The Magic Flute of Papagen. Mozart's opera The Magic Flute

Erich Neumann

"The Magic Flute" by Mozart

Of the many conflicting interpretations of the libretto of The Magic Flute, there is one that, while still widely read, laments the fact that Mozart had to work with a rather awkward and confusing text. Critics usually argue that Mozart's musical genius more or less managed to prevail, despite the inconsistencies and banalities of the libretto's plot.

At first glance, the origins of The Magic Flute support this view. The version for which E. Schikaneder (the author of the libretto) composed the text from several sources, and Mozart had already half composed the music, was suddenly completely redone. Mozart left part of his previously composed musical composition unchanged, and wrote the other part anew. Some critics claim that they can still discern the various layers and contradictions in the opera's structure. But a very important and puzzling point is how the deep layers of meaning lead to exactly those places where cracks and inconsistencies in the libretto are discovered. In a certain sense, these inconsistencies can be compared to spaces in consciousness: without harming the integrity of the work, they constitute the factor that provides connection with the deep levels of the psyche, and awakens the inner meaning, which includes unconscious aspects.

The structure of the libretto was initially based on the situation of confrontation between the good fairy and the evil wizard, taken from a fairy tale; this situation forms the context within which the lovers, in the main roles, act out their suffering and development. The transformation of this simple concept - a transformation that may have come from Mozart himself - is that the polarity between the male and female background figures has completely changed. The good fairy became the Queen of the Night - representing the principle of evil, and the evil wizard turned into a priest of light. In accordance with the change in values, the secret symbolism of Freemasonry was included not only in the libretto, but actually became the fundamental content guiding the internal development of the plot. Through this transformation, a multi-layered mystical drama (which is how we should view this late work of Mozart) emerged from the originally magical fairytale opera.

It has been established for quite some time that The Magic Flute, as well as the Requiem, were written at a time when Mozart began to realize his approaching death; an awareness that is clearly expressed in his letters. The transformation of an initially fairy-tale plot into an opera about initiation with the imprint of secret Masonic rituals testifies to Mozart’s conscious Masonic religiosity and his ethical orientation. In our opinion, in this strange libretto, with its combination of the most diverse spiritual trends, we are dealing with something fundamentally different than a random grouping of various parts of the text, which was not entirely possible to formulate into something coherent. We can understand the deeper meaning of The Magic Flute and the text behind it only when we understand that the many layers of the libretto text are analogous to dreams and express many levels of the conscious and unconscious; and when we realize how important their content lies behind the intention of creating a complete libretto, we will be forced to a certain extent to slip through, to penetrate into the depths of the text.

Fairy tales, and by extension operas based on fairy tales, always contain an abundance of unconscious symbolism, whose living meaning rests on the universal contents of the human psyche, which is multi-nuanced and therefore always open to, and even demanding, different interpretations. The motifs we find in fairy tales are those of the collective unconscious; they are universal and can be found in a wide variety of people and cultures. In contrast, the "Masonic symbolism" used by Mozart in The Magic Flute is generally allegorical and thus closer to the conscious. Masonic symbols are accepted by initiates as indicators of a certain conceptually understood content. Although this content is experienced not without the participation of the senses, it lacks the original quality of a symbol - to contain predominantly unconscious and irrational elements. That is, these “symbols” correspond to the differentiated code of morality to which the Freemason is initiated.

As a continuation of Rosicrucianism and late alchemy, Freemasonry is indirectly related to the ancient mystery cults. For ancient man, the attitude towards the religious experience of mystical ritual differed from the rationalist-enlightened experience with its emphasis on Masonic allegories, as well as from the later mystical and rapturous attitude. The ethical-Masonic orientation of The Magic Flute corresponds to the spirit of Mozart’s time - humanistic and “progressive” and, in this sense, modern. However, fragments of genuine archetypal symbolism remain alive among Masonic allegories. In The Magic Flute, the excitement and passion of Mozart's genius revive the layers of symbolism that form the true core of the now abstract allegories, layers that were lost in the course of the increasing rationalization of consciousness. In our opinion, it is this strange mixture of fairy tale and Freemasonry that allows archetypal and symbolic elements to emerge, regardless of the need for the librettist or composer to be aware of this process. Our psychological comments, addressed to the Masonic aspect of The Magic Flute, are thus directed not towards the rationalist-Enlightenment allegories, but rather towards their archetypal-symbolic background. One of the two internal threads of Freemasonry leads to the consciousness, rationalistic moralizing of the Enlightenment, while the other thread leads to the activation of truly numinous experience experienced through archetypal symbols. It is fair to talk about this activation both in relation to Mozart’s “The Magic Flute” itself, as it is, and in relation to, for example, the unfinished version of the second part of “The Magic Flute” written by Goethe, and many other Goethean and romantic works.

The Masonic ritual consists of initiation, the process of which, like all patriarchal initiations, takes place under the motto: “Through the night to the light.” This motto means that the direction of events is determined by solar symbolism, which we can recognize in the hero’s “night sea voyage.” Setting in the evening in the west, the “hero sun” must travel through the night sea in the darkness of the depths and death, in order to rise as a new sun in the east, but already transformed and reborn.

Solar symbolism is the archetypal pattern of every hero and every path of initiation, in which the hero represents a certain principle of consciousness that must be activated, and which manifests itself in the battle with the dark forces of the unconscious. In addition, in the hero’s struggle with forces opposing consciousness, he needs to free the treasure of new contents and new life from the night world of the unconscious. This occurs as a result of a conflict in which the hero is transformed and reborn, in which he risks his life. The most famous example of such a ritual (according to the novel of Apuleius) is the initiation into the mysteries of Isis, where the initiate returns to human form “solidified”, that is, “illuminated” and shining after he has passed through the underworld and endured severe trials, which led him along the path through the four elements. In this initiation the initiate becomes Osiris; a similar dedication represents the "Osirification" of the Egyptian king.

The Egyptian symbolism of The Magic Flute, like Masonic symbolism in this sense, is “authentic”, even when diluted with Rosicrucian and alchemical elements. Already in antiquity, the widespread recognition of Egypt as the birthplace of mystical religions is not so unfounded, insofar as the mysteries of Isis and Osiris are among the few ancient mystical cults about which we know anything at all.

The "reward" received as a result of initiation, its meaning and purpose, is the expansion of the personality, and, since illumination is implied, also includes the expansion of consciousness. Thus, the symbol of acquired treasure - whether interpreted as a "superior" existence, immortality, wisdom or "virtue" - must always be understood in the sense of transformation of the personality.

We have designated this model of initiation and development as "patriarchal" because (as is usually the case in the West), the achievement of consciousness is associated with Masculine symbolism, while the forces directly opposed to consciousness are represented mainly by the instinctual world of the unconscious and are associated with Feminine symbolism. Such a connection inevitably leads to a devaluation of the feminine, which - for the Masculine and the consciousness associated with it - represents something dangerous and negative: the night side of consciousness. However, this is not a matter of a “contrived”, arbitrary association, but rather an archetypal one. This means that although the masculine's assessment of the feminine is objectively incorrect, the masculine will not yield until its psychological self-consciousness (and that of those identified with it) is able to see its involvement in the projection of archetypal symbols. The feminine is connected with the unconscious not only because it is the birthplace of consciousness and, therefore, the Great Mother; in addition, for Masculine consciousness the inevitable experience of the feminine is “dangerous” by its very instinctive nature; consequently, the feminine (and everything connected with it) arises primarily as a threat to fall into the unconscious.

If we look at the libretto of The Magic Flute in this light, we can get an idea of ​​the inner character of the opposing forces represented by the Queen of the Night on the one hand and the priestly brotherhood of Sarastro on the other. The Queen of the Night represents the dark side; she embodies what the moralizing Masculine concept of virtue perceives as “evil.” As the opera progresses, she becomes a representative of all dangerous affects, in particular “revenge” and “pride.” Moreover, it stands on the side of the principle of evil and in the act of murder takes on the form of death, which seeks to take possession of the sun and the light side, i.e. "good" principle. This is how the feminine becomes attractive; through delusions, superstitions and deceptions, it plays the role of the devil, who lures a mortal into a trap, and he dies in despair, ridiculed by the forces of evil.

Not only does the warning of the choir of priests suggest that “death and despair” frighten the endangered hero; the Queen of the Night herself proclaims that “death and despair flare up everywhere whenever I appear”; when she says that “A hellish thirst for revenge boils and seethes in my heart,” she thereby reveals the deepest secrets of her nature. The Queen of the Night, in contrast to Sarastro, who symbolizes the principle of light, personifies the underworld; she embodies the primal threat that always lies in wait for the Masculine principle on its path to self-realization. In other words, the Queen of the Night represents the Terrible Mother, a nocturnal deity - an aspect of the Great Mother that the mythological hero must overcome in one of his trials - the battle with the dragon. The essence of these arguments is reflected in the following lines:

Beware of feminine tricks; This is the first duty of brotherhood!

The aspect of the feminine, which the masculine experiences extremely negatively, is more clearly manifested in the second part of The Magic Flute than in the first, where the “positive” aspect of the Queen of the Night, which is characteristic of the original version of the libretto, seems to be partially preserved. Of course, these two aspects can be reduced to the question of “surviving fragments”; but a superficial explanation of this kind will not satisfy anyone, especially when we are all fully aware of how easy it was for Mozart to review such a small text and how obvious to him were the factual inconsistencies in the characterization of the characters.

The contrast between the first and final self-disclosure of the "Queen of the Night" can, apparently, be fully explained by considering the events that happened as a "misleading illusion" and a deliberate deception of which the gullible hero Tamino becomes a victim.

But such an interpretation does not stand up to criticism in light of the fact that the strange magical instrument that gives the opera its name, the magic flute, is, like Papageno's bells, a gift from the Queen of the Night; thus the “evil” nature of the Queen of the Night is not without ambivalence. Now one more point: the question of the legitimacy of the choice of black and white tones to describe the character of Sarastro becomes especially relevant if we remember that the whole action begins with a strange act of violence on the part of Sarastro, namely the kidnapping of Pamina.

The cruelty of this abduction stands in irreconcilable contradiction with Sarastro's piety, his speeches full of meekness, wisdom, kindness and brotherly love. He explains that he had to snatch Pamina from her proud mother's arms because the gods had prepared her for Tamino. However, these words are especially unconvincing in view of the fact that the Queen of the Night also promised Pamina for Tamino if he freed her. Here, depth psychology is able to clarify the contradictions in the text, since they - contradictions, as in the text of any dream, are the result not only of a lack of clarity in consciousness, but are also an expression of deep, rooted conflicts arising from the unconscious and constellated by a particular situation.

The situation at the beginning of the opera - the relationship between the Queen of the Night and Pamina - corresponds to the archetypal constellation that appears in the myth of Demeter and the abduction of Kore and constitutes a central problem in the psychology of the feminine, and therefore “matriarchal psychology”. The close mother-daughter bond, the forced abduction of the daughter by the masculine principle and the protest of the mother who has suffered the severe loss of the mother continue to give rise to significant conflicts in the process of a woman’s development, development in which one or another affiliation - be it the matriarchal world of the mother, the patriarchal world of the father, or the world in which they meet their loved ones is decisive.

Thus, the grief of the Queen of the Night over the unbearable loss of her daughter is absolutely archetypal:

Suffering is my fate, because my daughter is not with me.

