Die ZauberflöteJeune public

Mozart’s illustrious operatic oeuvre is rounded off by a work providing both copious entertainment and food for thought, affording a fantastic spectacle and presenting a magical ritual of initiation of the human spirit. All that is encompassed in Die Zauberflöte, and all that can be found in Vladimír Morávek’s colourful production, featuring a thrilling atmosphere and teeming with mysterious symbols. There is something for everyone – adults and children, including, if fear hasn’t consumed them, the very youngest.

Mozart wrote Die Zauberflöte when he was 35 years of age. The piece was intended for the common people visiting the Theater an der Wien, where it premiered on 30 September 1791, a mere three months before the composer’s untimely death. The German libretto was penned by the actor, impresario and dramatist Emanuel Schikaneder, a friend of Mozart‘s. The creators drew upon the tradition of the old Viennese magic opera, in which alongside human characters appeared various supernatural beings and animals, and stage machinery effects were applied.

Die Zauberflöte has become the best-known example of this highly popular genre not only due to the fairy-tale story in which by means of a magic flute and his comical companion, Papageno, Prince Tamino seeks the way to Princess Pamina, the daughter of the Queen of the Night, but also thanks to the references to Masonic symbolism and, primarily, Mozart’s beguiling music, which warms the heart of audiences worldwide. A year after its premiere in Vienna, Die Zauberflöte was staged in Prague, at today’s Estates Theatre on 25 October 1792.