On this day, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s two-act opera “The Magic Flute” premiered at the Freihaus-Theater auf der Wieden in Vienna. Based on a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder, the opera is a Singspiel, a popular form that included both singing and spoken dialogue. In the opera, the Queen of the Night persuades Prince Tamino to rescue her daughter Pamina from captivity under the high priest Sarastro. Instead, on discovering the high ideals of Sarastro’s community, Tamino seeks to join it. Separately, then together, Tamino and Pamina undergo severe trials of initiation, which end in triumph, with the Queen and her cohorts vanquished. An outstanding success from its first performances, “The Magic Flute” was Mozart’s last opera as he died two months later.