Because of her I lost all my happiness; the villain left with her.

Her grief continues:

I can still see her shaking with worry and shock

Trembling with fear, timidly resisting.

I should have seen her stolen from me.

“Oh, help,” was the only thing she said.

This description is fully confirmed by Pamina's behavior - she is in no way reassured by Sarastro's good intentions - she finds herself in his halls, given over to the power of the wicked Moor, Monostatos.

An explanation suggesting that Mozart left the features of the original version intact (the Queen of the Night as the good fairy and Sarastro as the evil wizard) and did not bring them into line with the tendencies of the later version must be based on the assumption of a superficial attitude, in fact a complete lack of seriousness on the part of Mozart. On the other hand, even if we do not consider that Mozart sincerely accepted the text with all its contradictions, one thing must be said: the depth and harmonious richness of the content of this, one of his last works, very consciously accepts many aspects of life with all its contradictions, Therefore, we can reasonably assume that the “ambiguity” of all the elements of the multi-layered text interacted exclusively with his genius, even without conscious participation.

The comprehensive range of Mozart's musical feeling is perhaps more fully revealed in The Magic Flute than in any of his other works. Elements of folk song and comedy stand alongside the highest lyricism. Gaiety and horror, sensual instinctiveness and reverent solemnity, inspired by death and the beyond, follow and alternate with each other. Indeed, every time the opera reaches its spiritual and musical climax, we are almost certain that the development of events will immediately begin in the opposite direction - an alternation that prevents emotion and lyricism from turning into "romantic" and "great seriousness" from what it would result in tragedy. The thirty-fifth year of life - the year when Mozart wrote this work - is a typical "midpoint" and turning point. Around this time it often seems as if something in the psyche forms the fullness of the first half of life and seeks the beginning of a new path that will ultimately reveal itself as the beginning of the via nuova and a way of transformation. In this sense, The Magic Flute, in its description of the rite of passage, is a characteristic work of the middle age; but at the same time, the last completed work of the thirty-five-year-old Mozart has the depth and transcendental quality of the work of a man of venerable age. Thus, the uniqueness of The Magic Flute lies (among other things) in the very unity of fullness and youth on the one hand and maturity and proximity to death on the other. The harmonious unification of these oppositions is expressed not only in the work as a whole, but also in the interrelation of each detail, the complementarity of diametrically opposed characters, which, in our opinion, constitute a true “unity of character” when considered together. The one-sidedness of one element finds balance in its complete opposite. The most important example, besides the relationship between Tamino and Papageno (which we will discuss later), is Sarastro and the Moor Monostatos, who clearly personifies the “dark side” in the temple of Sarastro. The Moor belongs to the positive masculine figure of the priest as his shadow aspect. He captured Pamina for someone else, not in the name of the gods; he did it solely for himself and acted as a victim of his own instinctiveness. Sarastro's remarkable and apparently meaningless statement to Pamina

Although I won’t ask what the secret of your heart is, I see: you love someone else very deeply. I won’t force you to hug, But I won’t give you freedom either.

appears to be a relic of an older version in which an evil wizard steals the girl for himself. But actually, it makes sense when we perceive Monostatos as the Shadow of Sarastro, just as Papageno is to Tamino and Papageno to Pamina.

While on a conscious level the abduction of Pamina was the fulfillment of the demands of the gods, Sarastro's real intention became unconscious and was transferred to Monostatos, whose presence in Sarastro's circle makes sense in this case (and only in this case). Recognizing the duality of the Sarastro/Monostatos character leads us to understand that the grief and anger of the Queen Mother/Demeter character is no longer so unreasonable. For we see a genuine "kidnapping of the Kore" in which the Moor Monostatos is undoubtedly the "dark brother" of Sarastro, just as Hades, the kidnapper of the Kore, is the dark brother of Zeus.

In this case, for the above characters, the “opposite side” finds its embodiment in external reality as a separate role in the drama. However, the other side of the terrible Queen of the Night, the good Demeter, is also present, but it is not expressed in a separate external role. In her case, the duality manifests itself in the changes in her character and archetypal background that characterize her performances in the first and second acts. The relationship between the Queen of the Night and her daughter Pamina follows the "holding" trend that is archetypally regulated by mother and daughter during the first phase of matriarchy. In an important scene between these two women, we are shown the negative aspect of the Great Mother, we see her as a Terrible Mother who does not really want to give up her daughter. Then it will become clear that her “love” is an expression of the will to power, which does not allow the daughter to gain autonomy, but rather uses the daughter for her own purposes. “You can thank the powers that took you from me, since I can still call myself your mother.”

This means that if a daughter were to leave her mother of her own free will, the mother-daughter bond would be immediately dissolved, reduced to zero.

The Queen of the Night talks about this as if it were self-evident. The Dread Goddess operates on an all-or-nothing basis; she has no relationship with the personal and individual aspect of her daughter; rather, her connection rests on her demand for absolute obedience, which, however, means the complete retention of the daughter with the mother. This becomes clear from the second scene of the Queen of the Night's self-exposure, in which she incites Pamina to kill Sarastro:

My heart yearns for terrible revenge!

I'm merciless!

Sarastro must learn the horror of death,

From your hand!

And if not, then you are not my daughter!

I'll leave you forever

Live alone in shame!

I'll tear you out of your heart by the roots

Even the memory of you.

And you're alone

You will die in humiliation!

To you, gods of vengeance,

I make a vow to you!

Suddenly ancient mythological figures appear: Erinyes, goddess of revenge, characteristic representatives of the Terrible Mother, protector of matriarchy. Here again we are faced with a conflict between matriarchy, the dominance of the Great Mother, Lady of the Moon and Night, and patriarchy, the dominance of the paternal world, day and sun. After thousands of years, the enmity between the Masculine principle and the maternal world, fearing betrayal by the Masculine, erupts in the curse of the Queen of the Night with the same cruelty that we recognize in the Amazons, the man-hating mythical paragons of matriarchy.

All these features give us only hints, and it is surprising how clearly they are presented, if we remember that neither the librettist nor the composer could have any idea of ​​the archetypal realities that determine the entire course of the action. At no point does the Queen of the Night allow herself to be eliminated, despite Sarastro's attempts. While he is a priest, she is in fact a goddess and everything that happens in The Magic Flute, at least in the first act, is determined by her actions, which are more than worthy of him. She chooses Tamino as her liberator; she appoints Papageno as his assistant; she gives the two of them magical musical instruments; and the Three Ladies and Three Boys, who will subsequently belong to the kingdom of Sarastro, are in her power. And anyone who has not yet been convinced of the inherently superior position of the female deity manifested in the Queen of the Night should be persuaded by the magnificent Mozart music that accompanies both of her archetypal appearances.

The meaning of Sarastro's remarks about the Queen of the Night and her pride must be understood in the context of this opposition between a self-determined matriarchal world and a patriarchal world that dominates and feels superior to the feminine. Patriarchal self-esteem, all the arrogance of patriarchy and the Masculine in relation to the Feminine, is expressed in the following words:

Sayings of the priest: “A woman talks a lot and does little; truly this is woman's lot,” or Tamino: “Chatty women are oft repeated” and “She is a woman, she has a woman’s mind” is an expression of the extreme arrogance of the Masculine and men, which is demonstrated at every level of patriarchy, and in the pub and in the fraternity, as well as in the one-sided male way of philosophizing and the male psychological assessment of the Feminine and women. But such a reprehensible attitude of men on a personal level is archetypally determined and necessary for the development of a man, therefore, psychologically justified. Here we must turn to the theme developed at the beginning of this essay, namely the patriarchal symbolism of the hero's “path”, which determines the development of consciousness; in it, the symbols of the unconscious, which the hero must overcome, are projected - although this is understandable - onto the Feminine and women. The Masonic path of secret ritual and initiation, which defines the development of Tamino, is constructed on the basis of this patriarchal mystical symbolism. Only against this background can the symbolism of “masculinity” that plays such an important role in The Magic Flute be fully understood. The motto of the path of initiation is contained in the following words of the Boys addressed to Tamino:

This path leads to your goal,

However, you, young man, must win like a man.

So take our advice:

Be steady, patient and silent!

Remember this, just be a man.

Then, young man, you will win - like a man.

This passage makes it clear that the path of initiation mentioned here is similar to the initiation rituals of young men in primitive cultures.

We have already seen that behind the overcoming of the Terrible Mother - personified by the Queen of the Night - there is a victory over the affect and the instinctive side of the unconscious, and that the male hero, in the form of the Sun, must undergo such a test. So, when Tamino has proven himself in the first half of the test, and the scene also becomes “dim”, we hear:

The gloomy night recedes from the rich splendor of the Sun;

Soon our Youth will feel new life.

The course of the alchemical path of transformation is similar to the hero's journey through the night sea, traces of which can be found in the Masonically colored parts of the work. To oversimplify, the alchemical stages of transformation lead from the darkness of chaos and night through the silver of the Moon to the gold of the Sun. It is no coincidence, therefore, that the Three Boys, messengers of light, with whose announcement “the huge serpent has disappeared”, occur their first appearance with “silver palm branches” in their hands. In the same way, it is said about the palm grove that appears at the beginning of the second act, the act of initiation, in which “the trees are made of silver and their leaves are golden.”

After the “work” of transformation has been completed and Evil has been thrown into eternal night, the last part of the work stands under the sign of gold. Thus, the action takes place in the Sun Temple. Its ending takes the form of Sarastro's victorious motto: "The shining glory of the Sun has conquered the night," and the words of the chorus of priests: "Hail the initiates! You made it through the night.”

The initiation rituals of primitive people were aimed at strengthening the ego of the initiate, and the goal of the ancient mysteries was to strengthen the integrity of the psyche, which would no longer be vulnerable to the soul-splitting forces of darkness; here the criterion of male development is found in stability - a man must show invulnerability to the seductive forces of the Feminine. A man should be “courageous and patient”; “A strong spirit rules a man; he weighs his words before he speaks.”

Here, self-control and unshakable will - as in countless other tales and rituals - are an expression of the strength of consciousness and the stability of the ego on which everything depends. The temptation of the Feminine - personified by the Three Ladies - may consist of feminine "chatter", or, equally, of the talk of the "vulgar mass", in contrast to the silent masculine power of reason, unshakable in the face of temptation. His masculinity is expressed both as ego-stability of the psyche and as overcoming fear and rejection of the temptations of instincts, in the face of which Papageno shows himself so absorbed by them that he is not worthy of initiation. But this whole world of temptations is kept under the cover of Maya, whose embodiment is the Great Mother in the person of the Queen of the Night.

We interpret the characters in a drama on a subjective level, that is, as intrapsychic aspects of the subject. So, for example, a “man-hating woman” is in the unconscious of a man. And the "fury of matriarchy" [wild, unbridled, dangerous force] represents a layer of the male psyche that is unconscious and hostile to consciousness, and over which the male consciousness must triumph in the heroic journey, just as the youth in the process of initiation, who must demonstrate that they worthy opponents in relation to everything feminine, including the feminine principle in themselves. In this case, the lines we quoted earlier take on a new meaning; in the fight against “proud Femininity” it is said that:

A man should lead your heart in the right direction

For every woman strives to go beyond what is allowed to her.

