It is scarcely possible to describe the history of music without reaching the works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Mozart is well known and celebrated as being one of the greatest composers and musicians in recorded history, and for good reason. Very few individuals in history have had such a profound and pronounced effect on their field as Mozart has, and a testament to this can be read from the symbolism and thematic content of his magnum opus, The Magic Flute. It is an ostensibly light-hearted fairy-tale opera that served as a convenient introduction to the genre and continues to do so more than 200 years after its premiere. The Magic Flute’s simplistic storyline and clear, easily relatable content carries an enormous symbolic depth that allows for a deeper reading into the affects it has permeated throughout the history of music ever since. A key philosophical movement at the time of its writing was enlightenment, and The Magic Flute lends itself readily to a reading that espouses its Enlightenment ideals through its portrayal of the progress of mankind from chaos to rational behavior, its rejection of obscurantism, and its prominent Masonic elements.
Enlightenment Symbols In The Magic Flute
In order to properly identify the themes of Enlightenment present in The Magic Flute, it is necessary to begin an allegorical reading of the characters in the opera and of the motives behind their actions in relation to the prominent philosophical and political movements of the time in which it was written.
The story’s very first conflict begins with the handsome prince Tamino who is threatened by a serpent. The biblical connotations of a serpent should be clear to anyone, and if listeners put themselves in Tamino’s shoes, it is clear that the serpent’s threat represents chaos and sin.
The actions of the Queen of Night and her ladies serve to represent the power of religious superstition, that first saved Tamino, yet, later denied him the birthright of knowledge. The Queen of night has been suggested by Spaethling to represent the Roman Catholic Empress Maria Theresa (45). In other interpretations, such as that of Subotnik, it is suggested that she represents the entire Roman Catholic Church itself (133).
Moving beyond the religious superstition that the Queen of Night represents, The good Sarastro represents rationalistic enlightenment, realized by means of trial and error. In this sense, Tamino gets a parallel in the form of Papageno, who represents more error than trial. This allegorical reading places the entirety of mankind within the character of Tamino, and our respective progress towards a perfect rational society in the structure of his journey to enlightened understanding.
Allowing for a reading of The Magic Flute that follows this course of characterization, the purpose of enlightenment and its struggle against obscurantism is clear. The prevailing thought among Enlightenment thinkers of Mozart’s day was that human beings could perfect themselves through the application of reason in their values, ideals, and daily lives. This became such a popular notion that it is still widely accepted today as a basic foundational structure of most modern societies, as noted by Subotnik (150).
Opposing Enlightenment is the notion of obscurantism, a term used to describe the deliberate restriction of knowledge from the general public and the deliberate obscurity of politics, literature and art that serves to create an easily-controlled, superstitious populace. The prevailing attitude in the day of Mozart was that all of human history up until that point had been plagued by obscurantism; priest-kings of ancient cultures who would make laws and decrees based on purported divine or supernatural mandates, and religious orders that would impose moral and ethical restrictions on their members in order to increase their own power.
The Magic Flute shows that the attempts to control mankind through the application of superstition are doomed to fail, as rational people become more finely attuned to their secular identity, their ability to choose their own free path in life and their decision to think for themselves.
A very important element of this reading of The Magic Flute is the Masonic symbolism that is spread throughout the entirety of the opera. As Spaethling notes, it is a verifiable fact that Mozart was indeed a member of a Freemason lodge (45). Freemasonry is a global secret society dedicated to Enlightenment ideals. Whereas popular Enlightenment espoused the value of reason in society for bettering the lives of individuals, Freemasonry’s main corollary was that a perfectly Enlightened society would have no need for monarchs.
This revolutionary idea was routinely attacked by the religious and political powers of the day due to the obvious danger it represented for aristocrats and religious leaders. Mozart added in numerous Masonic elements to the opera to showcase his point. The most evident of these would be the moment when Tamino enters the Temple of Wisdom— he is in fact being initiated into a mythical version of the Masonic Mysteries and becoming part of this secret society.
Conclusion
While Tamino’s meandering path to greater understanding is what saves him from the plans of the Queen of Night, it is only the application of reason as represented through the wisdom bestowed by Sarastro that gives him the ability to defeat the darkness of ignorance and become a fully realized individual. The Enlightenment theme of the opera becomes clear at this point, tying it together with the enduring success both of the opera and of the values it represents.
Works Cited
Spaethling, Robert. 'Folklore And Enlightenment In The Libretto Of Mozart's Magic Flute'. Eighteenth-Century Studies 9.1 (1975): 45.
Subotnik, Rose Rosengard. 'Whose "Magic Flute?" Intimations Of Reality At The Gates Of The Enlightenment'. 19th-Century Music 15.2 (1991): 132-150.
