The secrets of Mozart’s “Magic Flute” - Joshua Borths

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “Die Zauberflöte” (“The Magic Flute”) is widely regarded as one of the most influential operas in history. And while it may seem like a childish fairytale at first glance, it’s actually full of subversive symbolism. Joshua Borths explains how many elements of "The Magic Flute" were inspired by Mozart’s somewhat controversial involvement with Freemasonry.

Lesson by Joshua Borths, animation by TED-Ed.

[merrittanimation]

' The Queen of Night actually wants to plunge the world in darkness "

Well with a name like that that should've been pretty obvious.

[JackSassyPants]

My only criticism is that there is NO mention of Papageno, the bird-catcher obsessed with women who is obviously the real star of this show.

[rikardagren]

The Papageno and Papagena duet is probably one of my favourite moments in any opera. The happiness and pure joy Papageno shows when finally finding is love is unbeatable

[yogawarriorgirl]

This opera also has the most wicked soprano aria I know of. Look up "The Queen of the Night aria" and enjoy. It's about as high as the human voice can go without injury (and only for a select few).

[cuckoolove]

There's so much going on in the mind of a genius. Meanwhile I'm here trying to figure out what day of the week it is.

[masterklaw]

My mom was able to sing the Queen of the Night's aria. My mom may not have been the perfect parent, but she was a massive influence on the music I love. Miss you, mom.

[CanaldoSora]

This was my very first opera. I remember as if it was just yesterday. Mozart made my way into classical music, and I couldn't want any better.

[ellenspear]

Well and good, but how can any synopsis of this opera skip a mention of Papageno? Shame.

[ThomasG_]

"Do you want to know the secrets of my magic flute?" sounds like a bad pickup line

[kateparker]

Although I've never widely been a fan of opera, I have always loved The Magic Flute, as I grew up with a children's version that told the story in English, through the eyes of a little girl. To this day, it remains some of my favorite music ever, and I loved learning all this symbolism!

[tguerraew]

We found the background plot of Dan Brown's next novel

[RaisedThird]

I had the honor of playing violin in Mozart's The Magic Flute last month and my director did a good job explaining this to us. The story and the free masons are very important to know before playing.

[bottomtext]

I knew Mozart was a genius, but this is some crazy shit

[GroovingPict]

A talk on The Magic Flute that doesnt make one single mention of Papageno aka the bird catcher... Yeah, I think youre missing out on a bit. And by a bit I mean a lot.

[ConstanzeWeber]

Love the music credit at the end. This was my first opera, I saw it at Covent Garden when I was 12 and that's when I realised I'd found my art form and the love of my musical life!! I've seen many operas by many composers since, but when I see one by Mozart it's like coming home.

[simonkawasaki]

3:00 That makes a lot of sense.

Not only was she a symbol of the Enlightenment’s ideals of freedom, but Mozart had a personal grudge against Maria Theresa. When the 15 year old Mozart premiered his youthful opera “Ascanio in Alba” in Milan, one of Maria’s sons wrote to her, saying that Mozart should be his own court composer. This was practically why Mozart was in Italy; he was fishing for a court position. But Maria Theresa wrote back to her son, saying that he should not hire “useless people”.

[peroz]

Someone should make a much longer video on this fascinating theme.

[lonelyelk]

in the 4th grade we went on a field trip to the Seattle opera house to watch the magic flute and I remember being mesmerized by the whole thing, it was pretty awesome

[OnlyMozart]

No dragon! A snake: "Der listigen Schlange".

[letthesleeperawaken]

Um... It would be nice if this video got some plot point straight...
1) "The dragon" is actually "die listige Schlange" which means "the cunning snake" - is this really that hard to get right??!
2) It's not Tamino & Pamina who undergo trails together, but Tamino and Papageno, the bird catcher. While it looks like Pamina is initiated together with Tamino later, I'm not sure whether this is the case, since a part of the plot point of the Opera is that it's not a woman's place to be wise, but rather to be guided by wise men
3) The queen of the night never talks about wanting to plunge the world into darkness, though she does use rather colourful language ("der Hölle Rache" = "hell's revenge") to describe just how pissed off she is about her husbands misogynist attitude, since rather than leaving the "siebenfacher Sonnenkreis" = "sevenfold sun-circle", a magical object of immense power, to her, he gave it to some wisdom cult to "rule over it in a manly way". I'm not saying she's a good person, after all she's plotting murder and forcing her daugther to be her tool, but I don't remember any point where she plots more than to possess the supreme power she thinks is rightfully hers.
--> All this is what I remember simply from speaking German and watching the opera live plus hearing it talked about in the German world, where for example the fact that the monster was no dragon but a snake (and apparently Mozart worked with "ein grimmiger Löwe" = "a grim lion") is considered to be of interest...