Ultimately, this also refers to the issue of controlling the emotional and unconscious side of a man with the help of his own consciousness. In this sense, “seeks to go beyond the boundaries of her given sphere” means the potential autonomy of the feminine forces in a man that threaten his consciousness. It is obvious that the internal situation is experienced and lived as an external projection; it is the basis of any "objective" dramatic performance, which is a dramatization of internal psychic events - internal psychic constellations appear externally. However, this dramatization takes place not only between the higher sphere of initiation and the opposing sphere of the Terrible Mother, but also between the “higher” and “lower” forces within the person himself. The upward movement of “higher” values ​​is constantly compensated by the countermovement of “lower” ones (and vice versa) - this is the means by which Mozart achieves a dramatic representation of the integrity of life in its unity of upper and lower. In Mozart's superb irony, the lower and primitive side of human nature always retains its right to exist along with the ritual solemnity and challenge of the “ideal man.” Thus, in particular, the character of Papageno, with his earthly realism, complements the solemnity of Tamino’s dedication and his idealistic detachment in an openly Mephistophelian counterpoint. Papageno is a primitive sentient Shadow, a child of nature, he is the personification of the “lower”, disagreeing with the idealistic and emotionally “higher” voice of Tamino. [in the opera Papageno literally has a lower singing voice - baritone than Tamino (tenor) - approx. transl.]. Just as Mozart's Basel Letters are documents of his primitive, natural, animal side, so Papageno plays the Sancho Panso-like Mephistopheles for Tamino's Faust-Don Quixote, and both are aspects of Mozart's being.

And look what The Magic Flute did to a couple of the clowns who got up to various mischief in previous operas. The unity of Tamino and Papageno is one of the best images of the two-sidedness of the human spirit, which Goethe described in the following lines:

Two souls, alas, live in my chest!

Both want to renounce each other;

One, grabbing the body's organs, clings to the ground,

Overwhelmed by lust and raw pleasure;

The other one rises mightily from the dust

Having rushed to the kingdom of the great forefathers.

But Papageno represents more than just the spontaneous, instinctive side; he has a heart and a simple humanity from which the highest aspect, Tamino, can begin his ascent. From this point of view, the meaning of otherwise incomprehensible scenes becomes clear, like the place in which Pamina, together with Papageno, sing a great song in praise of love, which foreshadows the very core of the ritual of initiation and conjunction:

There is no greater good than husband and wife;

Wife and husband, husband and wife

Reach the heights of deity.

What does such a primitive, natural man, Papageno, whose version of love is not ennobled by any high spheres of initiation, have to do with such an interpretation? Pamina, perhaps, answers this question herself: “Men who are not alien to the emotions of sweet love / Will never experience a lack of heartfelt kindness.”

When Papageno glorifies the love that moves him “in the kingdom of nature,” then this is healthy and sincere love, this is a miracle of nature and the basis for all higher being.

For this reason, in contrast to the successful dedication of Tamino and Pamina: “Victory! Victory! You are a noble couple. You have overcome the danger! there is a song by Papageno and Papagena about “dear children”:

The greatest wish

To many, many Papagen(s) [daughters and sons]

They became happiness for their parents.

Undoubtedly, the path of initiation in mystical rituals is the path of the hero, but its ascetic and idealistic orientation under the rubric of virtue and wisdom stands in natural opposition to Papageno with his anti-romantic common sense, on which the existence and continuation of the material world depends. Papageno personifies the natural fearfulness and desire of a person to live a comfortable life, a person who eschews asceticism and high aspirations. Who will not be offended by Papageno’s protest words: “But tell me, Sir, why should I endure all this torment and horror? If the gods really appointed Papagena to be my wife, then why should I expose myself to such dangers in order to win her?

He has no intentions, unlike the hero, to go through darkness and mortal dangers for the sake of “higher goals”; Horrified, he denies that he has a “spirit,” but he also firmly maintains that his “heart is full of feelings.” He says: “To tell you the truth, I don’t require any wisdom. I am a child of nature, who is satisfied with sleep, food and wine, but if only it were possible for me to catch a pretty wife one day..."

And when he responds to the contemptuous remark that: “You will never experience the divine pleasure of the initiate” with the words: “In any case, there are many more people like me in the world,” then most of the people are definitely on his side having common sense. However, despite his naturalness and primitiveness, Papageno goes through a certain experience of initiation (albeit at a lower level), the path of the hero, which Tamino must overcome on a higher plane of full awareness and will.

The experience of death is part of true initiation, and in the mystery of The Magic Flute, danger arises more than once during the process of initiation. Although in the opera itself all ordeals are only hinted at or mentioned, the solemn and threatening mood of the music at such important moments confirms the authenticity of the feelings and speeches.

As in the suicide attempt scene, Pamina must experience death as the true living of her love, and the same thing happens to Papageno. Even though Papageno’s suicide scene is full of humor from beginning to end, his bitterness is still sincere:

I've had enough; I've already outlived my time!

Death will put an end to my love,

No matter how much fire my heart burns.

this is actually a comical analogy for Pamina's suffering. Both scenes express the same experience, albeit on different levels. Thus the Three Boys come to the aid of Papageno, as well as to Pamina.

We have previously used Bachofen's research in our interpretation of the text; in this regard, we will draw on Papageno's avian aspect for interpretation. Papageno is a bird-man and as such he apparently belongs to the kingdom of the Queen of the Night. As we know, since the time of Bachofen, a fundamental division has taken place at the level of the symbolic reality of birds. There are higher “birds of the spirit” whose home is the air; this is their characteristic feature. It is enough to remember the eagle and its meaning: “masculinity”, “spirit”, “sun”. But besides this group, there is another group related to men, which belongs more to the area of ​​\u200b\u200bwater and swamp. Such birds - including the stork, which we are most familiar with, as well as the gander, swan, drake (male duck) - have a phallic/masculine character, and their fertilizing function is subject to the control of the Feminine.

Papageno the Birdman belongs to this "lower" species of masculine birds; he is not able to share the sublime flight of the spirit with Tamino, but settles down in the lower kingdom of nature. Even in his transformation - and he, like all the active characters in The Magic Flute undergoes changes - does not leave the lower sphere to which he belongs; but he achieves a sense of satisfaction in his plan, in his relationship with his partner Papagena, just as Tamino does with his, except that all the latter's actions are played out on a higher level.

This is part of Mozart's genius, being able to recognize that the high mystery of initiation is filled with the same power of love as the lower world of Papageno. Just as the Masonic Temple of Wisdom in the opera stands between Nature and Reason, so his love and wisdom embraced both at the same time. He accepts the wisdom of the higher sphere of love, but also accepts the lower wisdom and love of the naive world of nature, without placing himself above it.

Just as the Queen of the Night represents the unconscious, in particular its aspect - the Terrible Mother, Papageno is the Shadow of Tamino, so Pamina is not only the (external) lover who must be conquered by Tamino, but she also symbolizes his soul, which must be found after overcoming tests, that is, his anima image. In Masonic terms it is an object which we must achieve with zeal and effort. The nature of Pamina is characteristic of the anima figure, that is, the inner image of the Feminine that lives in every man, she is clearly distinguishable from the first time she meets Tamino. The famous "portrait aria" is a typical form of encounter with anima, in which a man stumbles upon his own anima image.

But in a testing situation, the hero proves his resilience in the face of temptation not only from the mother, but also from his anima. Tamino follows the instructions given to him to remain silent even when he risks losing Pamina because of this. Just as in a matriarchy, mothers require their daughters to make a choice in which they will resist the Masculine - even in the form of the man they love - and stick to their mothers, so in a patriarchal world, the father - represented by Sarastro - demands the hero to make a choice for him and against the Feminine, even if it is the beloved. (We cannot discuss the dangers inherent in such extreme demands here.) Here, too, the text demonstrates unexpected depth when Tamino's unwavering silence drives Pamina to despair.

The original concept of the Magic Opera centers on a pair of lovers, and there is also an archetypal task for the hero - to free his beloved from evil forces. This constellation was initially retained in The Magic Flute, at least in Act I. But the events of Pamina's rescue fade into the background, overshadowed by the Masonic path of initiation that leads Tamino from the evil serpent at the beginning to the rising of the Sun at the end. Indeed, it even seems that the release of Pamina would hinder the development of Tamino.

But the solution to the problem lies very close: it lies in the connection between Tamino and Pamina. Taking the most simple route, she simply needs to be included in the purifying journey and instead of one hero we get two who need to go through trials. One can even assume that Schikaneder was aware of such a decision in his mind, and perhaps Mozart too. But look what the unconscious - even if only through suggestion - made of this “practical decision”.

It is typical for patriarchal mysteries that the woman, as a bearer in a symbolic form of negative aspects, is excluded from the rituals, while in the action of the Magic Flute we find not only a violation of this basic principle, but also the introduction of a new mystery in which the conjunction, the unification of the Masculine and the Feminine, occupies the highest level of symbolism, lying behind the one-sidedness of matriarchal or patriarchal identification.

Undoubtedly, this principle of conjunction, which was first reflected in the West in Apuleius’s tale of Psyche, played a certain role, if not a decisive one, in ancient and medieval alchemy. But in alchemy the principle of love between two initiates was never embodied as the essence of the mystery, because the action always unfolded in the form of projections onto material substances in which the unity of masculine and feminine potencies was experienced. The appearance of the secret “sister” in the works of alchemists is frequent, but not emphasized, and is, of course, the closest predecessor of a similar secret ritual for two persons, which K.G. Jung presented it to us in its modern forms in The Psychology of Transference.

It is significant that the depth and fundamental significance contained in the mysteries of the Magic Flute are associated with the double figure of Isis and Osiris, one of the highest pairs of gods and lovers, although at first glance it seems that the entire layer of Egyptian allegories and symbolism is only external, typical for Freemasonry gloss, fashionable at that time.

When the Magic Flute rituals take on an unexpectedly modern meaning through the introduction of the principle of conjunction, it is even more striking to see how Pamina is transformed from a princess awaiting salvation into an equal partner in a rite worthy of initiation, just like Tamino.

The “rite of passage,” in which Pamina proves that she is worthy of him, but which takes the form not only of a ritual, but also of direct experience, is the ritual of “death-marriage.” For Pamina, as for Masonic symbolism, death is the key to initiation into higher states of being. A few years before his own death, Mozart wrote a letter to his dying father: “... Since death, strictly speaking, is the true ultimate goal of our life, in the last few years I have become so familiar with this true and best friend of man that her image is not only not contains nothing frightening for me, but, on the contrary, gives a lot of peace and comfort! And I thank God for giving me the happiness of knowing death as the key to our true bliss...”

Tamino’s silence, through which he had to prove his stability when meeting with Pamina, his anima image, ultimately dooms her to loneliness and disappointment in love, which in this situation manifested itself as “love of death.” Half losing her mind from despair, Pamina turns to the dagger with the words: “So you will be my groom” and “Be patient, my beloved, I am yours; / Soon we will be together forever.” To make just a hint, let us recall the feminine myth of a mortal marriage, which stretches from the story of Apuleius to “Death and the Maiden” by Schubert and forms part of the mysteries of initiation, in which the girl must come to herself, breaking the original connection with her mother, and surrendering to the man and death.

