Paige Salyn

Paper Proposal and Peer review

Music History 1: Compositions, Cultures, and Connections (Mus 156)

Dr. Amanda Lalonde

Due: March 18th, 2023 at 12:00 p.m.

Final Due Date: March 29, 2023

 1

The tense hum of strings fills the air. A dark set stage is placed before the audience. A

mother approaches her daughter. But this scene is far from innocent. As the mother begins to

sing, a much more sinister plan is brought to light. The daughter speechless stares in horror as

her mother pushes her to commit a murder. This scene is taken from Mozart’s: The Magic

Flute “Queen of the Night aria”. Which was first performed in Vienna, Italy in 1791.1 This

German opera draws upon the constant battle between good and evil. Mozart uses different

characters throughout this opera to help draw out this theme.

In this essay I will be displaying how Mozart portrayed different themes throughout

characters from his opera “The Magic Flute”. First I will discuss how Mozart uses the Queen

of the night to portray evil through dialogue, music, and actions. Secondly I will examine

how Mozart uses Sarastro as a representation of good throughout the opera. Lastly I will

discuss the overarching theme of the never ending battle of good and evil, and his discussion

of human nature, as displayed through multiple characters throughout the opera.

What does evil really mean? The definition of evil in accordance with the Oxford Dictionary

is to be profoundly immoral and wicked. This can then lead to the idea of being evil to be

totally subjective, as every person has a different perspective as to what is and what is not

immoral. As for Mozart’s ideas of evil we can take a deeper dive into the character The

Queen of the Night. “The Queen of the Night, is motivated - in a Iago-like manner - by an

appetite for power and an obsession with vengeance.”2 Her wickedness and immortality is

displayed not only from her actions and dialogue but from the music as well. When analysing

The Queen of the Nights’ aria strings can be heard, though they are not loud in volume the
1
Priscilla Stuckey, "Light Dispels Darkness: Gender, Ritual, and Society in Mozart’s ‘The Magic
Flute.," Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion 11, no. 1
(1995):5-39.http://www.jstor.org/stable/25002242
2
Jane Camp-Perry, “Evil in the Magic Flute,” Studies in the Eighteenth Century Culture, vol.
14 (1985): 81
 2

strings are very intense. This evokes a feeling of suspense before wind instruments (Oboe,

Flute, cornet, and trombone) and bass instruments ( double bass and cello) quickly chime in,

in a loud chord signifying the Queen of the Night to start singing. Throughout the aria, when

looking at the score in measures 138-139 in the instrumental part there is almost an imitation

and voice crossing between the vocals and instruments.3 Within this aria the queen

approaches her daughter with the intentions of ‘convincing’ her daughter to aid her in

murdering the innocent Saraestro. The daughter refuses which results in the queen becoming

outraged. She harshly grabs and forces a knife into her daughters hand. As this happens The

music becomes louder and more sporadic helping to convey the inner workings of the

Queen's mind. Overall the music has a very short and dramatic style to it. Really helping to

portray the Queen's evil intent. Even when looking at this character’s name “The Queen of

the Night” Mozart deliberately placed this character as a ruler of darkness which one can

argue is a common symbol for darkness. Willam Gibbons also writes about how the queen is

portrayed slightly different between translations of the opera focusing particularly on the

French Translations verses the original German. “Compare, for instance, the original German

text of the Queen of the Night's celebrated aria “Der Hölle Rache” to the Nuitter/Beaumont

edition (fig. 1). Although the music for both versions is the same, here the Queen's majestic

and violent rage over her daughter's betrayal is transformed into the banal machinations of a

jealous rival, substantially diluting the effect of Mozart's score.”4

3
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Die Zauberflöte: Act II, no. 14: Aria 'Der Hölle Rache Kocht
in Meinem Herzen'Breitkopf and Härtel. (Alexander Street, 1907), 138-142.
https://search.alexanderstreet.com/view/work/bibliographic_entity%7Cscore_movement%7C
461362
4
Gibbons, William. "(De)Translating Mozart: The Magic Flute in 1909 Paris." The Opera
Quarterly 28, no. 1 (2012):
37-53.https://primo-pmtna02.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/f/fbi72i/TN_cdi_proquest_
journals_1220653239
 3

The definition of good in accordance with the Oxford dictionary is “that which is

morally right; righteous”. When looking at the character of Sarastro he fits this mould like a

glove. Mozart has many sacred references tied to Sarastro. He is the gentle and wise character

that provides comfort and wisdom to others. In “Sarastro’s Second aria” from Mozarts: The

Magic Flute, Saraestro can be seen comforting the Queen of the Night’s daughter Pamina.

