"The Magic Flute"

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's opera, "The Magic Flute." The paper shows Mozart's genius in his perfect matching of characters and songs throughout the opera. The style of the opera and how it is an allegory of Freemasonry is also discussed. In addition, each act of the opera in terms of its storyline, plot and characters is examined.

Table of Contents:
Act I
Act II

From the Paper:

"The balance between plot and music is one of the ways that this opera displays contrast. In addition, the characters contrast with each other. The Queen of the Night appears to be equal to the Sun Priest, Sorastro, and in the end, their roles are almost reversed, in that the Queen appears good in the beginning, but is evil at the end and the Sun Priest appears evil in the beginning, but is revealed to be the good element. Contrast is played in this way throughout the opera."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Branscombe, Peter. Die Zauberflote, Boston: Cambridge Opera Handbooks series, Cambridge University Press, 1991.
• "In Focus. Mozart The Magic Flute." The Metropolitan Opera (Newsletter). April, 2008. Found at <http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/broadcast/hdminisite/flute.aspx>.
• Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus. Die Zauberflote (The Magic Flute)/Levine, Battle, Serra, Moll, Hemm, Araiza. Director: Brian Large. DVD, produced in 2000 at the Metropolitan Opera. Deutsche Grammophon. (Classical, color, 169 minutes, DVD-video).
• Peters, C.F. (Ed.) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Emanuel Schikaneder. The Magic Flute. Dover: Courier Dover Publications. 1985. (Score).

More papers on "The Magic Flute":

• Essay # 84705 : "Mozart's "Magic Flute"
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• Term Paper # 50838 : "Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart"

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