The decisive step in freeing a daughter from her mother is to leave the matriarchal world for the love of a man, freely surrendering herself to him in a deadly marriage. But this submission to a man, although liberating for a woman, is considered from the point of view of the matriarchal principle as a betrayal. The clash of these two archetypal forces, Matriarchal and Masculine, always forms the tragic background of a deadly marriage. In Pamina's intended suicide, the dagger symbolizes the Masculine principle, whose (apparently) hard-heartedness brought her so close to death. But besides this, suicide is a regression. Since the suicidal form of lethal marriage is not a progressive symbol of true union with the beloved in Liebestod, love-death, the dagger also symbolizes the negative aspect of the Feminine, the Terrible Mother, avenging the betrayal of lovers. Even this archetypal trait finds expression in The Magic Flute. Pamina reveals the meaning of her suicide when she says, "You, my mother, make me suffer / And your curse haunts me."

Only the intervention of the Three Boys, who always stand behind the principle of mercy and compassion, which are part of the principle of light, prevents Pamina from committing suicide. But the failed suicide attempt is recognized as a genuine demonstration of love on the part of the Feminine, a genuine mortal marriage accepted unconsciously - certainly in a way completely inaccessible to Mozart's consciousness - but still justified, like a ritual of initiation. Thus, we hear: “The woman who despised death / Is worthy of being dedicated.” As Pamina's experience helped her understand that death was the key to the path suited to her as a woman, just as Tamino walked his path as a man, both passed the test and were dedicated as equal and full partners in love, as well as equally belonging to the human race.

It is no coincidence that Isis and Osiris, as the highest symbols of conjunction, patronize the ritual of initiation that the lovers must undergo in the three scenes of Act II. The old “motive of glorification” of the mystical ritual, proclaimed in three places in the opera, is embodied in the lovers themselves.

Although outwardly The Magic Flute is divided into two acts, it is in fact organized according to the number three, the sacred Masonic number, which is repeated in the three temples, the figure of the pyramid and its number nine, the three appearances of the Three Boys, and also musically in the solemn the repeated initiation chord-motive in the overture and at the beginning of Act II. The second act actually ends on scene 20 (10) [Hereinafter, the scene number is indicated in parentheses, corresponding to the numbering in modern versions of the libretto - approx. transl.], the third act can, and in a certain sense should, be singled out to clarify the structure - just as the ending of Faust was accurately described as "Part Three".

In the last part, which begins with the words of the choir of priests: “O You, Isis and Osiris! Holy awe! The gloomy night is torn apart by light!”, Tamino no longer goes through the test alone; in this "third act" the mystery of the conjunction of Tamino and Pamina is completed in the image of a divine couple acting as Isis and Osiris behind with all action and above everyone.

The internal and barely concealed tripartite division of the work is represented in an ascending sequence in the figure of the pyramid, a favorite symbol of the Freemasons, which plays a very important function in the structure of the opera. The base of the pyramid consists of the contents of Act 1, which is dominated by the chthonic forces, the Queen of the Night. In Act II, the act of the initiation process - the middle part of the structure - the confrontation between light and darkness is presented. The “Third Act” forms the top of the pyramid, where the union of the Masculine and the Feminine is glorified, as the sacrament of Isis and Osiris. If we accept this sequence, then the symmetrical structure of each part and its correspondences become clearer. In Act 1, scene 9(4) the Queen of the Night appears as the Good Mother, and in Act II, scene 10(14) as the Terrible Mother, and we also find corresponding symmetrical appearances of the Three Boys who come to the rescue in Act 1, scene 17( 8), and in Act II, scene 17 (16). Their nature, uniting the higher and lower realms, is clear from the fact that on the lower, magical plane of Act I they bring the wisdom-and-trial motif of Act II, and on the higher, wisdom-oriented plane of Act II they bring the magical tools from the first act. But in the “third act” the magic flute and the Three Boys also play their most significant and, corresponding to the climax, sublime roles. And, in addition, the three events in which the glorification motif arises fit into the general three-level structure of the opera. In the magnificent scene of Act I between Papageno, the "natural man" and Pamina, the virgin daughter, where the principle of love in nature is glorified, we first hear this motif: "Wife and husband, husband and wife/Reach the heights of divinity."

At the beginning of the initiation scene under the sign of Sarastro, we hear this motif again, but on a higher plane. Now we are dealing with the paradise of the Mind, where humanity, returning from the lower plane, discovers its original “divine” state:

When integrity and dignity

The path will be decorated with glory,

Then the Earth will become Paradise,

and mortals will become like gods!

But we hear the same motive for the third time - this time at the highest level - at the beginning of the last movement, in which the mystery of the conjunction of lovers comes to an end:

Oh, descend, blessed peace,

Return to people's hearts

Then Earth will become Heaven,

And mortals will become like gods!

What played out in the context of nature at the lower level, then in human society at the middle level, now turns inward to the center of the individual, the human heart. The symbol of this paradise is “blessed peace.” This peace, which originally belonged to humanity, was lost during the “fall” and is found again at the highest stage.

The sequence of three steps leading to godlikeness is the only clue that can help us understand the meaning of the three temples: the Temple of Wisdom, standing between the opposites - the Temple of Reason and the Temple of Nature. [Description from the libretto: Grove. There are three temples in the back of the stage. The middle one is the largest, on it is inscribed: “Temple of Wisdom”; on the temple on the right there is an inscription: “Temple of Reason (Reason)”; on the temple on the left: “Temple of Nature” - approx. transl.]. The paradise of love originates in nature, the paradise of the human mind, the paradise of the wisdom of the heart are represented by those locations of temples in which the glorification of human existence begins. But of these three, the Temple of the Wisdom of the Heart is the central and highest, and at the same time the most intimate sanctuary.

However, this holy of holies can only be achieved through the lovers overcoming a series of trials, that sequence, which represents the path of their union. Their journey through the purifying elements is equally marked by the sign of death and the sign of rebirth. With the words “There is no power on earth that could separate our lives / Even if death may be the end of us,” both are ready to undergo trials and experience their love with the same determination with which they are ready to accept death together. They stand side by side as partners on the last stretch of the road through danger; The Feminine is also ready for death, not only the Masculine - as happens, for example, in alchemy. While the Feminine appears in the alchemical process of transformation as the Terrible Mother in whom the Masculine has been dissolved, here we see the figure of the anima, the partner who has completely freed herself from the influence of the maternal figure, the Queen of the Night. But Pamina doesn't just overcome challenges with Tamino; Here again, this unusual text offers us an almost imperceptible surprise: at the decisive moment, when the couple faces the greatest threat during the journey through the elements, Pamina herself takes the lead. What allows Pamina to act under the sign of Isis in this high mystery of rebirth (conjunction) is not only a greater connection with the natural traits of the Feminine, which can more easily find its way through fire and water, but also a greater attachment to the principle of love, which, being the principle heart, leads to wisdom, the highest stage [of development].

Wherever the path takes us,

I will be with you forever.

I'll lead you myself

For Love will guide me.

But decisive help on the path of initiation comes through the magic flute. She is also closely related to Pamina. She tells Tamino to play the flute for a reason: “In this terrible place, she leads us in the right direction”; Ultimately, both speak of the flute as a deity, essentially a “divine force”: “With the help of the magical power of music we walk merrily through the dark night of death.” To understand the divine power evoked by anima and identified with love, we must look at the mysterious symbol represented by the magic flute.

One of the most striking inconsistencies in the libretto undoubtedly lies in the fact that the Queen of the Night, supposedly personifying the principle of evil, gives Tamino the saving magic flute from which the opera takes its name, and also gives Papageno the magic bells (glockenspiel). This is especially puzzling if we consider the Queen of the Night solely as an image representing the unconscious itself, the instinctive aspect of the psyche. The fact that the shadow figure, Papageno, comes from her sphere confirms such an association, but also demonstrates the rootedness of Tamino and his “inferior” masculinity in the realm of nature.

In determining the place of magic instruments in opera, we can neglect Papageno's bells, since they are essentially a double of the magic flute and have no separate meaning. Where they are not used to answer wishes, they have the same power as the magic flute, allowing them to transform the feelings of people, as happened when casting a spell on the evil Monostatos. The Three Ladies say this:

She transforms people's feelings,

The sad one will learn to smile again

And a cold heart will flare up with love.

The first act of the opera is marked by confusion, immersion in the “lower” world of the Queen of the Night; It is she who misleads Tamino, awakening in him feelings of revenge and hostility. Initiation does not occur until Act II. Just as the structure of Act II is in many respects similar to Act I, so Tamino-Papageno was given magical instruments twice. In the first act, the Three Ladies present the Queen's gifts - a magic flute and bells (I, 17[scene 5]); In the second act - in exact accordance - they are brought from Sarastro's palace by the Three Boys (II, 17).

The Orpheus motif—the enchantment of animals is analogous to the transformation of negative affects into positive feelings—plays a significant role already in the first act. But the deeper meaning of the magic flute becomes clear from one place in particular, where Tamino plays the flute for the first time and exclaims:

If only I could

Show my respect to you,

Flowing from the depths of my heart

O Almighty Gods! In every note

Glory to you!

Although this time he only manages to attract animals to him (that is, the connection of his feelings with nature is revealed), the flute has more significant magical power in the second act. Here its sound tames the lions that frighten Papageno (II, 20); the flute becomes a means of domination over the aggressively animal world of affects. The function of music and musical instruments - whether they relate to good or evil - is always an archetypal motif. The Pied Piper of Hamelin, as well as violins, flutes, trumpets and harps, play a similar role in fairy tales - regardless of Orpheus' lyre - and have similar meanings throughout. The inclusion of so many archetypal motifs into an overarching spiritual whole that takes the form of a mystery of human development makes The Magic Flute a truly unique work. While the Orpheus motif plays a decisive role already in the first act, on the higher plane of the second act the magic flute becomes an even more significant artifact. With its sounds, Tamino calls on Pamina and, without knowing it, forces her to accept the challenge of her fate. In the ensuing meeting, in which Tamino does not say a word and remains unmoved by her pleas, he forces Pamina to despair and suicide, but then leads her beyond to the “higher marriage” of joint initiation.

But in the “third act,” the conjunction, the magic flute becomes the most important of all participants. Its sounds allow the couple to pass through the elements, forming a pair of opposites, consisting of fire and water. The power of the magic flute to subjugate everything natural is clear on every level on which we can see its effect. But this power of music is at the same time the power of feelings and heart; a power that “transforms the senses.”

Thus, music, which Pamina calls “divine power” in the test scene, becomes a symbol of love and higher wisdom, which stands here under the sign of Isis. Just as Isis, the supreme deity, carried her brother-husband through the valley of death to rebirth, so Pamina on the earthly plane, but similar to the act of the goddess, carried her lover - as well as herself - to the highest goal, the unity of Isis and Osiris, which is made possible by love of Isis. For this reason, we hear at this moment - and only at this moment: “Isis has given us joy!” and:

Victory! Victory! You are a noble Couple.

You have overcome all dangers!

Isis now blesses you,

Go, approach the shrine of the temple!

While the Eternal Feminine in the second part of Faust still appears in personified form, like the Madonna, in The Magic Flute she appears as an invisible spiritual force, like music. But this music expresses itself as divine love itself, uniting law and freedom, the sublime and the base, in the wisdom of the heart and love. As harmony, she bestows divine peace on humanity and rules the world as the supreme deity.

Since ancient times, magic and music have been in the power of the Archetypal Feminine, which in myths and fairy tales also manifests itself as the mistress of transformation, intoxication and enchanting sound. Thus, it becomes quite clear that it is the feminine principle that bestows magical musical instruments.