Traits of righteousness can be observed in his first few lines in the aria where he states “In

diesen heil’gen Hallen, kennt man die Rache nicht. Und ist ein Mensch gefallen, führt Liebe

ihn zur Pflicht.” Which translates to “In these holy halls, you don't know the revenge. And if

a person has fallen, love leads him to duty.”5 Sarastro is a high priest and rival of the Queen

of the Night. Mozart makes their roles very clear through the music accompanying each

character, as well as their actions and attributes. In this aria the music accompanying the

Sarastro’s vocals is very soft and consonant. The music evokes a feeling of floating. It also

sounds very similar to many sacred hymns with the use of arpeggios in the bass line and a

simple melodic line and simple metre. Throughout the entire play Sarastro pushes many

characters to follow and fulfil their Sacred duties Mozart really hones in on this idea in

Sarastros “O isis und Osiris”. When listening to Sarastro almost all of the music

accompanying him sounds like a melody that would play when a king is entering a building.

Because of this it can be inferred that Mozart is using Saraestro as a symbol for God. In

reference to the Bible God is referred to as king many times for example from the book of 1

Timothy chapter six verse fifteen it states “When God will bring about his own time — God,

the blessed and only ruler, The King of kings and Lord of Lords.” One could argue that God

would be the ultimate example of good. As from a biblical standpoint he is faultless he is

kind and possesses no wickedness in his being.

5
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Die Zauberflöte: Act II, no. 14: Aria 'Der Hölle Rache Kocht in
Meinem Herzen'Breitkopf and Härtel. (Alexander Street, 1907), 140.
https://search.alexanderstreet.com/view/work/bibliographic_entity%7Cscore_movement%7C461362
 4

As we look at Mozart’s: The Magic Flute. It can be seen how he really hones into the

idea of light battling darkness. Mozart displays his idea of what evil is through the Queen of

the Night. He then portrays his view of what is good through Sarastro. But when analysing

Mozart’s opera at the very core it has a very ‘modern’ way of conveying his religious beliefs.

This rivalry between the Queen of the night and Saraestro is like the battle between heaven

and hell and whether people choose to side with God or not. The Queen of the night

representing Satan tries to tempt Pamina and entices her to join her side. A side that favours

revenge, power, and wickness. She tries to force Pamina into murdering Sarastro. This would

symbolise people walking away from God. Sarastro would then represent God. He doesn’t try

to force or convince Pamina to join his side; he simply waits for Pamina to come to him. His

side favours; love, kindness, patience. In the end of the opera Pamina and her love interest

both decide to join Sarastro’s side and the Queen of the night and her followers are

vanquished. Mozart very strongly ties this opera to biblical beliefs.

But more than just religious subjects he also displays aspects of human nature.

Pamina represents a human being. He displays how we’re always in a constant battle within

ourselves. “As Aristotle terms it— is the shift from ignorance to knowledge, and involves the

protagonist (and the audience) in a powerful reversal of former understanding.”6 THis idea

really brings to light how Mozart uses the audience different perspectives to his advantage;

portraying the characters in a very different light in the first act to showing their true colours

in the second. Mozart demonstrates the thin line between good and evil. And how much of

human kind finds themselves constantly being pushed and pulled between good and evil. In

the article “Layers of Meaning in ‘The Magic Flute,’” The author states “ many people are

6
Waldoff, Jessica. “The Music of Recognition: Operatic Englightenment in ‘The Magic
Flute.’” Music & Letters 75, no. 2 (1994): 214–35. http://www.jstor.org/stable/737677.
 5

still confused by the general complexity of the story and in particular by the fact that for most

of act one the Queen of the night appears to be good and Sarastro bad, while in act two the

reverse is true.”7 Mozart uses these characters as a contrast to help portray to the audience

just how quick we as onlookers can be to judge another’s character. While at first Sarastro

seemed to be the bad guy it is quickly brought to light the opposite is true. We as a society are

so quick to make assumptions about people based solely on the small window we’ve looked

through, instead of taking a step back to see the entire picture. At the core of our beings our

instinct is to be selfish and only care for ourselves, we lack discipline, we lack compassion,

and empathy. All of this is represented by the Queen of the night.This also brings into focus

how humans are also moral beings and being such, we have the authority to control our own

decisions. We desire to stretch beyond and overcome our own “Human condition” or

“Instincts”. “Tamino and Pamina, who are worthy and capable of a quest for different levels

of experience, live in a world of serpents, evil, queens and lusting villains . But the most

significant challenge is to try and send the ordinary human condition.”8 In general Mozart

believes that good always overcomes evil.9 Think of it like this, when in a dark room, a

flashlight is turned on. What happens? Darkness scatters away and light reveals what was

hidden. There is no such thing as a dark light. Darkness will always give way to light.

