CHAPTER XLIII. "DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE"
DISAPPOINTED and suffering, Mozart returned to Vienna in the middle of September. While his wife again repaired to Baden, he divided his time between the labours involved in the completion and scenic arrangements of the "Zauberflöte" (620 K.) and the Requiem. The chorus "O Isis und Osiris," Papageno's song, which Schikaneder had stipulated for, and the second finale, must have been written after September 12;[ 1 ] on September 28 he completed the overture and the march which formed the introduction to the second act. After many rehearsals under the conductorship of the Kapellmeister Henneberg, then still a very DRAMATIS PERSONÆ. young man, the first performance took place on September 30. Mozart conducted at the piano, and Süssmayr turned over for him. The playbill ran as follows:[ 2 ]—[See Page Image]
This day, Friday, September 30, 1791, the Company of the Imperial Theatre auf der Wieden have the honour of performing for the first time Die Zauberflöte.
Grand Opera in Two Acts, by Emanuel Schikaneder.
The music is by Herr Wolfgang Amade Mozart, Capellmeister and Imperial Chamber Composer. Esteem for an appreciative public and friendship for the author of the work have induced Herr Mozart to consent on this occasion to conduct the orchestra in person.[ 3 ]
Books of the opera, with two copper-plate engravings, representing Herr Schikaneder in his actual costume as Papageno, may be had at the box-office, price thirty kreutzers.
The scenery and stage accessories have been intrusted to Herr Gayl and Herr Nessthaler, who flatter themselves that they have performed their task with all due regard to the artistic requirements of the piece. DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE. The success was not at first so great as had been expected, and after the first act Mozart rushed, pale and excited, behind the scenes to Schikaneder, who endeavoured to console him. In the course of the second act the audience recovered from the first shock of surprise, and at the close of the opera Mozart was recalled. He had hidden himself, and when he was found could with difficulty be persuaded to appear before the audience, not certainly from bashfulness, for he was used by this time to brilliant successes, but because he was not satisfied with the way in which his music had been received. The story that Haydn consoled Mozart by his approbation is untrue,[ 4 ] for he was in London at the time. But Schenck relates in his manuscript autobiography that he had a place in the orchestra at the first performance, and that after the overture, unable to contain his delight, he crept along to the conductor's stool, seized Mozart's hand and kissed it; Mozart, still beating time with his right hand, looked at him with a smile, and stroked his cheek. At the second performance on the following day he again conducted, but afterwards resigned the conductorship to Henneberg. On October 9 notice was sent to Berlin:—
The new spectacular drama, "Die Zauberflöte," with music by our kapellmeister, Mozart, has been performed at great expense and with much magnificence of scenery, &c.; but it has not attained the success hoped for, owing to the inferiority of the subject and diction of the piece.[ 5 ]