Emanuel Johann Schikaneder, the author of the libretto of _Die
Zauberflöte_ (The Magic Flute), was a wandering theater director, poet,
composer, and play actor. Vain, improvident, shrewd, a bore, he
nevertheless had good qualities that won for him the friendship of
Mozart. In 1791 Schikaneder was the director of the Auf der Wieden, a
little theater where comic operas were performed. He no doubt would have
made a success of his venture, had he curbed his ambition. On the verge
of failure, he made a fairy drama out of _Lulu, or the Enchanted Flute_,
Liebeskind’s story in a collection of fairy tales published by Wieland.
He asked Mozart to write the music for it. Mozart, pleased with the
scenario, accepted the offer and said: “If I do not bring you out of
your trouble, and if the work is not successful, you must not blame me;
for I have never written magic music.” Schikaneder had followed closely
Wieland’s text; but he learned that Marinelli, a rival manager, the
director of the Leopoldstadt Theater, thought of putting upon the stage
a piece with the same subject; so he hurriedly, and with the assistance
of an actor named Gieseke, modified the plot, and substituted for the
evil genius of the play the high priest Sarastro, who appears to be the
custodian of the secrets and the executor of the wishes of the Masonic
order.
Schikaneder knew the ease with which Mozart wrote. He also knew that it
was necessary to keep watch over him, that he might be ready at the
appointed time. Mozart’s wife was then in Baden. Schikaneder therefore
put Mozart in a little pavilion which was in the midst of a garden near
his theater. The music of _The Magic Flute_ was written in this pavilion
and in a room of the casino of Josephdorf. Mozart was deep in doleful
dumps when he began his task, so Schikaneder surrounded him with members
of his company. It was long believed that the composer was then inspired
by the beautiful eyes of the singing woman, Gerl, but the story may rest
on no better foundation than the one of the Mme Hofdaemmel tragedy,
which even Otto Jahn thought worthy of his investigation.
Schikaneder made his proposal early in March, 1791. The overture, with
the Priests’ March, was composed September 28, 1791. On September 30 of
that year _Die Zauberflöte_, a grand opera in two acts, was produced at
the Auf der Wieden Theater.
Schikaneder’s name was in large type on the bill; Mozart’s name was in
small type underneath the cast. Johann Schenk (1753-1836), who made
money and won fame by the popularity of his operas—_Der Dorfbarbier_
(1796) was long a favorite—Schenk gave Beethoven lessons in counterpoint
at Vienna in 1793-94—sat in one of the orchestra seats. At the end of
the overture, he went to Mozart and kissed his hand. Mozart stroked his
admirer’s cheek. But the first act was not well received. Mozart went
behind the scenes and saw Schikaneder in his costume of a bird. He
reassured Mozart, but the opera disappointed the Viennese at first, and
Mozart was cut to the quick. The cool reception was not due to the
character of the subject; for “magic plays” with music of Viennese
composers, as Wenzel Müller, were very popular, and _The Magic Flute_
was regarded as a _Singspiel_, a “magic farce,” with unusually elaborate
music. The report from Vienna that was published in Kunzen and
Reichardt’s music journal, _Studien fur Tonkünstler und Musikfreunde_
(Berlin, 1793, p. 79), tells the story: “The new machine comedy, _The
Magic Flute_, with music by our _Kapellmeister_ Mozard [_sic_], which
was given at great expense and with such sumptuousness, did not meet
with the expected success, for the contents and dialogue of the piece
are utterly worthless.” Schikaneder was obstinate in his faith; the
opera soon became the fashion. The two hundredth representation was
celebrated at Vienna in October, 1795. _The Magic Flute_ made its way
over the continent. The libretto was translated into Dutch, Swedish,
Danish, Polish, Italian. Paris knew the opera in 1801 (August 23) as
_Les Mystères d’Isis_. The first performance in London was on May 25,
1819, in Italian.
Mozart died shortly after the production of _The Magic Flute_, in deep
distress. This opera, with the music of his _Requiem_, was in his mind
until the final delirium. While the opera was performing he would take
his watch from under his pillow and follow the performance in
imagination: “We are now at the end of the act,” or “Now comes the grand
aria for the Queen of Night.” The day before he died, he sang with his
weak voice the opening measures of “Der Vogelfänger bin ich ja,” and
endeavored to beat the time with his hands. The frivolous and audacious
Schikaneder, “sensualist, parasite, spendthrift,” filled his purse by
this opera: in 1798 he built the Theater an der Wien. On the roof he put
his own statue, clothed in the feather costume of Papageno. His luck was
not constant; in 1812 he died in poverty.