The motive for the magical taming of animal energies through music belongs to her, as the mistress of animals, the Great Goddess, ruling the world of both wild and tamed animals. She can transform things and people into the form of animals, tame animals, enchant them, because, like music, she is also capable of making the tamed wild and untamed by the power of her magic. In contrast to her patriarchally colored representation by Sarastro, in which the Queen of the Night embodies the feminine only as negative, both in the text and in the action of The Magic Flute a whole group of positive qualities of the Queen and Goddess of the Night is manifested.

We have a rather similar case, although in a very diluted form, in the assignment of the Three Ladies to the Queen of the Night and the Three Boys to the kingdom of Sarastro. Not only do the Three Ladies stand up against lies [we are talking about Papageno, who lied to Tamino, telling him that he himself killed the snake with his bare hands, for which the Three Ladies put a padlock on his mouth - approx. transl.] and on behalf of “love and brotherhood” and give a magic flute (I, 12 (5)); The Three Boys, who undoubtedly belong to Sarastro's kingdom of light - even in musical terms they can be identified unambiguously - are given to Tamino and Papageno by the Queen of the Night as guides. This occurs in the same scene in which the Three Ladies bring a magic flute and bells as a gift from the Queen of the Night. But this means that Tamino actually begins his journey of initiation, his series of trials, as a mission for the Queen of the Night.

Just as the jealous goddess Hera in the development of Hercules and the goddess Aphrodite in the corresponding path of initiation of Psyche embody the terrifying aspect of necessity, without which no development is possible, so there is no nocturnal sea voyage of the hero without night, no dawn without darkness and no series of trials for Tamino without the Queen of the Night . Therefore Apuleius is right when he says that the initiate sees “lower and higher gods”; in reality, both are necessary for its development and are fundamentally one whole. The patriarchal one-sidedness of Sarastro's priestly brotherhood may overlook this initial coherence, but in the completeness of The Magic Flute everything finds its proper place. The night journey across the sea begins when the serpent appears from the left side, and while Tamino's journey is seemingly supported by the dark aspect, he must free himself from this dark side and eventually overcome it as Act II progresses.

The negative aspect of the Queen of the Night, her matriarchal will to power, using the Masculine mainly to expand her sphere of influence, can again bring clarity to the contrast of her relationship with Pamina's father, the husband of the Queen of the Night, with the significantly different relationship between Pamina and Tamino.

We can learn nothing about Pamina's father from the version of the opera currently being performed. It is mentioned only in one passage that will soon occupy us - the place where Pamina talks about the origin of the magic flute. However, in a conversation with her daughter in the unabridged version of the libretto, the Queen of the Night provides us with important information about him, his relationship with Sarastro, and the mystical symbol of the “seven-fold circle of the sun.” This mandala symbol of the seven-part circle of the Sun was inherited by Sarastro and the initiates from Father Pamina. But after this, the forces of the Queen of the Night “approached the grave,” as she states in the conversation. With the transfer of the "mighty circle of the Sun" to Sarastro, who wears it on his chest as a sign of his service, the final dominance of the patriarchal line of the Sun-consort of the nocturnal lunar goddess is established. His remark “And say no more; do not chase after things that [your] feminine mind is not capable of understanding. It is your duty to place yourself and your daughter under the guardianship of a wise man,” done in the purely arrogant “patriarchal style” with which we are already well familiar.

We are faced with two problems in this piece of text. Why is the seven-part circle of the Sun considered “all-consuming”? And why exactly does the death of her husband lead to the development of patriarchy and the “suppression” of the Queen of the Night, who, as Sarastro tells us, “wanders in the underground chambers of the Temple, plotting revenge on me and the entire human race”?

Just before his great aria, “In these sacred chambers, revenge remains unknown,” Sarastro tells Pamina in the original text what was understandably excluded from the final version: “You will be the only one who sees me take revenge on your mother.”

This puzzling juxtaposition of mutually opposed statements is not only psychologically understandable, but even “true.”

The seven-part circle of the Sun, a symbol of the patriarchal masculine spirit, is not only “almighty”, but also “all-consuming”, i.e. warlike and dangerous, aggressive and cruel, vengeful and destructive. Only the delusion of the male mind about itself can fail to notice this “burning” aspect of the symbol of the Sun, which appears in a corresponding form as the danger of the murderous solar [golden-horned] ram in the fairy tale “Cupid and Psyche”.

In Egyptian myth this mortal aspect is represented by Uraeus, the serpent of the solar disk, originally an attribute of the great Mother Goddess, which later became an attribute of the patriarchal god-king. This means that the all-consuming power of the seven-fold circle of the Sun corresponds to the deadly masculine shadow side of the warlike patriarchal spirit. This makes it possible to interpret the second problem: namely, why the power of the Queen of the Night came to an end with the death of her husband.

As long as there is a loving relationship between the Masculine and the Feminine, the underground power of the feminine nocturnal aspect is ensured, but at the same time the masculine power of the sun is not only restrained, but without knowing it, is largely in the power of the Feminine. (There are also parallels here with the story of Apuleius, where Psyche receives the golden wool of the deadly golden-fleeced sheep when the sun sets, becoming favorable to the nocturnal Feminine). With the death of the consort of the Queen of the Night, the personal relationship of Masculine and Feminine, sun and moon, comes to an end, and their place is taken by an anonymous brotherhood of initiated men led by Sarastro. But the emergence of an impersonal patriarchal spiritual order means that the sphere of influence of the Feminine is truly broken, and it is at this moment that the Feminine becomes “evil,” regressive, and hostile to men.

In the attempt of the Queen of the Night to force Pamina to kill Sarastro and steal the solar symbol, in attempts to manipulate Tamino because of his love for Pamina and thus restore the power of the Feminine, the negative will to power of the matriarchy is manifested without regard to its partner; Pamina's path of suffering and redemption is the complete opposite; her love relationship has nothing to do with power; she overcomes matriarchy in the self-sacrifice of a mortal marriage, and in her personal existence, meeting another person, she achieves a true conjunction of lovers.

With the separation of Pamina from her mother, the Feminine became independent in the highest sense and distinguished itself. Now Pamina acts as a mediating figure between the higher feminine world of Isis - where music, heart and mind come into unity - and the dark magical kingdom of the Queen of the Night below. As a "divine figure" she is not only Tamino's anima figure, but she has also developed into a person in her own right, a human being who loves and is loved, thus she is the true partner of conjunction. A similar transformation occurs with the magic flute itself.

During the final test, when Pamina draws Tamino's attention to the magic flute, whose sounds allow him to overcome danger, the flute no longer belongs only to the world of the Queen of the Night, but also achieves the highest initiation into the virtue of the world of Sarastro. For this reason, the flute was given to Tamino twice, so to some extent it bears the imprint of both the upper and lower worlds. This dual nature of the magic flute is confirmed by the story that Pamina tells almost at the end of the opera:

At the magic hour my father

She was carved from a thousand-year-old oak

The very core

When lightning flashed and thunder thundered.

Therefore, the real creator of the magic flute was Pamina's father, the husband of the Queen of the Night, about whom we have heard almost nothing since he - like Osiris, his husband - "died." This constellation, in which the father plays a secondary role, apparently due to the dominant mother-daughter relationship, is familiar to us both from myths and from the inner female reality. Here again the Queen of the Night - who is directly seen as a goddess - demonstrates her mythological nature as the Great Goddess, the dark side of Isis.

In myths and cults, as well as in fairy tales, the "tree" and the "abyss" are symbols that are worshiped as the Archetypal Feminine, and nighttime is also dedicated to her honor. These images again confirm the archetypal-mythological background of this wonderful text.

The hero's action always consists first in "stealing" something from the depths of the unconscious, whose symbol is the Great Mother, and then in presenting what was stolen to the daytime world of consciousness in order to recognize this something or give it form; and it is obvious that Pamina’s father did the same. The magic flute differs from other well-known treasure symbols in that when it was created, not only was something drawn from the realm of the Feminine, but also this thing, taken from the depths, was endowed with the power to create music. The silence of the night and the unconscious, the dark realm of feelings, find their voice in the magic flute, a symbol of music. Beloved of the Feminine, the Queens of the Night are poets, singers, musicians of the heart who not only bring the silence of the feminine darkness to the light of rational consciousness, but also allow this silence to sound and create music.

In the initiatory ritual in The Magic Flute, the devaluation of the Feminine leads the Queen of the Night to embody evil through the arrogant assertion of her will to power. And while it is true that Sarastro's patriarchal male brotherhood, with its celebration of virtue and fellowship, remains linked to the sun and victory, the virtue he proclaims is expressed more in the tasks and trials he sets than in the cooperation required to endure them and see it through to the end. This help for lovers comes from the magic flute, which combines the Masculine and the Feminine. Therefore, music - an art in which the depths of the unconscious reach their mystical manifestation in form through the spirit - becomes a symbol of grace. And in these words of the lovers, “With the help of the magical power of music we walk merrily through the dark night of death,” the music of the magic flute becomes the highest revelation of the unity of Masculine and Feminine principles under the sign of the wisdom of the heart, which points to the mysteries of Isis and Osiris.

Notes

See Otto Jahn and Hermann Abert, W, A. Mozart, vol. 2 (Leipzig, 1924); in almost incomprehensible contrast, see Alfred Einstein, Mozart: His Character, His Work, tr. Arthur Mendel and Nathan Broder (London, 1945).

See C. Kerenyi, Prolegomena to Essays on a Science of Mythology (with C. G. Jung; B.S. XXII,

The Magic Flute, I, 19; II, 10.

“The Hero Myth,” Origins and History, pp. 131 ff.

See Kerenyi, Prolegomena (above, n. 2), and Neumann, Amor and Psyche

See lung, “The Stages of Life,” CW 8; orig. 1931.

Cf. Freud’s attitude toward women in his New Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis (Standard Ed., vol. 22; orig. 1933).

See Origins and History.

Faust, Part One, scene 2.

Sec below, pp. 147f,

J. J. Bachofen, Das Mutterrecht(orig. 1861; 3rd ed., Basel, 1948), vol. 2.

See Jung, “The Relations.”

Cf. Amor and Psyche.

Cf. Jung's work on alchemy.

The Letters of Mozart and His Family, ed. Emily Anderson (London, 1938), April 4, 1787 (vol. 3, p. 1351) -

Cf. Amor and Psyche,

See below, p. 155.

I, 26. The entire closing scene of Act I is simultaneously the prelude to all of Act II.

See Origins and History" p. 161; V.C.C. Collum, “Die schop-ferische Muttcrgottin der Volker keltische Sprache/’ EJ 1938-

See Origins and History, pp. 220K, “Transformation, or Osiris.”

Jahn and Abortion, IV. A. Mozart, vol. 2, p. 793 (see above, n. 1).

Amor and Psyche.

The “right” and “left" directions in the libretto should be reversed, since they are intended “for the reformers.”

Die Zaubetflote, complete version (Reclam Verlag, Leipzig).

Amor and Psyche.

Mozart. Magical flute. A secret open to everyone

“But what pleases me most is this silent approval!” - Mozart will write to his wife after the first performances of The Magic Flute. Even the loud applause of the general public could not drown out the quiet praise of unknown spectators, whose opinion Mozart valued much more. The reason for this is believed to be the special mission of the Magic Flute: to preserve and transmit through the centuries the secret of the Masonic order.

