to light is integral to the St.John ceremony. The fire and water trials are representative of the Sovereign Rose-Croix degree , the 18th in the 'ancient and accepted Scottish rite 33' - the number 18 is significant again - the orchestral introduction to this scene contains precisely 18 groups of notes. Sarastro first appears in Act.1 scene 18. When he enters there are precisely 18 priests and 18 chairs and the first section of Osis and Osiris is 18 bars long. When Papageno asks the old woman who turns out to be Papagena how old she is, she replies 18. Some of the libretto uses actual words from the masonic ceremony - stength, beauty, wisdom.

It has been suggested that Mozart revealed these secrets (in collaboration with Schikaneder) in an attempt to preserve the craft that was under threat.

From my limited understanding of Freemasonary, I understood that it was an hermetic tradition (and is still so today) and meaning the fascinating points you touch on were really or should only have been avaliable to initiates with dire penalties for people who divulge the secrets of any particular lodge.
Robbins Landon states that Mozart became a member of the 'beneficence lodge and thinks that the Mason's had 'a profound influence of Mozart's life and thinking'. There were different types of lodges and the authorities in Vienna became very concerned that the Austrian lodges were being influenced by the ideas of the French Revolution which lead in 1795 to a law prohibiting all secret societies. In the mind of Austrian officialdom, freemasonry was dangerously associated with revolutianary enlightenment thinking and the 'Queen of the Night' in the Magic Flute, was seen as a representative of the murderous French Jacobins, but the popularity of the Opera by that date was so great that it could not be suppressed.
For Mozart, Freemasonry seems to have been associated with a new expansion of man's power's and knowledge and not in a particularly context either. However, he does not seem to have appreciated that the masons meant what they said in that he was sworn not to divulge their secrets. And they may have regarded the act 2 of the Magic Flute not so much as an attempt to preserve the lodges that were under pressure, but as rank treachery on Mozart's part. Thus the cause of his death has to be left open, and the really odd thing is that the Emperor Leopold 11, an opponent of the Masons died of suspected poisoning in February 1792. I can't help thinking that Beethoven would never have dreamt of joining a lodge whatever it's committment to enlightenment and progress.
He was not a 'clubabble' man of course and he would not have submitted to anyone else's rules of course.

It would be very interesting to know whether Beethoven participated as a Bonn Court Orchestra member (as violist) in the performances of the Mozart Operas in Bonn, 1789-1790.




[This message has been edited by Amalie (edited March 20, 2004).]

[spaceray]

Robert L Marshall writes,
"There was presumably a religious impulse-
no doubt along with other motivations-behind Mozart's decision to become a Freemason,in December 1784 Mozart joined the Masonic lodge "Zur Wohltatigkeit"(Charity)and became a master the following year.Masonic topics however, are never explicitly mentioned by Mozart in any of his surviving letters.This may have been a consequence of the Masonic vows of secrecy .At most, the salutation of letters to fellow Masons refers to their shared membership.It is also possible that owing to the later persecution of the Masons in Vienna,letters containing Masonic references were destroyed by Constanze. At all events ,Mozart, as a Freemason ,embraced the movement's tenents of self perfection,tolerance ,and enlightenment."

[Andrea]

From Paul Nettl's "Mozart and Masonry":

Though for the initisted there can be no doubt about the essentially Masonic nature of the Magic Flute, many students have been unaware of this aspect of the work. Even in today's literature several studies of this masterpiece dismiss its Masonic implications with a passing reference. Ever since it was first performed, this opera has been assigned interpretations of the most diverse kinds.

These interpretations are the subject of a study by Blümml, published in the first volume of the "Mozart-Jahrbuch", entitled "Ausdeutungen der Zauberflöte" (interpretations of the Magic Flute). At the beginning there were two schools of thought, one revolutionary, one conservative. The Masonic interpretation did not appear until later, but it won the day. Blümml is quick to admit that it has long been accepted, even though "it is more speculative than objective."

Already political bias tended to encroach on scholary objectivity. In 1817, the revolutionary interpretation was well known in the Rhineland even before Franz Gräffer asserted it in "Josephinische Curiosa". According to his view, the opera's background is the liberation of the French people from the shackles of despotism through the wisdom of a better government. The Queen of the Night represents the despotic rule of Louis XIV, Pamina personifies freedom, the daughter of tyranny, Tamino is the people. The three ladies are the deputies of the Three Estates, Sarastro stands for the wisdom of better government. The priests are the national assembly, Papageno represents the rich, Monostatos the emigres, Papagena, equality, etc.

