Opera - The Magic Flute

🗓️ Date: 29 March, Friday

🕒 Time: 19:00 - 22:00

📍Address: Opera Sofia

"The Magic Flute is Mozart's last opera and one of the most played works on the opera stage. It is based on a libretto by Emmanuel Schikaneder and is written in the form of a zingshpil,a popular musical form at the time that combined singing and speaking.

"The Magic Flute is known for its prominent Masonic elements, although some scholars believe that the Masonic influence has been exaggerated. Schikaneder and Mozart were Freemasons, as was Ignaz Alberti, engraver and publisher of the first libretto. The opera was also influenced by Enlightenment philosophy and can be seen as a defence of Enlightenment absolutism. The Queen of the Night is seen by some as a dangerous form of obscurantism, by others as representative of the Roman Catholic Empress Maria Theresia, who banned Freemasonry in Austria. Still others see the Roman Catholic Church itself as strongly anti-Masonic. However, the literature repeatedly draws attention to the fact that the central theme of the work is not only "love" but also becoming a better person by overcoming hardships (like Parsifal in Wagner's later opera).

The Magic Flute was premiered in Vienna on 30 September 1791 - two months before Mozart's death. The composer conducted the orchestra, Schikaneder himself played Papageno, and the role of the Queen of the Night was played by Mozart's wife's sister, Josepha Hofer. Although reviews of the first performances are lacking, it is immediately clear that Mozart and Schikaneder were a huge success. The opera attracted huge audiences and reached hundreds of performances in the last years of the 18th century.

"The Magic Flute was performed in Sofia for the first time in 1931 under the baton of the German maestro Hermann Stange and the direction of Hristo Popov.

The seats are on a second balcony.