Mozart did not find it easy to satisfy Schikaneder, who called each fresh attempt fine, but too learned; not until the third, or as some say, the fifth version,[ 62 ] did Mozart hit on the simple tone of warm feeling which Schikaneder believed would win every ear and every heart. His judgment proved correct; at the first performance this was the first piece applauded, and an angry critic complained in 1793 that the "Mozartites" were passing all bounds, and that "at every concert the ladies' heads went nodding like poppies in the field when the senseless stuff was sung: 'Mann und Weib, und Weib und Mann (which makes four, by the way), reichen an die Gottheit an.'"[ 63 ] According to Kapellmeister Trüben-see, of Prague, who was engaged as oboist in Schikaneder's opera, a rejected composition of this duet in the grand style was afterwards made use of alternately with that now known, and indicated on the playbill, "with the old duet" or "with the new duet."[ 64 ] At the first performance of the "Zauberflöte" in the new Theater an der Wien in 1802, Schikaneder' made the following announcement on the bill:—
Having been so fortunate as myself to possess the friendship of Mozart, whose affection for me led him to set my work to music, I am in a position to offer the audience on this occasion a gratifying surprise in the form of two pieces of Mozart's composition, of which I am sole possessor.[ 65 ]
One of them may have been the duet in question; what the other was we cannot even conjecture.[ 66 ] An individuality such as Papageno's is sure to impart some of its naïve good humour and joviality to the other characters with whom he comes in contact, and the impression thus made cannot ENSEMBLES. fail to appear in the music; whenever Papageno enters, whether he is merry or whether he is sad, an irresistible tone of good humour takes possession of the stage. Next to him in want of reserve and self-control stands Pamina, who only gradually attains a consciousness of her higher and nobler nature. Neither in the duet nor in the flight does her expression of the feelings they are both experiencing differ in tone from Papageno's; any marked distinction here would have marred the total impression without assisting psychological truth. But on the approach of Sarastro they draw apart; Pamina entrenches herself in proud reserve, while Papageno gives vent to his terror with the same energy as in the first quintet (6) when he is ordered to accompany Tamino to the castle. In the second quintet (13) his fright is kept in check by Tamino's presence, and his disgust at not daring to speak, and not being able to keep silence, gains the upper hand and gives the tone to the whole piece.
Such a consideration as we have given to the principal characters of the "Zauberflöte," to its intellectual and musical conception, and to the prevailing freedom of its form, serves to stamp its character as a genuinely German opera. What was begun in the "Entführung," which undertook to raise German vaudeville to the level of opera proper, is carried further in the "Zauberflöte," which succeeds in gaining recognition for the simplest expression of feeling, and for full freedom of form of dramatic characterisation. The opera contains no airs of the traditional stamp, except the two airs of the Queen of Night; and a comparison of the way in which the aria form is treated in "Cosi fan Tutte" and "Titus" will show an organic change in the airs, now that they are developed from the simple Lied. This freedom of construction is still more apparent in the ensembles, in the beautiful terzet (20), and more especially in the first quintet (6). The second quintet (13) is more precise in form, the ladies tempting Tamino and Papageno to break silence forming the natural middle point of the musical construction. But the freedom of movement strikes us most of all in the finales, which are admirable examples of DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE. the art, so praised by Goethe, of producing effect by means of contrast. In dramatic design they are inferior to the finales of "Figaro," "Don Giovanni," or "Cosi fan Tutte." Instead of a plot proceeding from one point, and developing as it proceeds, we have a succession of varied scenes, lightly held together by the thread of events, and interesting us more from their variety than their consistent development. In order to follow this rapid movement great freedom of musical construction was necessary; opportunities of carrying out a definite motif till it forms a self-contained movement, which are so frequent in Italian finales, occur here but seldom, one instance being the allegro of the first finale, when Monostatos brings in Tamino, and the movement of the second finale to which the Queen of Night enters. This essential difference of treatment fills us with renewed admiration of Mozart's fertility in the production of new suggestive and characteristic melodies, which seem ready at command for every possible situation. Those who descend to details will be amazed to find how seldom Mozart is satisfied with a mere turn of expression, how lavish he is of original fully formed musical subjects, and how all the details of his work are cemented into a whole by his marvellous union of artistic qualities.
