This site is under construction and was last revised on:  10 October 2009

Introduction

Mozart in 1790, oil painting by German artist Johann Georg Edlinger (1741-1819)

Die Zauberflöte has transcended its makers and time itself. ... The way in which the makers of the opera have managed to marry ingenuity with creativity is astonishing.  On the stage in Die Zauberflöte there are three temples, of Nature, Reason and Wisdom.  In retrospect  I now know that before I embarked on my journey to the roots of Die Zauberflöte, I had mainly listened to the opera in the Temple of Nature as it were, that while performing the study I enjoyed it in the Temple of Reason, and I hope that in the future I will one day be able to experience the "canticum canticorum" [song of songs] in the Temple of Wisdom.

M.F.M. van den Berk, Die Zauberflöte. An Alchemical Allegory, pages 508-509, first published in 2004.

We are told that Mozart's Magic Flute embodies some of his beliefs as a Freemason. If so, we might have in this opera a translation into poetic and musical imagery of the theme of the good religion of the Egyptians, of the mysteries of Isis and Osiris into which the good are initiated, of the magical atmosphere through which human souls make their way to a Hermetic-Egyptian salvation.  The name "Zarastro" of the head priest would reflect the equation of Zoroaster with Hermes Trismegistus in Renaissance genealogies of wisdom.

Frances A. Yates, Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition, pages 415-416, first published in 1964.

It is enough that the crowd would find pleasure in seeing the spectacle; at the same time, its high significance will not escape the initiates.

Comment purportedly made by Goethe regarding The Magic Flute.

Nothing can be said here about Mozart's brilliance that has not been said a thousand times before. He was irrefutably the greatest musical genius in his time, perhaps of all times. His short and turbulent life embraced the latter part of the eighteenth century, a time marred by wars, revolutions and overall political chaos in Europe. The quiet, peaceful sanctuary of a Masonic lodge would understandably impress and inspire a man of Mozart's temperament. Interestingly, there was a division within the Austrian government regarding Freemasonry at that time. The lodge of which Francis of Lorraine was Grand Master was closed by order of his wife, the Empress Maria Theresia. However, Joseph II, the enlightened son of the Empress was a firm believer in religious tolerance and looked benevolently upon the Order for most of his reign. It has been suggested that the characters in The Magic Flute represented real people who were involved in Viennese Freemasonry; the prince was the Emperor Joseph II., the princess the Austrian people, the high priest supposedly represented one Ignatz von Born, head of the Viennese lodge and the Queen of the Night was the Empress Maria Theresia who organized the raid on her husband's lodge. Of course this is all speculation, but it does have interesting possibilities. ...

Egyptian mythology ... permeates the opera. ... a kind of musical worship ...  [of] Isis and Osiris, ... gods of Egypt's Old Kingdom.

The Magic Flute was a 'Singspiel', that is, a musical comedy with some serious parts whose main attractions were impressive stage machinery and lavish special effects. (There are 13 elaborate scene changes in all). The libretto, which underwent several changes, was in the main written by Mozart's good friend and fellow Mason Johann Josef Schickaneder. At the time he met Mozart, Schickaneder was already an accomplished writer of such genres. Posterity has often been unkind to this man. He is often referred to as a buffoon, spendthrift and mediocre artist. Although we cannot defend the first two accusations, the latter is in fact quite untrue. Schickaneder was one of the most famous Hamlets and King Lears of his day, a fact which prompted Joseph II to call Schickaneder's theatrical company from Pressburg to Vienna.

At first, the libretto of the opera seems almost childish and resembles an absurd fairy tale which another composer may have thought most inappropriate to set to music. Mozart however, realizing the possibility of combining the ridiculous with the sublime, wedded the words to such marvellous music that the final work of art was, and is, an unforgettable experience for opera lovers everywhere. He combines the four cardinal virtues of Wisdom, Fortitude, Temperance and Justice with the three Christian virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity to such an extent as to create a musical masterpiece which is cosmic in its depth. At its core burns Mozart's belief in the vital power and importance of love which triumphs over the fear of death at all levels of humanity.

Gerlinde Sabathy-Judd, University of Western Ontario, Newsletter of the Grand Lodge of Canada, Province of Ontario, Volume 6, Number 3 (Winter 1987).

Purpose of This Website

In my opinion, Mozart's opera entitled The Magic Flute (Die Zauberflöte) is the greatest work of esoteric music ever written. First performed in Vienna on 30 September 1791, it was composed by Mozart when he was just 35 years old. Unfortunately, this performance occurred just two months before Mozart's death on 05 December of that same year.  The work was initially advertised as a Grand Opera but it really was a German Singspiel, combining a German libretto, simple folk tunes and classic operatic compositions.

Most music historians believe that the opera was constructed to present two levels of meaning.  Set against an ancient Egyptian background, on the popular/moral level, the plot appeared to be based on a rather confused fairy tale. On a higher historical level, the opera could be considered a Masonic political satire. At this Masonic level, the opera represented almost the "last hurrah" of Freemasonry in the Austrian Empire. In January 1795, the Masonic Lodges were totally banned in Austria by the new emperor, Francis II. This ban lasted until the fall of the Hapsburg monarchy in 1918.

Accordingly, the assessment of The Magic Flute presented at this website is one that I have seen in my own mirror and have filtered through my own unique personality and essence.

