What's the story What makes the magic flute magic? Well, it saves you from danger, and finally leads Prince Tamino to his heart’s desire. Tamino is rescued from a huge scary serpent by the Queen of the Night, who tells him that her daughter Pamina has been abducted by the demon Sarastro. One look at Pamina’s portrait convinces Tamino that they are soulmates. The Queen gives him the flute and he also enlists the birdcatcher Papageno’s help. They find Pamina, but also realise that Sarastro may not be the bad guy. Tamino decides to join Sarastro’s philosophic brotherhood, but he and Pamina first face a series of daunting trials, through which the flute guides them. Papageno, tired of being alone, also finds the perfect loving wife and prepares to make baby Papagenos.

Why should we care? Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-91) began his musical career touring the courts of Europe when he was just six. The infant phenomenon grew into a genius composer, but his operas were commissioned for court theatres – The Magic Flute was his first opera for a popular audience. Emmanuel Schikaneder’s theatre on the outskirts of Vienna was celebrated for fairy tale spectaculars, and the opera explodes with fun and magic, centring around Papageno. The birdcatcher is outrageously loveable – he’s all blag and cowardice, but just wants a cuddle and a full belly. Even though he bungles the tests, he eventually goes unpunished – he’s a diamond geezer and a perfect friend to Tamino and Pamina. Mozart particularly appreciated the audience’s ‘silent applause’, their attention to the opera’s ideas, for alongside the magic is a fairytale quest for true love. Scholars have driven themselves potty trying to square the opera’s panto frenzy with its sober philosophic underpinnings. Sarastro’s brotherhood resembles freemasonry, whose humanitarian ideals of brotherly love were at that time associated with political subversion (they were later banned in Vienna) – Mozart himself knew some of the most radical masons. However, in the tug-of-love struggle over Pamina it is hard to judge between the Queen, who both grieves for her kidnapped daughter and manipulates her for revenge, and Sarastro, who is both sage and bully. The central characters are ultimately tested by the fear of being alone – Pamina and Tamino must follow their hearts and ignore the squalls around them.

What does it sound like? The Magic Flute shuffles a dizzying range of musical styles from popular song to solemn chorus. It is a singspiel, which means that it exists between dialogue and song. Sometimes the opera seems like a battle between sense and melody, and words often come off second best. The Queen of the Night’s words are frequently swallowed in bats-squeak tessitura, while Papageno is so thrilled to find his snugglesome Papagena that they can only stutter blissed-out ‘pa pa pa’ noises at each other. Music also pervades the plot, with its golden flute, silver bells and birdcatcher’s pipes. Papageno opens with a jaunty birdcatching song – but Mozart also respects his lovelorn terrors and attempted suicide. It is also Papageno who duets with Pamina about ideal love when they’re both feeling low, (‘Bei Männern, welche Liebe fühlen’), its simple melody unfolding like a comfort blanket. Finally, the magic flute spins above stern brass and timpani as Pamina and Tamino negotiate their trials of fire and water.

Other stuff Mozart was short of money and desperately needed this gig – he had recently accepted commissions to write pieces for a mechanical clock and a blind girl who played a glass harmonica. The Magic Flute premièred just ten weeks before Mozart’s death in December 1791, aged 34. Among the melodramatic theories around Mozart’s death, one of the most persistent is that he was killed by a rival composer, Antonio Salieri. Mozart more probably died of kidney failure or pneumonia, exacerbated by years of frenetic overwork. The librettist and director Schikaneder also played Papageno, wearing an extraordinary suit of feathers. One night, Mozart snuck into the wings to play Papageno’s glockenspiel. Mozart joined a Masonic lodge in Vienna in 1784 and knew the leader of a radical sect called the Illuminati, which was notorious for its libertarian politics. The German poet Goethe wrote a sequel to the opera in which the Queen of the Night returns to kidnap Pamina and Tamino’s baby.

Exploring further - links The Magic Flute by Peter Branscombe (Cambridge Opera Handbook) introduces the opera’s music and background. The Magic Flute (1974), a delicious film directed by Ingmar Bergman which captures the opera’s humanity. Amadeus (1984), lush film directed by Milos Forman about Mozart’s last months, features The Magic Flute’s premiere (with original sets). Mozart: A Cultural Biography by Robert W Gutman (Harcourt Brace), putting Mozart’s life in context. Mozart by John Rosselli (Cambridge), a short, neat biography.