This leads us to the consideration of a second point in which the "Zauberflöte" surpasses the "Entführung." The latter is confined to a narrow circle of characters, situations, and moods, while the former has a large and varied series of phenomena. The story from which the plot is derived opens the realm of fairies and genü, personified in the Queen of the Night and her ladies, and, as regards his outward appearance, in Papageno. In addition to this there is the mystical element which takes the first place both in the dramatic conception and the musical characterisation of the opera. Mozart had no intention of representing a fantastic fairy land, such as was called into existence by Weber and Mendelssohn. The fabulous was not then identified with the fantastic, but was often consciously made a mirror for the reflection of real life, with its actual sentiments and views. Therefore the Queen of Night is depicted as a queen, FANTASTIC AND MYSTIC ELEMENTS. as a sorrowing mother, as a revengeful woman; her ladies have their share of coquetry and gossip, and these feminine qualities predominate over the supernatural. The musical task of combining three soprano voices into a connected whole, while preserving their individuality, calls for great peculiarity of treatment, entailing further a special turning to account of the orchestral forces at command, at the same time that no special forms of expression are made to serve as typical of the fairy element of the piece.
On the other hand the apparition of the three boys is accompanied by every means of musical characterisation. They form the link with the region of mysticism indicated awkwardly enough in the libretto. We recognise something more than individual taste and inclination in Mozart's efforts to invest them with a character of grave solemnity. A universal and deep-rooted sympathy with Freemasonry was a characteristic sign of the times, and the German mind and disposition are well expressed in the efforts that were made to find in Freemasonry that unity which intellectual cultivation and moral enlightenment alone could bestow. Mozart was therefore at one in intention and aim with all that was highest and noblest in the nation, and the more deeply his own feelings were stirred the more sure he was to stamp his music with all that was truly German in character. It was not without design that he selected an old choral melody to mark a point of most solemn gravity, or that he treated it in the way with which his fellow-countrymen were most familiar. This passage is also significant as showing the marvellous element in a symbolic light, and bringing the supernatural within the domain of the human sphere. In this respect the representation of the marvellous in the "Zauberflöte" differs widely from that in "Don Giovanni." There the appearance of the ghost is a veritable miracle, a fact which must be believed to be such, and rendered to the minds of the spectators by means of the musical representation of terror in the actors. In the "Zauberflöte," on the contrary, the marvellous element is suggested only by the mystery hidden beneath it, and the mind is attuned to a mood of awe-struck wonder.
It cannot be denied that the deeply rooted symbolism of the opera has dulled the edge of individual characterisation. Actions lose their reality and become mere tests of virtue; the choruses of the priests express generalities; neither the three ladies nor the three boys are independent characters, but each group forms an individual, which again represents an idea; even the principal characters, owing to the concentration of all upon one idea, have more of a typical character than is desirable in the interests of dramatic characterisation.[ 67 ] In spite of these drawbacks Mozart has depicted both his situations and characters naturally and vividly. No one will attempt to deny that both the subjects and treatment of "Figaro" and "Don Giovanni," and in some degree also of "Cosi fan Tutte," present far more occasions for the expression of passion, for delicate detail, and for the emphasising of special features, than is the case with the "Zauberflöte," where the effect depends mainly on the general impression left by the whole work; but that this is the case affords only another proof of Mozart's power of grasping the strong points of every problem that was set before him. "In Lessing's 'Nathan,'" says Strauss,[ 68 ] "we are as little disposed to complain of the want of that powerful impression produced by his more pungent pieces, as we are to wish the peaceful echoes of Mozart's 'Zauberflöte' exchanged for the varied characterisation and foaming passion of the music of 'Don Juan.' In the last work of the musician, as in that of the poet, wide apart as they stand in other respects, there is revealed a perfected spirit at peace with itself, which having fought and overcome all opposition from within, has no longer to dread that which comes from without."
The fact that the words of the opera were in German had doubtless an important influence on the musical expression. Wretched as the verses are, so much so that it is difficult sometimes to find the sense necessary for the proper understanding of Mozart's rendering of them, they nevertheless THE ORCHESTRA. form the basis of the musical construction. Italian operatic poetry, long since stereotyped in form, fettered the composer's fancy, while the German verses, from their very want of finish, left him freer scope for independent action. It is worthy of note that instrumental tone-painting, so frequently employed in Italian opera as a means of giving musical expression to the poetry, is but little resorted to in the "Zauberflöte." Apart from the difference of poetical expression in Italian and German, the sensuous sound of the Italian language was far more provocative of musical expression; and the declamatory element of correct accentuation and phrasing was at the root of the correct musical expression of German words. In this respect also the "Zauberflöte" is far superior to the "Entführung." A comparison of the text with the music will show what pains Mozart has taken to declaim expressively and forcibly. Sometimes the effort is too apparent, as in Sarastro's well-known "Doch"; but as a rule Mozart's musical instinct prevents the declamatory element from intruding itself to the detriment of the melodious.