7
Godwin, Joscelyn. “Layers of Meaning in ‘The Magic Flute.’” The Musical Quarterly 65,
no. 4 (1979): 472 https://www.jstor.org/stable/741568

8
Gill, Russell B. “Romance as Performance: The Case of ‘The Magic Flute.’” International
Review of the Aesthetics and Sociology of Music 42, no. 2 (2011): 257–66.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/41337860.
9
Waldoff, Jessica. “The Music of Recognition: Operatic Englightenment in ‘The Magic
Flute.’” Music & Letters 75, no. 2 (1994): 214–35. http://www.jstor.org/stable/737677.
 6

Mozart’s work throughout The Magic Flute brings many aspects of human nature into

question. It is thought evoking and as Aristotle said we are brought to a powerful reversal of

former understanding.10 Music can be described by some people as an auditory representation

of human emotion. “Music holds the secret of the transforming even the cheap fancies of the

vulgarest imagination into concepts of noble grace and individual genius.”11 The music from

the magic flute helps to bring out the true nature of both characters, The Queen of the night

and the holy man Sarastro. Good and evil these concepts as discussed in this paper are hard to

clearly define. Each person has a different perspective on what is good and what isn’t. One

person's good is another’s evil. The Queen of the Night by Mozart’s standards is an evil entity

full of hate, jealousy, and hunger for power. While Sarastro is good and full of kindness and

empathy. But Sarastro wasn’t always this way. In the first act the audience couldn’t clearly

discern who was the “hero” and who was the “Villian”. The line between good and evil is so

thin one can find themselves switching between the two without even realising it.

10
Waldoff, Jessica. “The Music of Recognition: Operatic Englightenment in ‘The Magic
Flute.’” Music & Letters 75, no. 2 (1994): 214–35. http://www.jstor.org/stable/737677.
11
Spaethling, Robert. “Folklore and Enlightenment in the Libretto of Mozart’s Magic Flute.”
Eighteenth-Century Studies 9, no. 1 (1975): 45–68. https://doi.org/10.2307/2737659.
 7

Queen Of the Night Aria

 8

Sarastro’s Second Aria

 9

Works Cited List

- Gibbons, William. "(De)Translating Mozart: The Magic Flute in 1909 Paris." The

Opera Quarterly 28, no. 1 (2012):

37-53.https://primo-pmtna02.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/f/fbi72i/TN_cdi_pr

oquest_journals_1220653239

- Godwin, Joscelyn. “Layers of Meaning in ‘The Magic Flute.’” The Musical Quarterly

65, no. 4 (1979): 471–92. https://www.jstor.org/stable/741568

- Waldoff, Jessica. “The Music of Recognition: Operatic Englightenment in ‘The Magic

Flute.’” Music & Letters 75, no. 2 (1994): 214–35.

http://www.jstor.org/stable/737677.

- Gill, Russell B. “Romance as Performance: The Case of ‘The Magic Flute.’”

International Review of the Aesthetics and Sociology of Music 42, no. 2 (2011):

257–66. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41337860.

- Stuckey, Priscilla. “Light Dispels Darkness: Gender, Ritual, and Society in Mozart’s

‘The Magic Flute.’” Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion 11, no. 1 (1995): 5–39.

http://www.jstor.org/stable/25002242.

- Camp-Perry, Jane. “Evil in the Magic Flute.” Studies in Eighteenth-Century Culture

Vol. 14, (1985): 79-91. Doi. https://muse-jhu-edu.cyber.usask.ca/article/789156/pdf

- Spaethling, Robert. “Folklore and Enlightenment in the Libretto of Mozart’s Magic

Flute.” Eighteenth-Century Studies 9, no. 1 (1975): 45–68.

https://doi.org/10.2307/2737659.

- Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus. Die Zauberflöte: Act II, no. 14: Aria 'Der Hölle Rache

Kocht in Meinem Herzen'Breitkopf and Härtel. Alexander Street, 1907.

https://search.alexanderstreet.com/view/work/bibliographic_entity%7Cscore_moveme

nt%7C461362
10