Sarastro, Priest of the Sun
Tamino, a foreign prince
Speaker
The Queen of the Night
Pamina, the Queen's Daughter
The Three Ladies (the Queen's servants)
The Three Boys (messenger spirits)
Papageno, a bird catcher
Papagena
Monostatos
Tamino, who has been out hunting far from his land, suddenly is pursued by a ravenous serpent. Terrified, he cries out for help and as the serpent draws near, Tamino faints. Before the serpent devours him, the Three Ladies slay the serpent and instantly fall in love with Tamino. They bicker about who will stay and watch him and unable to reach a decision, decide to leave to tell the Queen of the Night about what just happened.
Soon after the Ladies leave, Papageno, a merry bird catcher, finds Tamino when he awakes. Tamino thinks Papageno killed the serpent and Papageno lies, taking the credit for the beasts's death. The Three Ladies have returned, however, and overhear Papageno's empty boasting. They immediately padlock Papageno's mouth as a punishment for telling lies.
The Ladies give Tamino a portrait of Pamina, the Queen's daughter, as a gift. Tamino instantly falls in love with Pamina after seeing the portrait. The Queen of the Night, interested in the promise of Tamino, soon appears, telling him about her sad story. She tells him that Pamina was abducted by the evil Sarastro and refuses to return her. She promises that Pamina will be his bride if he rescues her. After the Queen vanishes, the Three Ladies unlock Papageno's mouth and give Tamino a Magic Flute and Papageno a case of Magic Bells to help them in rescuing Pamina.
Meanwhile, in Sarastro's palace, Monostatos is trying to win Pamina's favors, but she absolutely refuses. In a rage, he storms out of the chamber with his slaves. Papageno enters the chamber by a secret entrance and befriends Pamina. When Monostatos returns, Papageno and Monostatos are so mutually frightened of the other's appearance that Monostatos runs away.
Tamino, at the same time, is being escorted by the Three Boys who lead him to the entrance of a temple. There are three doors, representing Nature, Reason, and Wisdom. When Tamino tries to enter, he is rejected by two of the doors, but finally a door does open, revealing a priest. The priest cautions Tamino about his hatred against Sarastro and the errors of his assumptions. Tamino despairs, afraid that Pamina already is dead, but when the priests' voices, echoing from the temple, assure him she's still alive, he rejoices by playing the Magic Flute. Strange and exotic animals flock to Tamino, delighted by the flute's melody.
Papageno and Pamina, unable to find Tamino, are almost captured by Monostatos
and his slaves, but enchant them when Papageno plays his bells. The Sun
Priests, however, manage to find them and Pamina begs Sarastro's forgiveness
for trying to escape and relates Monostatos' ill-treatment of her. Monostatos
suddenly enters with Tamino as his captive. Tamino and Pamina instantly
recognize each other and embrace in love. Monostatos demands a reward for
his faithful service to Sarastro. Sarastro does reward him: with lashes
to his feet. Monostatos is dragged out, protesting, while Tamino is prepared
by the priests to undergo the trials to make him more worthy of Pamina.
Sarastro beseeches Isis's and Osiris's protection of Tamino and Pamina as the trials are about to begin. Tamino and Papageno first undergo the Trial of Silence. They must not speak, but Papageno keeps breaking this vow of silence. Tamino remains firm and does not speak, even when the Three Ladies come to tempt them.
During the Trial of Silence, The Queen of the Night visits Pamina, giving her a knife and telling her to murder Sarastro. Monostatos tries to take this opportunity to extort Pamina's favors or betray her to Sarastro. Sarastro quickly intercedes and forgives the Queen for her hatred.
In the last part of the Trial of Silence an old crone visits Papageno, revealing she is Papagena, his future wife. Just as he is about to question her more, she disappears. When Pamina visits Tamino, he cannot speak to her. Pamina mistakes his silence as a sign that he no longer loves her.
When Papageno finally find Papagena and agrees to marry her, she suddenly transforms from a crone to a beautiful young woman. A priest, infuriated by Papageno's failure in the trials, shoos the woman away.
