The Magic Flute

The Magic Flute (German Die Zauberflöte) is a two-act singspiel (an opera with spoken text) written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1791, the last year of his life. Written in a popular style, to a German text by Emanuel Schickaneder, it stands in contrast to the majority of his mature operas, which were written in Italian and contained relatively sophisticated music. After an enormously successful opening production at Vienna's Theater auf der Wieden, it has since become one of the most frequently-performed operas throughout the world, and many of its arias and ensembles are familiar even to listeners who don't know their origin.

In this story heavy-laden with Masonic symbolism, Tamino is a prince who finds himself lost in an enchanted forest, being chased by a dragon. After slaying the dragon, three fairies introduce him to the Queen of the Night. She asks Tamino to go on a mission to bring back her daughter Pamina, who has been kidnapped by Sarastro. After receiving two magical musical instruments from the Three Boys, Tamino goes with Papageno, a simple bird-catcher, and soon discovers that Sarastro is the leader of a wise brotherhood, with whom Pamina has been staying willingly. Tamino and Papageno undertake rites of initiation, while the Queen of the Night tries to convince Pamina to kill Sarastro. This plot fails, and both Tamino and Papageno pass the initiation, marrying Pamina and Papagena.