Tamino and Papageno are conducted into a hall, to remain there in THE LIBRETTO. silence until they hear a trumpet sound. Papageno cannot refrain from chattering to an old woman who brings him a glass of water and, to his horror, claims him as her lover; a fearful thunder-clap terrifies him, and he only recovers when the three boys bring him a richly furnished table, and, reiterating the warning to silence, restore the magic instruments. While they are eating, Pamina enters, and construes Tamino's silence into a proof of his want of love for her; not even her lamentations, however, can tempt him to speak. After this proof of steadfastness, he is conducted to the assembly, and informed by Sarastro that two paths of danger still remain to be trodden; Pamina is brought in to bid him farewell, and, to her despair, he still refuses to utter a word to her.
Papageno is informed by the Orator that he shall be excused the punishment for his loquacity, but that he is never to feel "the divine joys of the initiated." He declares himself quite content, and only wishes for a cup of wine and "ein Mädchen oder Weibchen"; the old woman appears, and is changed into the youthful Papagena, but only to vanish again the same instant.
Pamina, plunged in deep melancholy by Tamino's apparent aversion, is on the point of stabbing herself, but is restrained by the three boys, who promise to restore Tamino to her. Tamino is just then conducted to the gates of horror by two men in armour, with the injunction—
"Der welcher wandelt diese Strasse voll Beschwerden,
Wird rein durch Wasser, Feuer, Luft und Erden;
Wenn er des Todes Schrecken überwinden kann,
Schwingt er sich aus der Erde himmelan.
Erleuchtet wird er dann im Stande sein,
Sich den Mysterien der Isis ganz zu weihn"—
and left to tread the path of danger through fire and water, when Pamina rushes in, resolved to endure this trial in company with him. They sustain it happily to the sound of the magic flute, and are received with solemn rejoicings by the assembly in the temple. Papageno, in despair at the loss of his Papagena, whom he calls in vain to return, is about to hang himself, when the three boys appear, and remind him of his bells: at the sound of them Papagena returns, and his happiness is complete. In the meantime the Queen of Night, with her ladies, has gained admittance into the sanctuary by the help of Monostatos, and promises him her daughter's hand, if he aids her to victory; but a fearful storm drives them back, and Tamino and Pamina are united with priestly pomp by Sarastro in the circle of the temple votaries:—
"Die Strahlen der Sonne vertreiben die Nacht,
Zernichten der Heuchler erschlichene Macht."
It would be superfluous to criticise this libretto. The small interest of the plot, the contradictions and improbabilities in the characters and in the situations, are clear DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE. to all; the dialogue is trivial, and the versified portions wretched doggerel, incapable of improvement by mere alteration. Nevertheless, a certain amount of stage dexterity is not to be denied to it. Schikaneder knew how to excite and sustain the interest of his audience by theatrical effects of combination and alteration. On this point the testimony of Goethe[ 23 ] is added to the lasting and wide-spread approval of the public; he declares that the "Zauberflöte" is "full of improbabilities and of jokes that it is not easy to appreciate or to enjoy; but it must be allowed that the author has thoroughly grasped the idea of contrast and of producing grand theatrical effects"; he undertook a translation of the piece, and was for some time seriously occupied with it.[ 24 ] Undeniable as it is that the opera owes to Mozart's music the charm that it exercises over young and old, cultivated and uncultivated, it must be acknowledged that the piece,[ 25 ] poor from a dramatic point of view, affords many and good opportunities for the production of musical effects.[ 26 ] Whether THE OVERTURE. we think much or little of the Masonic views which are here seen embodied in the mysteries of Isis,[ 27 ] Mozart at any rate was inspired by the zeal of a partisan in giving them utterance.
The dignity and grandeur with which the music reveals the symbolism of these mysteries certainly have their root in his intense devotion to the Masonic idea.
A clear indication of this devotion was given to the initiated in the overture,[ 28 ] but in a way that showed how well he distinguished Masonic symbolism from artistic impulse. It opens with a short adagio, whose solemn accents raise the expectation of an apparition of grave importance, The trumpets, which are added to the full choir of wind instruments, give a fulness and brilliancy to the chords which had not at that time been heard before. The allegro; begins with a regular fugue on the theme—[See Page Image] the first bars reminding us of dementi's sonata, played before the Emperor Joseph (Vol. II., p. 199):—
The reminiscence may have been conscious or unconscious.