The Magic Flute is the most surprising yet, at the same time, the most accessible of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s twenty-two operas. It was also, perhaps, his most dangerous: a two-act singspiel whose roots in popular Viennese theatre and fairy-tale setting disguise a political allegory of the struggle between the values of the Enlightenment and absolutism.
The Queen of the Night promises Prince Tamino, if he can rescue her daughter, Pamina, from Sarastro, a sorcerer, that he may have Pamina’s hand in marriage. Tamino is supported in his quest by Papageno, a witless but well-meaning bird-catcher.
When they find Pamina, Sarastro reveals himself to be her guardian rather than her kidnapper; it is the Queen who has betrayed her daughter by allying herself with the brutish Monostatos who lusts after, rather than loves, Pamina. Tamino and Papageno are set three challenges by Sarastro to prove their worthiness. While Tamino, placing his trust in Sarastro’s intentions, is rewarded for suspending his disbelief, Papageno, somewhat less successful in the trials, owes his own happy ending to Sarastro’s munificence.