Literary and Artistic Sources for the Magic Flute

Ignaz Edler von Born (1742-1791)

Portrait of Ignaz von Born by Johann Baptist Lampi III

Perhaps the most important influence upon both Mozart and his librettist, Johann Josef Schickaneder, when creating The Magic Flute was a man named Ignaz Edler von Born.  This man was a famous Austrian mineralogist, metallurgist, Freemason and a known member of the Bavarian Illuminati!

Many writers on the subject of The Magic Flute have asserted that Ignaz von Born was Mozart's mentor and that the character of Sarastro, in the opera, was modeled after von Born. My research indicates that Mozart was an acquaintance of von Born, but I could find no evidence that they were close friends. However, I do believe that von Born was the major influence on both Mozart and Schickaneder through his writings. In particular, in 1784, von Born published a comprehensive, 116-page article that almost every educated, German speaking Freemason in Austria had read; it was entitled "On the Mysteries of the Egyptians" (Ueber die Mysterien der Aegyptier) which appeared in the first issue of the Journal of Freemasonry (Journal fûr Freimaurer).

The eminent German Egyptologist, Eric Hornung (born 1933), Professor Emeritus at the University of Basel, has this to say concerning von Born in his book entitled The Secret Lore of Egypt (published 2001), at pages 123, 125 and 192:

Based upon my own research, I am also convinced that both Mozart and Schikaneder had read von Born's essay entitled "Ueber die Mysterien der Aegyptier" and that it became the primary influence with respect to their decision to make the opera into a mystery play about the initiation of a seeker into the ancient Egyptian mysteries.  More importantly, their conscious decision to craft the opera so that it would have meaning upon three progressively more abstruse levels was due to von Born's finding that the mystery religion ceremonies were all intended to be experienced at the moral, historical and mystical levels.

The following are English translations of pertinent passages from the von Born essay:

From the Introduction (Einleitung):

... Osiris was a mortal. We call the sun, this unchanging symbol of the godhead by his name. ... Knowledge of nature is the final purpose of our application. This procreatrix, nourisher and preserver of all creatures we honor under the image of Isis. -- Only that man lifts her veil unpunished who knows her whole might and strength. ...

In the second section of the essay von Born discusses the hidden meaning of the Egyptian hieroglyphic writing:

... The profane man saw, for example, Osiris and Isis in the image or sign of the sun and moon. According to mystical meaning ... the sun was the highest unique godhead, the primeval source of all good, and the moon the image of the omnipotence of the creator. The sign of the sun often betokened the spirit and the fiery particles, and the sign of the moon, on the other hand, the waters and the little parts of the earth to which, as the effective causes of the whole creative process, according to their teaching, the air owes its existence. ...

The third and longest section of his essay describes the similarity of the ancient Egyptian priesthood to the modern-day Freemasons and Illuminati. He then goes on to say that everything that was experienced in the Mysteries had a threefold purpose:

... a moral, an historical and a mystical meaning.  Wholly impenetrable, however, is -- owing to the profound silence of the initiates and the older writers about everything that was carried out in the innermost part of the temple -- the mystical meaning. Hardly ever will even the most far- and clear-sighted Brother of our Fellowship be able to unravel it; for that our so-called illuminated Brothers cannot come to our assistance, is beyond all doubt ... In their anxious search they wander from the prepared path on which they were led when they were admitted to the Order; bury themselves in labyrinths, wander from the twilight into the night, and their cry that they see light where the deepest darkness reigns, that they are quenching their thirst for truth at the source of life, leads many a good Brother from the straight path, leads him to the pool of nonsense, from which he thinks he is drinking wisdom, and diminishes the little band of the elect which, under the guidance of reason, this special light that the greatest architect has given man to guide him, slowly but surely approaches the desired goal. ...

A bit farther on, von Born comments about the practice of the Viennese Masons:

... We, too make it clear to the initiate, as soon as he has seen the light, that we are not ordained to be a secret and hidden society, but that we, when tyranny and vice gained the upper hand, secretly banded together in order to oppose that stream more surely. ...

Almost all of the European Masonic Lodges excluded women from membership. Ignaz von Born strongly supported this policy. He noted the subordinate position of women among the Egyptians:

... The Egyptian priests believed women to be incapable of the higher knowledge which was the priests' task, and doubted their discretion. ...

On the above issue, I note that The Magic Flute supported the opposite position.  In the opera, Tamina is ultimately allowed to also become initiated and indeed, in the last phase of the initiation process, she actually takes the lead, ahead of Tamino.  However, I also note that Sarastro and the older priests allowed this only with great reluctance.  However, at the end of the opera, they admit that they were wrong about Tamina and agree she should be treated as an equal with Tamino!

The Libretto Frontispiece

Unless otherwise stated, this website presents my interpretations of some of the esoteric ideas that Mozart intended to communicate in his opera: The Magic Flute.  Such interpretations should not be considered as a complete presentation of all of his ideas.  The interpretations are entirely my own and I am solely responsible for any errors, whether objective or subjective, that may be found.

Websites

I currently support eighteen other websites. Nine sites are related to philosophy and art and nine are related to genealogy and local history.  Hyperlinks to these sites are shown below.

Philosophy and Art:

*These sites are still under construction.

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