Historical Background
Mozartʼs last opera, a fairy-tale singspiel from 1791 to the libretto of
E. Schikaneder is a true masterpiece. The magical fairy-tale story is a multilayered play full of fantasy, humor, but also philosophy. The characters of prince
Tamino, princess Pamina, the wise Sarastro, the evil Queen of the night and
especially the jolly bird-fancier Papageno address and entertain their viewers
worldwide for over 200 years.
What is Singspiel?
Singspiel is a form of opera that involves both sung and spoken dialogue. In the
centuries before Mozart, operas were sung throughout. But the Germans
developed the singspiel, German comic opera with spoken dialogue. This special
form of opera reached its highest development in the works of Mozart. Although
the early court opera of Germany showed preference for Italian opera (Frederick
the Great is said to have compared German singing to the neighing of horses!),
German composers of the 18th Century began producing singspiel.
Unlike grand opera which was what aristocratic and noble audiences wanted,
singspiel, with its spoken dialogue, was directed towards broader audiences,
everyday people who enjoyed a magical story and good tunes. The Magic Flute
filled the bill and was very popular in its day!
Composer Biography
Mozart was no doubt the greatest child star that ever lived. He was traveling all
over Europe playing music by the time he was six. Because of his constant
travels, Mozart eventually learned to speak fifteen different languages. Mozart
wrote over 600 works during his lifetime, including 41 symphonies (Eine Kleine
Nachtmusik), and 27 piano concertos. Three of his most famous operas include
The Marriage of Figaro, The Magic Flute and Don Giovanni. He is also famous
for his Requiem mass.
He wrote his first sonata for the piano when he was four and composed his first
opera when he was twelve! Mozart could compose anywhere - at meals (he
loved liver dumplings and sauerkraut), while talking to friends, while playing pool
and even while his wife was having a baby. He composed very quickly and wrote
huge amounts of music. It would take over 8 days to play all of his music, one
piece after the next, without stopping. One famous piece that he wrote was
Variations on "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star."
One night a mysterious stranger came to his door dressed in gray to hire Mozart
to write a requiem mass (a kind of music that choirs perform at funerals). Mozart
who was very afraid of ghosts and extremely superstitious, was terrified of the
stranger who kept nagging him to finish the piece. He was already ill, and in his
state of mind he became convinced that he was writing music for his own funeral.
During his lifetime, Mozart was very well-known but spent money faster than he
could earn it. He was poor and in debt when he died of kidney failure at the age
of 35 and was buried in a poor man's grave. Mozart is considered by some to be
the greatest composer who ever lived. While most composers specialize in
certain kinds of pieces, Mozart created masterful works for almost every category
of music - vocal music, concertos, chamber music, symphonies, sonatas and
opera.