But we can also reverse the charges. While the revolutionary interpretation fitted the progressive Rhinelanders, Mozart seemed to the Austrian reactionaries of the Metternich era as a man of exemplary honesty who virtuously upheld the established order. In 1794, in a weekly paper published in Linz the Magic Flute is described as a bulwark against the French Revolution. Representing France, Pamina receives a prince, Tamino, and is rescued from the unhappy fate of a republic. Papageno, the bird-catcher, lures people into the Jacobin Club where he will imprison them and hand them over to the Queen of the Night, that is, the republican government. Here, too, art is subverted by specious political allegory.

[Amalie]

Andrea,

Thankyou for your fascinating extract from the book you quoted from. The Opera is certainly a great quarry of ideas and themes.
I am very grateful also for Spaceray's nugget's of information.
I shall never forget the Papageno & Papagena duet for as long as I live..

[Peter]

Whilst on the Mozart theme, I very much enjoyed the BBC docu-drama yesterday and the performances on period instruments. The fortepiano sounded wonderful, but I've no idea which particular make they were using, possibly Walter?

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'Man know thyself'

[Andrea]

Check out this webpage for more on Mozart's "Magic Flute":

http://www.raptusassociation.org/flutemuskrite.html

[Rod]

Originally posted by Peter:
Whilst on the Mozart theme, I very much enjoyed the BBC docu-drama yesterday and the performances on period instruments. The fortepiano sounded wonderful, but I've no idea which particular make they were using, possibly Walter?

I've only saw a preview of this programme, but the stlye of the piano I saw in the preview is of the 5 octave Walter mode, though I've seen other brands that look very similar. But good marksfor the producers that they are not overdubbing the fortepiano playing with pianoforte music!

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"If I were but of noble birth..." - Rod Corkin

[Peter]

Originally posted by Rod:
I've only saw a preview of this programme, but the stlye of the piano I saw in the preview is of the 5 octave Walter mode, though I've seen other brands that look very similar. But good marksfor the producers that they are not overdubbing the fortepiano playing with pianoforte music!

Well I thoroughly enjoyed the brief extracts we were allowed, and was actually irritated when the passage was demonstrated on a modern piano! This is strange and I can only put it down to the speakers on my PC, and perhaps using a reconditioned FP rather than a copy (though I don't know what they used in the Mozart)? I have heard the argument that reconditioned fps can never reproduce faithfully the original sound and that we are better off with copies.

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'Man know thyself'

[This message has been edited by Peter (edited March 21, 2004).]

[Rod]

Originally posted by Peter:
Well I thoroughly enjoyed the brief extracts we were allowed, and was actually irritated when the passage was demonstrated on a modern piano! This is strange and I can only put it down to the speakers on my PC, and perhaps using a reconditioned FP rather than a copy (though I don't know what they used in the Mozart)? I have heard the argument that reconditioned fps can never reproduce faithfully the original sound and that we are better off with copies.

I am a little confused Peter, I thought you said the fortepiano sounded wonderful! I would say most of the existing original fortepiano have been reconditioned to some degree and they sound fine from my experience.


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"If I were but of noble birth..." - Rod Corkin

[Peter]

Originally posted by Rod:
I am a little confused Peter, I thought you said the fortepiano sounded wonderful! I would say most of the existing original fortepiano have been reconditioned to some degree and they sound fine from my experience.

It did - perhaps it was a copy! I don't know the reason but the mp3s presented here have not always been doing the instrument justice. The fortepiano I heard in the Theatre an Der Wien was also excellent.

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'Man know thyself'

[Rod]

Originally posted by Peter:
It did - perhaps it was a copy! I don't know the reason but the mp3s presented here have not always been doing the instrument justice. The fortepiano I heard in the Theatre an Der Wien was also excellent.

Well I can make the mp3s a higher resolution and the files will be even bigger. I really think you should listen via headphones if you only have standard PC speakers, which are a total waste of time for music appreciation and probably do not have enough amplification in any case.


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"If I were but of noble birth..." - Rod Corkin

[This message has been edited by Rod (edited March 22, 2004).]