More than 60,000 works have been written about the Masonic order, and it would seem that all the secrets have long been known. In addition, according to many researchers, there never was any secret. In any case, in its usual understanding: no one hid their membership in the order, access to the lodges was open to almost everyone, the documents of the society were more than once published by the Masons themselves.

And yet the secret existed. Although it would be more correct to call it not a secret, but a sacrament...

The opera's libretto was written by Mozart's fellow member of the Masonic lodge E. Schikaneder. The plot is based on the fairy tales of K. M. Wieland “Lulu, or the Magic Flute”, “Labyrinth”, “Smart Boys”; libretto by K.V. Hensler for the opera “The Sun Festival among the Brahmins”; drama by T. F. von Gebler “Thamos, King of Egypt”; novel by J. Terrason “Setos”.

The mystery of the birth of a “new man”, the mystery of finding a soul through knowledge of the truth, through a meeting with oneself. Such a secret cannot be revealed to anyone; it is impossible and there is no need to hide it. The cache that stores it is not located somewhere in the mysterious storerooms of the Masonic lodge, it is very close - in the heart of every person. Solving it is a journey, sometimes equal to life, since the true secrets of the Freemasons are those that a person “himself must learn to recognize gradually, parsing the symbols syllable by letter.” You cannot force him to do this, you can only help him get on the path, give him the right direction.

The secret of The Magic Flute is not in the words or replicas of the characters and not in the symbolic description of Masonic ceremonies and rituals (there are, of course, such descriptions in the opera, and an attentive viewer can easily find them), but in the ability to turn a person to search for the essence of things.

And it doesn’t matter whether we are talking about the laws of nature or the laws of the inner world of the seeker himself. “If only the bulk of the audience enjoys the obvious, the higher meaning will not be hidden from the initiates,” Goethe said about The Magic Flute. “The bulk of the audience” is distinguished from the “initiates” only by the degree of internal maturity. It is expressed in the readiness to guess the “higher meaning” of what is happening in Mozart’s masterpiece and in the ability to comprehend the Mystery of one’s own heart, which is one and the same thing.

Freemasonry had a significant influence on modern literature. Among the works marked by Masonic ideas: “Nathan the Wise” by Lessing, “The Wanderer” by von Meyern, “The Years of Study and Years of Wanderings of Wilhelm Meister” by Goethe, “The Magic Mountain” by Thomas Mann.

And it is not surprising that The Magic Flute has caused and continues to cause so much heated debate. Someone sees in it a story of great love, overcoming all difficulties and obstacles; someone - a beautiful fairy tale with a happy ending about the machinations of an evil sorceress and the funny adventures of the heroes; someone sees in it a social satire, in which Freemasonry (Zarastro) enters into battle with the church (Queen of the Night) for the souls of the common people (Pamina) ... And someone recognizes in it an eternal philosophical parable, telling in the language of symbols about the path of man in this world... And everyone is right in their own way.

Just don’t limit yourself to what has already been found: an inquisitive eye will always find in this story much more than it has found so far, and even more than it was looking for...

The Egyptian scenery is part of the overall concept of The Magic Flute. The secret knowledge of Egyptian priests is one of the sources of Masonic teaching.

Let's try to give our interpretation of The Magic Flute. This is not the “ultimate truth” - it is just another attempt to comprehend the great Mystery. That Secret, which is very accurately written down in Masonic symbols and conveyed by the magical music of Mozart.

With a quick acquaintance with the plot, a desire arises to divide all the characters of the opera into “positive - negative” pairs. For example, contrast the noble and brave Tamino with the chatterbox and liar Papageno. Or see the sage Sarastro and the treacherous Queen of the Night at the head of the forces hostile to each other. Or compare the storylines telling about the Three Ladies - the Queen's servants, similar to evil fairies from fairy tales, and the Three Geniuses of an angelic appearance, messengers of the Temple. But such a black-and-white view leads to a dead end when it comes to explaining some of the paradoxes of the plot.

For example, the Queen of the Night weaves conspiracies against the forces of Light, but at the same time she turns out to be the mother of Pamina - a beautiful, pure, kind girl, beloved of Prince Tamino. The magic flute, a wonderful instrument that guides and protects Tamino in his trials, also seems to be her gift. And it is no coincidence that Mozart puts one of the most beautiful arias (the Queen of the Night’s aria) into the mouth of this supposedly evil sorceress. The Three Ladies behave like their mistress: they save the protagonist from the dragon that is pursuing him, “cure” Papageno from lies, and help the Three Geniuses arrange the fate of the prince. The High Priest Sarastro, the embodiment of the image of an ideal ruler, nevertheless commits a cruel reprisal against the Moor Monostatos, not noticing his attempts to justify himself.

It is also surprising that the guards of the Temple forcefully, against his will, force Papageno to undergo tests together with Tamino, although the former assures them of complete indifference to the high goals and aspirations inherent in the prince. Many such contradictions can be found.

But they all disappear, as soon as you look at the characters in The Magic Flute not as the usual characters in an opera performance, but as symbolic personifications of different facets of human character, different qualities of the human soul. Then we will see not a fairy tale story played out on the stage, but the characters of our inner world who, day after day, play the play of our inner life. Their voices, often drowning out each other, sometimes sound like moans and cries of our whims, caprices, desires, and sometimes like the piercing voice of duty, reason, conscience.

Who are they, our inner heroes?

Tamino

Tamino is the personification of what we are used to calling our “I”, the focus of our consciousness, a spotlight gliding through thoughts, emotions, dreams and aspirations. Tamino is our “inner hero”, his task is to make the right choice when it comes to choosing; fight if the situation requires a battle, be on the alert, do not lose sight of the main thing when life pulls you into the whirlpool of everyday life. In The Magic Flute he appears either brave and decisive, or weak and defenseless. His thoughts are filled with nobility, but sometimes he is tormented by doubts. His heart is dominated by love, but there is also a place for anger and a thirst for revenge. It all depends on who he follows, whose advice he listens to, what he strives for.

Somewhere in our very core, we usually know what to do and what not to do. But sometimes that clown we call “I” behaves in such a distracting way that we do not notice the inner voice... (Marie Louise von France)

Papageno is the other side of Tamino, a funny and caricatured copy of the prince, his “physical” part. Papageno’s aspirations are down-to-earth, his thoughts are focused exclusively on material needs: “I ask for neither wisdom nor struggle for myself,” Papageno declares to the priest before the start of the tests, “for me it is enough to sleep, drink and eat; and if I also had a friend, I would be completely satisfied.” Tamino and Papageno are inseparable in the play, just as the demands of the body and the needs of the soul are inseparable in life. This is the law of nature, but only we ourselves can make sure that the desires of our inner Papageno do not become an obstacle to the highest aspirations of Tamino. How Tamino deals with this is clearly seen in the test scene for both heroes.

Sarastro - Reason... That's right, Reason with a capital R, our inner voice. He protects us from mistakes, in all situations he is ready to tell us what to do. True, one doesn’t always want to hear his advice, much less follow them - it can be too difficult for a person to meet the requirements of the “inner Priest.” But his role, the role of a strict teacher, is invaluable: he gives Light and Clarity to our inner world, gives the criteria of good and evil, truth and lies. He is wise, kind, but severe in relation to ignorance, self-interest and deceit. These base vices are symbolized in The Magic Flute by the Moor Monostatos. It was he who captured and holds captive Pamina - the pure, bright Soul of a person.

Pamina is also the guardian of Love... “But this is extraordinary love!” - says Tamino. She strews the path with roses, she tirelessly leads you towards her Home - to the sky full of stars; it illuminates life with the eternal light of sacrifice and compassion.

Pamina and Tamino are not separated even when they are physically far from each other. This is the magical property of this feeling... The search for a beloved for every person, in essence, is a search for oneself. Only by acquiring the other half do we become whole, unite all the best in ourselves and open the doors to the temple of wisdom. Speaking in Hermetic language (so close and understandable to Freemasonry), the time of the Alchemical wedding comes: a person acquires an immortal soul and becomes perfect.

Queen of the Night

To confirm the purity of thoughts and loyalty to the principles of goodness and justice, heroes are required to undergo ritual tests of the four elements. But first you need to get rid of the fears and doubts that befall a couple in love thanks to the diligence of the great tester - the Queen of the Night. From the darkness of the unconscious she brings out more and more temptations for the heroes.

Freemasonry is an initiatory tradition, and the path to Truth in it lies through the rite of passage, through symbolic death and resurrection. “Whoever in this terrible place seeks peace and goodness, who fights the waves, fire and ice and overcomes the horrors of death, before that the heavens and all the secrets of our deity will be revealed,” the dungeon guards explain to the subjects. In order to be born in a new capacity, knowledgeable and wise, you first need to die to old habits and illusions (the rituals of Masonic initiation are based on this). “Let courage burn in the heart: he who knows how to die will win,” the choir sings, escorting Pamina and Tamino into the flame-breathing cave.

And finally, one more, perhaps the most important character of the opera - the magic flute itself... The mysterious gift of the Goddess of the Stars, giving birth to enchanting sounds... The Call of the Heart... The Voice of Eternity... They are the ones who call a person on the road, they are the ones who do not allow one to fall asleep, fall or lose his way from the path: “...these sounds will protect you and will be your guide. They will help you guess the desires of your soul and heart; they will make you forget grief and suffering, and the most hardened soul will know love.”

It seems that Mozart himself was well acquainted with the Magic of the Fairy Flute. Its sounds are heard in his best creations, opening the doors of the great Mystery to everyone.

Dmitry Zubov.
Original article: Man Without Borders magazine.

Poster by Rafal Olbinski.

Plot and libretto sources

The daughter of the Queen of the Night was kidnapped by the wizard Sarastro. The queen sends Prince Tamino to save the girl and gives him a magical attribute - a flute, and assistants. The prince goes over to the wizard's side, passes the tests and receives love.

The plot, processed in the spirit of folk extravaganzas popular at that time, full of exotic wonders, was drawn by Schikaneder from the tale of K. Wieland (1733-1813) "Lulu" from a collection of fantasy poems "Jinnistan, or Selected Tales of Fairies and Spirits"(1786-1789), with additions from his own fairy tales "Labyrinth" And "Smart boys". Additional sources also include the epic poem "Oberon, King of Wizards", with additions based on the libretto by K. W. Hensler from the opera "The Sun Festival of the Brahmins" Wenzel Müller; drama "Thamos, King of Egypt" T. F. von Gebler; novel "Sethos" J. Terrasona (1731). The work of Ignaz von Born, master of the Masonic lodge, is also called “Zur Wahrheit” (“Towards Truth”), “ About the mysteries of the Egyptians"(“Über die Mysterien der Ägypter”). It was von Born, who died shortly before the opera was written, that the libretto was dedicated to.

