Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 –1791) wrote the opera shortly before his premature death. The libretto is by Emanuel Schikaneder and the opera includes both singing and spoken dialogue. The allegorical plot was influenced by Schikaneder and Mozart’s interest in Freemasonry and concerns the initiation of Prince Tamino. Enlisted by the Queen of the Night to rescue her daughter Pamina from the high priest Sarastro, Tamino comes to admire the high ideals of the latter and he and Pamina both join Sarastro’s community, while the Queen and her allies are vanquished.
The libretto is available in German and English here:
http://www.murashev.com/opera/Die_Zauberfl%C3%B6te_libretto_German_English
Performance: December, 1995 Teatro alla Scala, Milan
Conductor: Riccardo Muti
Image painting by Barbara Kraft
