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The opera was premiered in Vienna on 30 September 1791 at the suburban Freihaus-Theater auf der Wieden. Libretto cover design by Peter Hoffer, 1959 The Magic Flute also echoes Salieri's music in that Papageno's whistle is based on a motif borrowed from Salieri's Concerto for Clavicembalo in B-flat major. Both are centred around musical-textual playfulness with humorous bird-like utterances of pseudo-Italian words. The first is that the Papageno–Papagena duet is similar to the Cucuzze cavatina in Salieri's Prima la musica e poi le parole. It appears that in this opera two references to Antonio Salieri's music are included. Many scholars also acknowledge an influence of Freemasonry. Especially for the role of Papageno, the libretto draws on the Hanswurst tradition of the Viennese popular theatre.

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The libretto is also a natural continuation of a series of fairy tale operas produced at the time by Schikaneder's troupe, including an adaptation of Sophie Seyler's Singspiel Oberon as well as Der Stein der Weisen. Some works of literature current in Vienna in Schikaneder's day that may have served as sources include the medieval romance Yvain by Chrétien de Troyes, the novel Life of Sethos by Jean Terrasson, and the essay 'On the mysteries of the Egyptians' by Ignaz von Born. The libretto for The Magic Flute, written by Schikaneder, is thought by scholars to be based on many sources. Like The Magic Flute, Der Stein der Weisen was a fairy-tale opera and can be considered a kind of precursor it employed much the same cast in similar roles. Mozart's participation increased with his contributions to the 1790 collaborative opera Der Stein der Weisen ( The Philosopher's Stone), including the duet ('Nun liebes Weibchen', K. 625/592a) among other passages. Mozart was a close friend of one of the singer-composers of the troupe, tenor Benedikt Schack (the first Tamino), and had contributed to the compositions of the troupe, which were often collaboratively written. The opera was the culmination of a period of increasing involvement by Mozart with Schikaneder's theatrical troupe, which since 1789 had been the resident company at the Theater auf der Wieden. The object on his back is a birdcage see below.

Enlisted by the Queen of the Night to rescue her daughter Pamina from the high priest Sarastro, Tamino comes to admire the high ideals of the latter and he and Pamina both join Sarastro's community, while the Queen and her allies are vanquished.Įmanuel Schikaneder, librettist of Die Zauberflöte, shown performing in the role of Papageno. The allegorical plot was influenced by Schikaneder and Mozart's interest in Freemasonry and concerns the initiation of Prince Tamino. Der Zauberflöte zweyter Theil (1798) and a fragmentary libretto by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe titled The Magic Flute Part Two. Still a staple of the opera repertory, its popularity was reflected by two immediate sequels, Peter Winter's Das Labyrinth oder Der Kampf mit den Elementen. The work premiered on 30 September 1791 at Schikaneder's theatre, the Freihaus-Theater auf der Wieden in Vienna, just two months before the composer's premature death.

The work is in the form of a Singspiel, a popular form during the time it was written that included both singing and spoken dialogue. The Magic Flute (German: Die Zauberflöte, pronounced ( listen)), K. 620, is an opera in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder.