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Updated: June 26, 2025
Tamino asks if Pamina lives, but the priest is bound by an oath to say nothing on that subject until "the hand of friendship shall lead him to an eternal union within the sanctuary." When shall night vanish and the light appear? Oracular voices answer, "Soon, youth, or never!" Does Pamina live? The voices: "Pamina still lives!"
"Die Zauberflöte," an opera in two acts, words by Emanuel Schickaneder, was first produced at Vienna, Sept. 30, 1791, with the following cast: QUEEN OF NIGHT Mme. HOFER. PAMINA Mlle. GORL. TAMINO Herr SCHACK. MONOSTATOS Herr GORL. SARASTRO Herr SCHICKANEDER, Sr. The "Magic Flute" was the last great work of the composer, and followed the "Cosi fan tutte," which was given in January, 1791.
Monostatos aids the Queen of Night and her companions in an assault upon the sanctuary; but a storm confounds them, and Sarastro blesses the union of Tamino and Pamina, amidst joyful hymning by the elect. An extraordinary hodgepodge, truly, yet, taken all in all, an effective stage piece.
The two are led into a hall and admonished to remain silent till they hear a trumpet-call. Papageno falls to chattering with an old woman, is terrified beyond measure by a thunder-clap, and recovers his composure only when the genii bring back the flute and bells and a table of food. Tamino, however, remains steadfast, though Pamina herself comes to him and pleads for a word of love.
Pamina has tried to escape, and is put in chains by her keeper, the Moor Monostatos. She weeps because of her misery, and repulses the protestations of love with which her jailer plagues her.
At a sign from Sarastro, the, full sunlight pours in upon them. The evil spirits all vanish, and Tamino and Pamina are united amid the triumphant choruses of the priests and attendants, as the reward of their fidelity. Melodious as Mozart always is, these songs must be regarded as concessions to the buffoon who sang them.
Tamino may be intended for the Emperor Joseph II., who, though not a Freemason himself as his father was, openly protected the brotherhood; and we may look upon Pamina as the representative of the Austrian people.
The words are set to an old German church melody "Ach Gott, vom Himmel sieh darein" around which the orchestral instruments weave a contrapuntal web of wondrous beauty. At the gates Pamina joins her lover and accompanies him on his journey, which is happily achieved with the help of the flute. Meanwhile Papageno is pardoned his loquacity, but told that he shall never feel the joy of the elect.
He is punished for his mendacity when the ladies return and place a padlock upon his mouth, closing his lips to the things of which he is most fond speech and food. Then he learns that the original of the portrait is Pamina, daughter of the Queen of Night, stolen from her mother by a "wicked demon," Sarastro.
She gives him a magic flute, and with his companion Papageno, a rollicking bird-catcher, who is also presented with a magical chime of bells, they set out for Sarastro's temple. Papageno arrives there first, and in time to rescue Pamina from the persecutions of Monostatos, a slave, who flies when he beholds Papageno in his feather costume, fancying him the Devil.
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