Works inspired by The Magic Flute

A production of The Magic Flute at Texas A&M University–Commerce in 2015

The Magic Flute, an opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart with libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder, was composed in 1791 and premiered to great success. It has been an important part of the operatic repertory ever since, and has inspired a great number of sequels, adaptations, novels, films, artwork, and musical compositions.

Sequels in literature and theatre

There are two sequels named The Magic Flute Part Two. The first is a fragment by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, which was intended to be set to music by Paul Wranitzky. The second was sponsored by Emanuel Schikaneder himself, the opera, Das Labyrinth oder Der Kampf mit den Elementen (The Labyrinth or The Struggle with the Elements), a Singspiel in two acts composed in 1798 by Peter von Winter to a German libretto by Schikaneder.

Adaptations of Mozart's music by later composers

• "Away with Melancholy" was a popular duet first published in London in the early 1790s, and reprinted in America from 1797 on. The music is adapted from the episode in the Act 1 finale in which Monostatos and his slaves, enchanted by the music from Papageno's magic bells, dance off the stage, leaving Papageno and Pamina in freedom.^[1]
• Beethoven wrote sets of variations for violoncello and piano for two numbers from the opera. His twelve variations in F major on "Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen" (1796) is catalogued as Op. 66 and his seven variations in E-flat major on "Bei Männern" (1801) is catalogued as WoO 46.
• Guitarist and composer Fernando Sor transcribed "Six Airs from The Magic Flute", Op. 19, for solo guitar around 1820–1821 and wrote his Introduction and Variations on a Theme by Mozart, Op. 9, on the music from act 1 sung by Monostatos and the slaves, or as Sor called it, "O cara armonia".
• The Canadian national anthem, "O Canada", by Calixa Lavallée (1880) has been noticed for its resemblance to the "March of the Priests" that begins the second act.^[2]
• Flautists Jean-Pierre Rampal and Claudi Arimany have recorded duet arrangements from the opera made by Gerhard Braun.^[3]
• Spanish composer Pablo de Sarasate wrote a violin showpiece including many themes from the opera.

Art

• In 1986, the Metropolitan Opera of New York commissioned a poster from Graciela Rodo Boulanger for The Magic Flute.
• Eduardo Paolozzi created a screenprint illustrating the arrival of the Queen of the Night in act 2, Magic Flute II in 1994.

Films

• Papageno (1935), a silhouette animation short film by Lotte Reiniger, loosely based on The Magic Flute^[4]
• Trollflöjten (The Magic Flute) (1975), a filmed production of the opera, sung in Swedish and directed by Ingmar Bergman
• The Magic Flute (1995), a traditional animation film directed by Valeriy Ugarov for the series Operavox, set to a half-hour, English-language version^[5]
• The Magic Flute (2006), the opera sung in English and set against a background inspired by World War I, directed by Kenneth Branagh,^[6] screenplay by Stephen Fry

Books

• Dickinson, G. Lowes's The Magic Flute: A Poetic Fantasy, 1920, reinterprets the story as a parable of civilization after World War I.^[7]
• Updike, John, The Magic Flute, a children's book based on the opera with illustrations by Warren Chappell. A. A. Knopf, 1962.
• Ibbotson, Eva, Magic Flutes (1982), a teen romance period novel, centred around the Viennese opera, and the main performance of The Magic Flute
• Bradley, Marion Zimmer, Night's Daughter, a novel based on The Magic Flute, 1985. It sets the story in an Atlantis-like world with human-animal hybrid creatures. Bradley enthusiastically agrees with Bergman that Sarastro is Pamina's father.
• Russell, P. Craig's The Magic Flute, a graphic novel published in 1990 as part of the author's Library of Operatic Adaptation.
• Trapido, Barbara, Temples of Delight (1990). A novel whttp://www.amazon.com/Magic-Flute-John-Updike/dp/B0007DPK1Ohich, though set in contemporary England, takes its structure very loosely from The Magic Flute. Characters in the novel are analogous to Pamina, Tamino, Papageno and Sarastro although the novel strays heavily from the original plot with the 'Pamina' character ultimately rejecting 'Tamino' in favour of a romantic relationship with 'Sarastro'.
• Dokey, Cameron, Sunlight and Shadow, (part of the Once Upon A Time series), 2004, a retelling of The Magic Flute for teen readers; Dokey's novel also states that Sarastro is Pamina's father.
• Amano, Yoshitaka, Mateki: The Magic Flute (2008), an adaptation of the opera illustrated by himself and retold using classic Japanese elements.

Plays

• Thomas Bernhard's 1972 play, Der Ignorant und der Wahnsinnige (The Ignoramus and the Madman), takes place before, during and after a performance of the opera, at which the prima donna decides to make this, her 222nd performance of the Queen of the Night, her last.^[7]

Adaptations

• In 1995, the pianist Joanna MacGregor made an arrangement of the opera aimed at children aged 7 and above, premiered at the Unicorn Theatre in London. The action was condensed, the orchestral score was rearranged for a chamber music including piano, and the plot updated; Tamino is a journalist (aided by the three boys), Sarastro a millionaire environmentalist, the Queen of the Night a failed rock-star formerly married to Sarastro (Pamina is their daughter), and Papageno the Queen's former roadie. The production has been frequently restaged, including at the Bath International Music Festival in 2012.^[8][9][10]
• Pamina Devi is a 2006 dance adaptation of The Magic Flute by Sophiline Cheam Shapiro, originally directed by Peter Sellars, in the style of Cambodian classical dance. It is not entirely based on the same plot and includes elements foreign to the original.^[11]

References