For most of his career, Mozart had been associated with Italian opera—whether opera seria on lofty mythological themes or light, entertaining opera buffa for the imperial court—and these had been cash cows for him. Now he had neither funding nor texts. To the rescue came Emanuel Schikaneder, a friend of Mozart’s from the Freemasonic circles in Vienna. Schikaneder was an actor, singer, playwright, and impresario, and had been running the Theater auf der Wieden which specialised in German singspiel, or operas with spoken dialogue. The singspiel genre was popular but lowbrow—Schikaneder’s first hit production was entitled “The Stupid Gardener from the Mountain”, and a sub-genre he specialised in was Zauberoper (“Magic opera”), essentially musicals with fairy-tale plots and plenty of special effects.

Mozart had a cheeky, sometimes vulgar sense of humour, so the idea of writing for a new, broader audience and a new income stream must have appealed. Thus Schikenader commissioned from him The Magic Flute, with its varied cast of characters: a pair of bird-human lovers, real human lovers, an evil Moor, an Egyptian high priest, an evil Queen of the Night, ghostly armoured men, trios of cherubic boys and wraith-like women, enchanted animals, as well as magical bells and flutes.
Imagine a modern audience watching a stage production that was equal parts The Lord of the Rings, Jurassic Park, and The Sound of Music, and one gets an idea of the impact it must have had.

The Magic Flute premiered 30th September 1791 and ran several times a week with Mozart directing from the fortepiano until his health no longer allowed it. As he lay dying late at night on 4th December that year, he had the consolation of knowing that he had pulled off the greatest operatic success of his career, and that at that very moment all levels of Viennese society from nobles to tradesmen and families were being entertained by his music. (Edward C. Yong)

Singapore Symphony Orchestra,
Hans Graf, Music Director

Recorded live on 27 July 2023 at the Esplanade Concert Hall, Singapore

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