Famous arias

• "O Zittre nicht, mein lieber Sohn"(My days pass in suffering) - aria of the Queen of the Night
• "Der Holle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen"(The thirst for revenge burns in my chest) - second aria of the Queen of the Night
• “Ach, ich fühl’s, es ist verschwunden”(Everything is gone) - Pamina's aria
• "Dies Bildnis ist bezaubernd schön"(Such magical beauty) - Tamino's aria
• "Der Vogelfänger bin ich ja"(I am a bird catcher known to everyone) - Papageno's aria
• "Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen"(Find a friend of the heart) - Papageno's aria
• "In diesen heil'gen Hallen"(Enmity and revenge are alien to us) - Sarastro's aria
• "O Isis und Osiris"(O you, Isis and Osiris) - Sarastro's aria
• "Alles fühlt der Liebe Freuden"(Enjoy every moment) - Monostatos's aria

Musical fragments

• Goethe liked this work so much that he attempted to write a continuation of the libretto.
• Director Ingmar Bergman, in his film adaptation of the opera, made some changes to the plot - Sarastro is not just an opponent of the Queen of the Night, but also Pamina's father. Thus, the relationship of conflict between them and the kidnapping of the girl receives even greater psychological plausibility.
• In 2005, the opera was staged at the State Academic Central Puppet Theater named after S.V. Obraztsov (produced by Andrey Dennikov).

Selected discography

(soloists are given in the following order: Tamino, Pamina, Papageno, Queen of the Night, Sarastro)

• 1936 - Dir. Thomas Beecham; soloists: Helge Roswenge, Tiana Lemnitz, Gerhard Hüsch, Erna Berger, Wilhelm Strinz; Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.
• 1951 - Dir. Wilhelm Furtwängler; soloists: Anton Dermot, Irmgard Seefried, Erich Kunz, Wilma Lipp, Josef Greindl; Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.
• 1952 - Dir. Herbert von Karajan; soloists: Anton Dermot, Irmgard Seefried, Erich Kunz, Wilma Lipp, Ludwig Weber; Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.
• 1953 - Dir. Herbert von Karajan; soloists: Nikolai Gedda, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Giuseppe Taddei, Rita Streich, Mario Petri; Italian Radio Orchestra (RAI Roma).
• 1954 - Dir. Ferenc Fryczai; soloists: Ernst Höfliger, Maria Stader, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Rita Streich, Josef Greindl; RIAS orchestra, Berlin.
• 1964 - Dir. Otto Klemperer; soloists: Nikolai Gedda, Gundula Janowitz, Walter Berry, Lucia Popp, Gottlob Frick; Philharmonic Orchestra, London.
• 1964 - Dir. Karl Boehm; soloists: Fritz Wunderlich, Evelyn Lear, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Roberta Peters, Franz Crass; Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.
• 1969 - Dir. Georg Solti; soloists: Stuart Burrows, Pilar Lorengar, Herman Prey, Christina Deutekom, Martti Talvela; Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.
• 1973 - Dir. Wolfgang Sawallisch; soloists: Peter Schreier, Anneliese Rothenberger, Walter Berry, Edda Moser, Kurt Moll; Orchestra of the Bavarian National Opera.
• 1988 - Dir. Nikolaus Harnoncourt; soloists: Hans Peter Blochwitz, Barbara Bonney, Anton Scharinger, Edita Gruberova, Matti Salminen; Orchestra of the Zurich Opera.
• 1991 - Dir. James Levine; soloists: Francisco Araiza, Kathleen Battle, Manfred Hemm, Luciana Serra, Kurt Moll; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.
• 2005 - Dir. Claudio Abbado; soloists: Christoph Strehl, Dorothea Röschmann, Hanno Müller-Brachmann, Erika Miklos, René Pape; Mahler Chamber Orchestra.

Literature

• "The Magic Flute Unveiled: Esoteric Symbolism in Mozart's Masonic Opera." Jacques Chaillet (1910−1999).

Links

• Summary (synopsis) of the opera “The Magic Flute” on the “100 Operas” website
• The Magician Sarastro in The Magic Flute by W. A. ​​Mozart (magic instruments, Zoroastrian ordeals and Freemasonry)

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

13 January 2015, 14:19

Good afternoon, dear gossips!

To be honest, I have never been a big fan of opera. I liked ballet much more. But due to the fact that my little enlightened nephews (10 and 8 years old) love opera, I had to overcome myself and watch the opera with them.

It all started with Carmen, who simply fascinated them. Then there was Cinderella (they had to watch a billion different productions until they found their favorite), The Barber of Seville and much more. But my world was turned upside down by Mozart's The Magic Flute.

"The Magic Flute" is Mozart's Singspiel opera in two acts; libretto by E. Schikaneder. Opera-singspiel, i.e. with spoken dialogues (maybe at least thanks to these spoken dialogues my level of German will improve significantly)))

Summary

Act I. Prince Tamino got lost in the mountains, fleeing from a snake. Three ladies, servants of the Queen of the Night, save him from the serpent. The awakened prince sees the birdcatcher Papageno, pretending that it was he who saved the prince. The three ladies are outraged by his bragging and punish him by putting a padlock on his mouth. The ladies tell the prince that he has been saved by the Queen of the Night, who gives him a portrait of her daughter Pamina. Tamino falls in love with the portrait. According to the Queen of the Night, the girl was kidnapped by the evil wizard Sarastro. The prince goes to save Pamina. The queen gives him a magic flute that will help him overcome evil. Papageno receives magic bells and must, at the behest of the Queen, help the prince. Accompanied by three boys, they set off on their journey.

The Moor Monostatos, who was guarding Pamina in the wizard’s castle, kidnapped her. Papageno enters the room where the girl is hidden. The bird catcher and the Moor are frightened of each other, the Moor runs away. Papageno tells Pamina that his mother sent him, and about Prince Tamino, who fell in love with her from the portrait. The girl agrees to run, the Moor gives chase. Tamino at this time is in a sacred grove with three temples. The priest tells the prince that he was deceived: Sarastro is actually a good wizard, not an evil one, and he kidnapped Pamina by the will of the gods. Tamino begins to play the flute and hears the bells on Papageno's suit. At the sound of the magic flute, the Moor is forced to stop the chase. Sarastro promises to help Pamina meet Tamino. Monostatos appears, having captured the prince. Tamino and Pamina throw themselves into each other's arms.

Act II. Sarastro reveals to the priests that Tamino has been sent to become the protector of the Temple of Wisdom from the Queen of the Night, and as a reward will receive Pamina as his wife, for which she was kidnapped. The prince faces trials. Meanwhile, Monostatos pursues Pamina again. But the voice of the Queen of the Night is heard, and he runs away. The queen is in despair that Prince Tamino wants to devote himself to serving the temple, and asks her daughter to influence him. She refuses. The queen threatens to disown her daughter if she does not kill the wizard.

In the temple, the prince and Papageno are subjected to the first test - silence. Pamina thinks that the prince has stopped loving her. Second test - Tamino is told that he must say goodbye to Pamina forever. And he leaves her. But Papageno, seeing a wonderful girl, does not stand the test - he finally found his Papagena.

Pamina wants to die, but three boys calm her down. The prince has one last test: to go through fire and water. Pamina appears to go with him. The magic flute will help them. Papageno is punished, he lost Papageno. But three boys remind him of the magic bells that should help him find his beloved again. The Queen of the Night makes a last attempt: she promises her daughter to Monostatos if he helps destroy the temple. But the day comes, and the power of the Queen disappears. The darkness dissipates and the sun rises. The priests praise Sarastro's kindness and intelligence.

There are a huge number of productions. But my nephews and I liked two of them the most:

Cartoon from the Opera Vox series

True, the opera has been well shortened and the arias are performed in English. But it's not that important. The cartoon is really very beautifully drawn, the arias are impeccably performed. But the main thing is how wonderfully my dear Papageno and Papagena are depicted)

Theater Royal Covent Garden production (2003)

Simply the best (in my opinion) production. In the rest, something is wrong.

First of all, I like the cast.

Divine Diana Damrau in the role Queens of the night. She is exactly what you imagine the Queen of the Night to be - cold, menacing, powerful.

By the way, sometimes listening to her arias I wonder: did Mozart, when he wrote the opera, remember that people would perform it?! Sometimes it seems to me that he did not remember. The Queen of the Night’s arias are painfully complex) For example, the famous aria “Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen” ( The thirst for revenge burns in my soul.)

Tamino-Will Hartmann And Pamina-Dorothea Reschmann They performed their parts well, but did not cause any special delight in me.

The main diamond of this production is Simon Keenlyside as Papageno! How he sings, how he plays! He never left his character for a second. Frankly, I had never heard of him before, but after The Magic Flute I became his big fan.

Next, costumes. In many productions, the costumes are one more ridiculous than the other (I hope that’s how to put it). Either the Prince is dressed as Little Mook, or the Queen of the Night is dressed in such a way that it is simply difficult for her to sing in her costume, or Papageno’s costume seems to have been dipped in glue and then sprinkled with feathers. It’s difficult to empathize with the characters when they are dressed up as jesters. Everything is perfect in this production (just look at Papageno’s hat))

That's all. I hope I didn't bore you.

Thank you for your attention:)

And finally, Keenlyside as Olivier (I know this is off topic, but I couldn’t resist))))

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. “The Magic Flute” / Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. "Die Zauberflote"

An opera in two acts with a libretto (in German) by Emanuel Schikander, possibly co-authored with Karl Ludwig Gieseke.

Time of action: uncertain, but approximately during the reign of Pharaoh Ramses I.
Setting: Egypt.
First performance: Vienna, 30 September 1791.

"The Magic Flute" is what the Germans call a Singspiel, that is, a play (dramatic work) with singing, like an operetta, or a musical comedy, or a ballad opera, or even an opera comique (French - comic opera). Most operettas and musical comedies demonstrate certain absurdities and absurdities in their plots, and this opera is no exception. For example, the Queen of the Night appears as a good woman in the first act, and as a villain in the second. Further, this whole story begins as a romantic fairy tale, and then takes on a serious religious character. In fact, the rites of the Temple of Isis and Osiris are generally considered to reflect the ideals of the Masonic order, and various critics, writing about the opera long after the death of the author, found deep political symbolism in the second act of the opera. Perhaps this is so, since both creators of the opera - Mozart and his librettist - were Freemasons, and Freemasonry was not officially supported (in 1794, Emperor Leopold II completely banned the activities of Masonic lodges - A.M.).

Today such questions do not seem to matter much. Much more important is the fact that Shikander, this eccentric actor-singer-writer-impresario, who appears and disappears somewhere, ordered this work from his old friend Mozart in the last year of the composer’s life, precisely at the moment when Mozart was in extraordinary need of such an order. Mozart wrote his magnificent work with specific singers in mind, for example Schikander himself, this very modest baritone, sang the part of Papageno, while Josepha Hofer, Mozart's sister-in-law, was a brilliant, sparkling coloratura soprano, and it was for her that the arias of the Queen of the Night were composed . Giesecke, who may have had a hand in writing the opera's libretto (he later claimed to have written the entire libretto), was a man of scientific and literary talent and may have served as a model for Goethe's Wilhelm Meister, but he had no great stage talent. and he was appointed to the role of the first warrior in armor.

As for all sorts of absurdities in the plot, they can be attributed to the fact that, while the libretto was being written, one of the competing theaters successfully staged the opera “Caspar the Bassoonist, or the Magic Zither” by a certain Libeskind, which was based on the same story, which Shikander developed - “Lulu, or The Magic Flute,” one of the tales in the collection of Christoph Martin Wieland. It is believed that Shikander changed the entire plot already in the middle of the work, that is, after the entire first act had already been written and work on the second had begun. This is a pure hypothesis, and the only available evidence for it is indirect.

