But the first glance at the subject of an overture to J. H. Collo's cantata, "Lazarus Auferstehung" (Leipzig, 1779)—[See Page Image] shows a considerable similarity to the motif of the overture before us,[ 29 ] with which it cannot have had anything to do, since Mozart in all probability never knew the cantata.
After the regular fourth entry of the whole motif, a free fantasia begins with the separate parts of it and the counter motif, in the most varied shades of expression, with an ease and elegance which lets nothing appear of the technicalities of counterpoint, and displays an animation and liveliness of truly sparkling brilliancy. After the close of the movement on the dominant with a marvellous crescendo, there follow three chords three times repeated, with pauses between, given out by the wind instruments alone, with powerful effect of climax:[ 30 ]—[See Page Image]
They are the same that occur in the temple assembly as a sign that Tamino is accepted and appointed to undergo the itests, and were suggested by the knocking or other rhythmical sounds to which members were admitted to be initiated in the mysteries of the Masonic lodge. This does away with the frequent suggestion that the second and third chords are THE OVERTURE. intended to baboimd,[ 31 ] indeed André declares in the preface! to his edition that this solemn introduction, "uncomprehended of a profane public," to the mystic work which follows would be quite spoilt by the binding of these chords! Winter has accentuated the rhythm still more sharply in the "Labyrinth," the second part of the "Zauberflöte," the overture of which begins with the chords—[See Page Image] which are repeated several times. The chords suggest to the musical mind only the solemn warning sound calling attention to what is to follow, but to the initiated they recall the probation which must be undergone by those who engage in the search for a higher light. In the allegro which follows the first theme is taken up again, not in regular fugal form, but working out the different motifs with unusually elaborate contrapuntal treatment, for the most part in the stretto. The very form of thematic treatment gives an impression of force, but of force opposed by many obstacles and hard to overcome; this is strengthened by the use of the minor key and by the startling harmonic progressions which intensify the character of gloom, until it amounts to horror. Serenity returns only with the recurrence of the principal key, and gradually rises to a glorious radiance, troubled only towards the close by a few startling chords, and shining out again with all the purer beauty, till one seems to float in a very sea of light.[ 32 ] Let the contrapuntist admire in this inimitable masterpiece of German instrumental music the science and intellectual mastery which it displays; let the Freemason delight in the refinement with which his mystical ideas are clothed in a musical dress; the true triumph of genius consists in having created a work which, quite apart from DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE. scholarship or hidden meaning, produces by its perfection an effect on the musical mind which is quite irresistible, animating it to more active endeavour, and lifting it to an atmosphere of purest serenity.[ 33 ]
The belief that Mozart selected the severer musical forms for his overture in order to prefigure the serious mood in which he approached the opera, obtains confirmation from his employment of them again at the solemn moment of trial. The entrance of the men in armour, who fortify Tamino with the words quoted above, before he proceeds on his dangerous voyage through the elements, is announced by an imitative passage for the strings—[See Page Imge] following a few solemn introductory bars, and retained in the subsequent working-out as a figured accompaniment to the song of the two men. The Cantus firmus, however, which they sing in unison, in octave, supported by flutes, oboes, bassoons, and trombones, is the old chorale "Ach Gott vom Himmel sieh darein,"[ 34 ] unaltered except in the division of the crotchets into quavers, where the words ACH GOTT VOM HIMMEL. require it, and in the closing line added by Mozart.[ 35 ] He learnt the melody no doubt from Kirnberger, who often made use of it as an example, and twice worked it into a Cantus firmus.[ 36 ] This may be gathered from the fact that Kirnberger as well as Mozart raised the second line by a third, and that a motif interwoven with it by Mozart is an evident reminiscence[ 37 ] of one employed by Kirnberger in the working out of the chorale "Es woll uns Gott genàdig sein":—[See Page Image]
The attraction which the melody had for him as a Cantus firmus for contrapuntal elaboration is proved by a sketch preserved in the Imperial Library at Vienna, which contains the beginning of another four-part elaboration of the theme, adhering still more closely to Kirnberger. According to Al. Fuchs,[ 38 ] this was the first of Mozart's drafts for the opera, to which it can only be said that in that case he made use of an earlier contrapuntal study. In the autograph score the movement is written continuously in connection with the whole finale, but the handwriting, at first neat, afterwards more and more hasty, shows clearly that it was copied from an earlier sketch.[ 39 ] Even those who are incapable of appreciating the contrapuntal art with which this movement is worked DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE. out,[ 40 ] and who have no suspicion that they are listening to an old church melody,[ 41 ] will receive an impression of mystery and solemnity admirably expressive of the dramatic situation to which Mozart strove to give effect.