Pamina decides to kill herself in her misery, but is prevented by the Three Boys who lead her to Tamino who is about to undergo his last and most dangerous trial, the Trial of Fire and Water. Papageno, too, despairing of ever finding Papagena again, tries to hang himself, but the Three Boys appear and remind him of the Magic Bells. Papageno plays a merry little tune and Papagena finds him, they then singing about their future together with lots of children.
Pamina reaches Tamino and undergoes the Trial of Fire and Water by Tamino's side. As Tamino plays the Magic Flute, it holds back the Fire and Water, allowing them to pass safely. Just as they finish the trial, the Queen of the Night is planning to attack the Sun Temple and defeat the order of the priests forever. Monostatos has joined along with the help of the Three Women. Sarastro and his priests defeat the Queen and her dark powers with the powers of Light. Pamina and Tamino face Sarastro together with the blessings of the priests, newly inducted into the temple and Eternal Truth.
"The Magic Flute" has often been dubbed "The Freemason Opera" by many music critics and scholars. Indeed, even with my very sketchy knowledge about Freemasons, I was able to recognize many Masonic symbols throughout the opera. The use of the number three is very significant. The opera begins and ends on the same three chords, there are Three Ladies and Three Boys, and three doors to the Sun Temple.
One of the obvious reason for this Masonic influence was that Schikaneder (the librettist) and Mozart were Freemasons. Although the Freemasons would eventually dwindle and almost die out due to their lodges being shut down on suspicions of revolutionary activity, in the eighteenth century Freemasons were plentiful. The finest minds of the age joined the Freemasons. Mozart loved the Freemasons and found many kindred spirits who understood his music and supported him in rough financial times.
After Mozart's death there were wild rumors that the Freemasons killed Mozart for divulging their most prized secrets to the public view in "The Magic Flute". This is ridiculous, however, since the Freemasons supported Mozart's widow and children.
Mozart and Schikaneder, through "The Magic Flute", were actually
trying to save the Freemasons by demonstrating to the public that the Freemasons
(a.k.a. the Sun Priests) held Reason, Truth and Virtue in the highest esteem.
This was a vain effort on Mozart's part since the Hapsburg Monarchy eventually
dissolved the Freemasons after Mozart's death.
The first time I saw or heard anything from "The Magic Flute" was in the movie "Amadeus". I was then nine years old and didn't pay close attention to the music. I was more interested in the spectacle of the Queen perched high over the stage, ringed by stars singing this incredible aria in dramatic, impossibly high notes. I was really impressed by that scene, but it wasn't until I was nineteen that I was given the special treat to see the opera performed live.
It wasn't a big, fancy opera, but it was affordable and most importantly,
they played Mozart music beautifully. I was as enchanted, as if spellbound
by Tamino's flute, from beginning to end. Since then "The Magic Flute"
has been the favorite of all his operas. There seems to be something special
about this opera. It is unsurpassingly beautiful and so unique from everything
Mozart had ever written before. There are times when the music is so divine
(like the ecstatic music before Tamino and Pamina enter the door to the
last Trial) that I feel I must kneel down and worship it. I would often
listen to this opera on my CD player when I was lonely or depressed in
my college dorm. As soon as the first notes reached my ears it cheered,
warmed, and comforted me, sweeping me away to this fantastic dream world
of musical beauty. "The Magic Flute", to me, is the operatic
pinnacle of Mozart's incredible genius.
Since that first live operatic experience, I have bought two video recordings of this opera. One was a very professional and spectacular live recording of a performance at the Metropolitan Opera House. This is good if you enjoy stage performances of the opera. What I recommend more is something highly innovative and very special, giving you the "The Magic Flute" at its best.
A video I'd recommend is Ingmar Bergman's The Magic Flute. Since it is a recorded film, not a live performance, Bergman is freed up from some of the stage restraints. He frequently moves from the traditional stage to fantasy scenes of Bergman's own invention. Bergman often plays with light and shadows, creating a work of visual art in itself. Along the way he even smooths out the original libretto, switching a few scenes around to provide a better flow, solving some of the original problems in character motives and deepening the relationship between Pamina and Tamino. It is beautifully crafted, the best version of "The Magic Flute" I've ever seen.
Info about the Freemasons and their relation to "The Magic Flute" was provided in an excerpt from Alfred Einstein's Mozart: His Character, His Work.