Despite the absurdities (or perhaps because of them), this opera always radiated the charm of a fairy tale and was a huge success from the very beginning. This success did not help Mozart too much. He died thirty-seven days after the premiere. As for Schikander, he was able - partly from the income from performances of the opera, which were held with constant success - to build himself, seven years later, a completely new theater and crown it with a sculpture depicting himself in Papageno's bird feathers. That was the peak of his career, and fourteen years later he died, mentally ill, in the same poverty as Mozart.

OVERTURE

The overture begins solemnly with three powerful dotted chords, which later sound in the opera in the most solemn moments associated with priestly images. But everything else in the overture (with the exception of the repetition of these chords, which now sound like a reminder) is permeated with light and fun and written in a fugue style - everything, as it should be in an overture to a fairy tale.

ACT I

Scene 1. The fairy tale itself begins - as befits a fairy tale - with the fact that a young prince is lost in the valley. His name is Tamino and he is being pursued by an evil snake. Tamino calls for help and, losing consciousness, eventually falls to the ground unconscious. At this moment, three ladies save him. These are the fairies of the Queen of the Night - of course, supernatural creatures. They are completely enchanted by the beauty of the young man lying unconscious. Then they leave to notify their mistress about the young man who has wandered into their domain. At this moment the main comedic character appears on the stage. This is Papageno, a birder by profession. He introduces himself with a cheerful folk-style melody - the aria "Der Vogelfanger bin ich ja" ("I am the most dexterous bird-catcher"). He says that he loves to catch birds, but it would be better for him to catch his wife. At the same time, he plays along with himself on the pipe - an instrument that we will hear later.

Papageno tells Tamino that the prince found himself in the domain of the Queen of the Night and that it was he, Papageno, who saved him from the terrible snake by killing him (in fact, the snake was killed by three fairies of the Queen of the Night, they cut it into three parts). For this lie, he receives punishment from the fairies who returned here - his lips are locked. Then they show Tamino a portrait of a lovely girl. This is the daughter of the Queen of the Night, who was kidnapped by an evil sorcerer and whom Tamino must save. Tamino immediately falls in love with the girl depicted in the portrait and sings an aria, which is called the aria with the portrait (“Dies Bildnis ist bezaubernd schon” - “What a charming portrait”). The mountains shake and move apart, the Queen of the Night herself appears, she sits on the throne and in a dramatic and incredibly difficult aria “O zittre nicht mein lieber Sohn” (“Oh, do not be afraid, my young friend”) tells Tamino about her daughter and promises to give him she will be his wife if he frees her. The first scene ends with the quintet, one of the best ensembles in opera, rivaling the magnificent finales of Le nozze di Figaro, although written in a completely different style. During this finale, the three fairies give Tamino a magic flute, the sounds of which are capable of taming and pacifying the most evil forces, and Papageno, this bird catcher, is given musical bells, since he must accompany Tamino in his search for Pamina, and these also magic bells will protect him from all dangers.

Scene 2 takes place in Sarastro's palace. He is the head of a secret and powerful Egyptian religious caste, and it is in his possession that Pamina, the daughter of the Queen of the Night, is now in his possession. Here she is guarded by the comical villain Moor Monostatos. He kidnapped Pamina, threatening her with death if she refused to belong to him. At a critical moment, Papageno accidentally wanders in here. He and Monostatos are terribly scared of each other, which is actually extremely comical. No eight-year-old child would be afraid of such a meeting. Monostatos eventually escapes, and when Pamina and Papageno are alone, the birdcatcher convinces her that there is one young man who loves her, and that he will soon come to save her. She, in turn, assures Papageno that he too will soon find a girlfriend. They sing a charming duet in praise of tenderness (“Bei Mannern welche Liebe fuhlen” - “When a man is a little in love”).

Scene 3. The scene changes again. This time it is the grove near the Temple of Sarastro. Tamino is led by three pages. These are the geniuses of the temple, they encourage him, but do not answer his questions. Left alone in a grove near three temples, he tries to enter each of the doors. A voice sounding from behind the doors warns him against entering two temples, but then the third door opens and the high priest himself appears. From a rather long (and - I have to admit this - rather boring) conversation, Tamino learns that Sarastro is not the villain he thought, and that Pamina is somewhere nearby and alive. In gratitude for this information, Tamino plays a wonderful melody on his magic flute, and then sings the same beautiful melody (“Wie stark ist nicht dein Zauberton” - “How full of enchantment is the magic sound”). Suddenly he hears the sounds of Papageno's pipe and rushes towards him. Pamina and Papageno appear. They are pursued by the comical villain Monostatos, who wants to put Pamina in chains. At a critical moment, Papageno remembers his magic bells. He plays them (they sound like a child's musical snuffbox), and the wonderful melody makes the Moorish servants and Monostatos himself dance in the most harmless way. Pamina and Papageno sing a charming duet. He is interrupted by the sounds of a solemn march - the stern Sarastro with his entire retinue is approaching. He forgives the girl for her attempt to escape. Monostatos bursts in with Prince Tamino, who has also been captured. Monostatos demands a reward from Sarastro and receives it - the one he deserves, namely seventy-seven blows with a stick for his insolence. The action ends with Tamino and Pamina solemnly preparing to perform the rites of passage that will determine whether they are worthy of each other.

ACT II

Scene 1. In the second act of the opera, scenes change much faster than in the first. The music in it becomes more serious. For example, the very first scene is the meeting of the priests of Isis and Osiris in a palm grove. Sarastro informs the priests that Tamino has been chosen to marry Pamina, who has come to them, but first this couple must prove that she is worthy to join the Temple of Light. He pronounces his famous appeal to the gods “O Isis und Osiris” (“His temple, Isis and Osiris”). Bernard Shaw once said of this majestic and simple aria with a male choir: “This is music that can be put into the mouth of God without blasphemy.”

Scene 2. At the walls of the temple, Tamino and Papageno meet priests who give them the most necessary cult instructions. The two priests (who sing in an octave, probably to make their instructions perfectly clear) warn the prince and the birdcatcher to be on their guard and not to fall for women's tricks, because women are the root of all human troubles. Three ladies appear from the Queen of the Night. They, in turn, warn our heroes against the priests and threaten them with a terrible fate. Papageno enters into conversation with them, while the smart Tamino does not give in to this temptation. He stands the test of silence. Then the choir of priests (singing off stage) sends these messengers of the Queen of the Night back to where they came from.

Scene 3 The scene changes again. This time we have a garden in front of us - Pamina is sleeping in a gazebo covered with roses. Monostatos, who managed to escape punishment, is again near her - he has not given up the thought of pursuing the girl and is trying to kiss her. At this moment, her mother, the Queen of the Night, appears. In her terrifying aria of revenge, she demands that Pamina kill Sarastro herself. She puts a dagger in her hand and threatens that if she does not do this and does not remove the sacred solar disk from his chest, she will be cursed by her. This revenge aria (“Der Holle Rache kocht” - “The thirst for revenge burns in my chest”) with its two high “Fs” always turned out to be a stumbling block for dozens of sopranos who were otherwise quite suitable for this role.

Immediately after the disappearance of the Queen of the Night, Monostatos returns. He overheard a conversation between a mother and her daughter and now demands from the girl that she belong to him - this should be her payment for her silence about her conspiracy with the Queen of the Night. But Pamina manages to escape again - this time thanks to the arrival of Sarastro. When Pamina is in prayer, he explains to her that within the walls of this temple there is no place for revenge and only love binds people here. An aria of extraordinary beauty and nobility sounds (“In diesen heil" gen Hallen” - “Enmity and revenge are alien to us”).

Scene 4. In some productions, there is an intermission at this moment, and the next scene opens the third act. However, in most published scores this is just another scene of the second act - a hall, and quite a spacious one at that. The two priests continue to instruct Tamino and Papageno, imposing a vow of silence on them and threatening punishment with thunder and lightning if this vow is broken. Tamino is a very obedient young man, but the birdcatcher cannot keep his mouth shut, especially when an ugly old witch appears who tells him, firstly, that she has just turned eighteen years old and, secondly, that she has a lover, slightly older than her, named Papageno. But just as she is about to say her name, thunder and lightning are heard and she instantly disappears. Immediately after this, the three boys appear once more and, in a charming terzetto, present Tamino and Papageno not only with food and drink, but also with their magic flute and bells, which were taken from them. While the birdcatcher is enjoying his meal and the prince is playing his flute, Pamina appears; she resolutely heads towards her lover. She knows nothing about his vow of silence and, not understanding his behavior, sings a sad aria (“Ach, ich fuhl"s, es ist verschwunden” - “Everything is gone”). At the end of this scene, trombones sound, calling on Papageno and Tamino for a new test.

Scene 5. In the next scene, Pamina finds herself at the temple gates. She is filled with fear, for she is afraid that she will never see her beloved Prince Tamino again. Sarastro, in the most consoling tones, convinces her that everything will be fine, but in the next terzetto (with Tamino) she is by no means sure of this. Tamino is taken away, and the two lovers pray that they will meet again.

Scene 6. Now - as a kind of change of mood - the action turns again to Papageno. He is informed (by the Orator) that he is deprived of "heavenly pleasures which are bestowed upon initiates." But he doesn't really need them. A good glass of wine is much dearer to him than all the shrines of wisdom. The wine loosens his tongue and he sings his song. He has only one desire: to get himself a lifelong friend or at least a wife! His recent acquaintance appears - an old witch. She demands from him an oath of allegiance to her, otherwise he will remain here forever, cut off from the world, only on bread and water. As soon as Papageno agrees to such a marriage, the witch turns into a young girl, dressed in feathers, to match Papageno. Her name is Papagena! However, they cannot get married yet. The birder must first earn it. And the Speaker takes her away.

Scene 7. The next scene takes place in the garden, where the three geniuses of the temple of Sarastro eagerly await the triumph of the goddess. But poor Pamina is suffering. There is a dagger in her hand. She thinks that Tamino has completely forgotten her, and she will never see him again. She is ready to commit suicide. Just then the boys stop her and promise to take her to Tamino.

Scene 8. The boys did everything as they said. The prince will face the final test of the four elements - fire, water, earth and air. He is taken away by priests and two warriors in armor, who this time again give their instructions in an octave. Just before he enters the terrible gates, Pamina runs out. She wants only one thing - to share the prince's fate. Two warriors allow her to do this. Tamino takes out his magic flute, he plays it, and the lovers pass through these trials painlessly. And so, when everything is behind them, a joyful choir greets them.

Scene 9. But what about our friend Papageno? Well, of course, he is still looking for his beloved, his Papagena. He calls her again and again in the garden and, finding no one, decides, like Pamina, to commit suicide. With great reluctance, he ties a rope to a tree branch, ready to hang himself. But those three boys (the geniuses of the temple) who saved Pamina also save him. They advise him to play his magic bells. He plays and a gentle little girl bird appears. They sing a charming comic duet “Ra-ra-ra-ra-ra-ra-Rarageno” (“Pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-Papageno”). Their dream is to create a big, big family.

Scene 10: And finally, another scene change. Monostatos now allied himself with the Queen of the Night, who promised him Pamina. Together with the three fairies of the Queen of the Night, they captured the temple of Sarastro. But they cannot defeat Sarastro. Thunder roars and lightning flashes, and the villainous quintet disappears into the bowels of the earth. The temple of Isis and Osiris appears. And this fabulous opera ends with a triumphant chorus of priests crowning Tamino and Pamina with crowns of Wisdom and Beauty.