Mozart has throughout the opera given to the music which touched on the mysteries and the initiation into them a peculiarly solemn character, and this is consistently maintained through every shade of feeling, from mild gravity to inspired ecstasy. To this sphere belong the three boys, who, although emissaries of the Queen of Night, are represented in the course of the plot as the visible genü of the secret bond. In the quintet (6) the announcement of the guidance they offer to Tamino and Papageno is accompanied by a peculiar fexpression in the music, produced by a change in the harmonic and rhythmic construction[ 42 ] and in the instrumentation. The marchlike movement to which they lead Tamino to the gates of the sanctuary fulfils to admiration the expectation which has been raised. The sound-effects also are very uncommon. The clear boys' voices, supported by the stringed instruments without the double-bass, are sustained by the full, lightly touched chords of the trombones and muted trumpets and drums; and a long-sustained G for the flutes and clarinets sheds a mild radiance like a nimbus over the whole. The thrice-repeated warning "Sei standhaft, duldsam und verschwiegen," taken up by the firm tones of the wind instruments, raises the march whose solemn course it interrupts to a higher dignity and force; the few bars sung by Tamino throw into greater prominence the unusual character of the apparition, and the repetition of the boys' song strengthens the impression which has been given of the higher world to which we now have access. Such an introduction as this was essential to give the right tone and TAMINO. groundwork for the long recitative which follows, in which Tamino, prejudiced against Sarastro's wisdom and virtue, is gradually confounded and half-convinced by one of the priests of the temple. In liveliness of dramatic expression and successful rendering of the contrasts of animated conversation, combined with the seriousness proper to the surroundings and to the dignity of the priest, this recitative stands alone. The climax of the scene is reached in the consolatory assurance of the priest that all shall be made plain—[See Page Image] which is twice repeated by invisible male voices, accompanied by trumpet chords. A solemn expression, in which emotion and exaltation are united, betokens the announcement of an oracle. The requirements of musical climax, of dramatic effect, and of mystic symbolism are here again at one.
Meanwhile we are conducted to the temple portals; Tamino is consoled and reanimated by the intelligence that Pamina still lives, and, still far from having attained the philosophic calm of the votaries, he has no thought but for his love. As soon as he begins to express this purely personal and human emotion, the music becomes freer and lighter, and solemn seriousness gives place to cheerful geniality. The part taken at this juncture by the magic flute in assembling the listening animals round Tamino has no connection with the situation nor with the symbolism of the piece; it is a relic of the old fable. It was probably owing to Mozart's aversion to the flute (Vol. I., p. 385), as well as to the moderate proficiency of the tenor Schack, who played it himself, that the flute is brought so little forward as a solo instrument; another reason being that, as Tamino played it himself, it could only be inserted in the pauses of his songs. In this place it is a ballad-like cantilene to which the flute supplies the prelude and interlude; afterwards, during the visit to the dark cave, Mozart has left the flute part to the fancy of the flautist. During the fire and water ordeal, the flute has the melody of a slow march, and the peculiar accompaniment of low chords for the trombones, DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE. horns, trumpets and drums give it a curious, weirdlike character.[ 43 ]
The three boys, or genü, in accordance with the numerical symbolism pervading the whole, appear three times. After acting as guides to Tamino, they appear to him and Papageno as they wait in silence within the gloomy cavern, and bring them for their consolation meat and drink, as well as the magic flute and bells. The musical characterisation is therefore lighter and more cheerful. Mozart, hopeless of making anything out of the nonsensical words, has kept to the delineation of an attractive ethereal apparition, and has created a short movement of marvellous grace and charm (17) endowed, as it were, with wings by the lovely violin passage which accompanies it.
The third appearance is again of a solemn character. The boys announce that soon "superstition shall disappear and wisdom shall triumph." The character of the melody and rhythm approaches that of the first movement, the instrumentation, as befits the situation, being less brilliant, although the tone-colouring of the combined clarinets, horns, and bassoons has a significance all its own.[ 44 ] The object here is to restrain Pamina from suicide and to offer her consolation; thus, while the boys are interwoven in the plot, they stand necessarily outside of the narrow circle of allegorical personages, and become, as it were, human; besides this, the exigences of the music require that they should be subordinate to Pamina. In the course of this scene, therefore, they lay aside their proper character to some extent, and become more pliant and less reserved. Mozart has rightly avoided too close an adherence to any external characterisation of the boys, and has adopted such means of expression as were best suited to each situation, not forgetting, however, to assert their individualities at every appropriate point. Pamina, on her side, is brought CHORUSES. into closer contact with the boys from the moment when she yields to their persuasions, and thus the ensemble with which the scene closes is endowed with a nobler, more exalted expression than that of the purely subjective emotion of Pamina's longing for her lost lover. A solemnity of a more exalted order belongs to those scenes in which Sarastro and the temple priests take part. This is at once manifest in the first finale, which has an altogether exoteric character. The march and chorus with which Sarastro is received, the closing chorus which celebrates his virtue and justice, combine force and dignity with a perfect radiance of beauty; they correspond to the choruses at the end of the opera when Tamino and Pamina, having withstood every ordeal, are welcomed within the temple and crowned with glory and wisdom. They are distinguished above the ordinary operatic choruses of the day as much by their dignity of expression as by their construction and mode of treatment; and the wealth of the instrumentation, more especially the introduction of the trumpets, gives a character of solemnity and magnificence then unknown in operatic music. Nevertheless they do not obtrude beyond the natural framework of the opera, and the limits of a work of art are never exceeded in the effort to express a higher meaning in the music. The analogy of the choruses with those in "König Thamos" has already been pointed out (Vol. II., p. 111). There they are treated very elaborately as independent pieces of music, while here the greater concentration of musical forces and the maturer, more elevated forms of beauty, display the mastery of a finished artist.
