Page 166 - GTMF 2024 Season Program

August 16 & 17 PROGRAM NOTES

The Magic Flute, K. 620 vaudeville schtick and fantasy, occasional crackpot theory that
the whole wrapped up in a rather Masonic retaliation was the
continued wonderful meditation on the cause of Mozart’s early death.)
ultimate triumph of good over It all comes down to the clouds
today he’d be rocking an upper- evil. Mozart’s librettist Emanuel of suspicion surrounding
middle-class lifestyle despite
being up to his eyebrows in Schikaneder was an old friend Freemasonry as the flames of
from his Salzburg days who had
revolution in France grew ever
credit-card debt.
established a popular theater hotter. Emperors and kings alike
Nor did Mozart show signs of in the Vienna suburbs. He and distrusted the Masonic lodges for
his terminal disease or diseases— Mozart were fellow Freemasons, their very secrecy, fearing that
whatever it was or they a fraternal order that had peaked those closed societies were
were—until quite late in the year. mid-century and was now fading. actually hotbeds of revolutionary
Up to then he was his usual But as of 1791 the Masons were fervor. Freemasonry was in clear
bouncy self, taking on more work still a force to be reckoned with, danger of being wiped out,
than he could handle, waiting and one can only imagine the and thus by writing a Masonic
until the last possible minute to shocked surprise in store for them opera that showed the rituals
meet his deadlines, composing at at The Magic Flute’s original run. as beneficial, healing and
breathtaking speed and producing Mozart and Schikaneder had filled ultimately harmless, Mozart and
a string of gorgeously crafted and Schikaneder hoped to dissipate
inspired works. Those include the opera with Masonic icons and some of that mistrust.
practices, such as the “rule of
his B-flat Major Piano Concerto,
K. 595; the E-flat Major String three” that makes itself felt even It didn’t work. By 1794 Freemasonry
in the overture, as three chords,
was no more in Austria. But when
Quintet, K. 614; vocal and choral
music; minuets and contredanses each in a three-note rhythm, all is said and done, it wasn’t the
disguised Masonic ritual that so
provide an interlude. “If a
for Carnival season; works for
glass harmonica and mechanical Master-Mason you would be, enchanted audiences of the
Observe you well the Rule of
original production, which racked
organ; the Clarinet Concerto;
the unfinished Requiem and Three” states a 1723 guidebook up over 100 performances by
to Masonic practices. That’s just
November 1792. What people
(this is borderline unbelievable)
two operas. one Masonic resonance among loved, and still love, is Flute’s
many. Most significantly, the warmth, humor, fantasy and
One of those operas, La Clemenza stages of the Masonic progression deeply abiding humanism. And
di Tito, was long considered from darkness to light, i.e., then there’s all the spectacle.
the ugly duckling of Mozart’s from ignorance to wisdom, are The opening scene could have
musical theater catalog, although deeply embedded in the Magic stepped out of Peter Jackson’s
its fortunes have improved Flute’s libretto. Lord of the Rings film trilogy: A
considerably of late. Written in a handsome young prince, lost in a
rush for the coronation of Emperor And yet the Masonic rituals were mysterious land and chased by a
bound by a vow of secrecy;
Leopold II as King of Bohemia, dragon-like monster, faints from
the recitatives farmed out to punishments for breaking that fear. Then three enchantress types
vow were shockingly severe. That
Mozart’s student Süssmayer, it was appear out of nowhere and slay
dismissed as “German swill” by the leads to the question of intent. If the dragon. That’s all within the
Mozart and Schikaneder’s primary
new Empress. But the other opera first five minutes. Nor does the
of 1791 was a different matter goal in writing The Magic Flute magic stop there; just consider
was to make lots of money from
altogether: it was The Magic Flute, a stage direction that “the
and it is one of humanity’s most an engaging populist fantasy, mountains part asunder.” While it
why would they interweave
cherished treasures. promises endless possibilities for
thinly-disguised Masonic rituals
That’s despite a barely coherent into their sweet little show and risk stage and costume designers, at
plot that’s a combination of the wrath of their fellow Masons? heart The Magic Flute is simply a
swords and sorcery adventure, (One even encounters the delightful entertainment, and like

164 Grand Teton Music Festival Season 63