Life of Mozart

, The—32Ö"die zauberflöte.turn of thought, breaking off the threads and joining themagain without any connected flow of melody. The wholepiece is a well-constructed cantilene, formed from separatesymmetrical phrases, and recurring at the close with thewords, " und ewig wäre sie dann mein," to the same melodywhich followed the first exclamation with " mein Herz mitneuer Regung füllt."Stormy passion and fierce longing are the proper accompanimentsto all youthful love, and the moderation withwhich Tamino keeps them in check gives at once the keynoteto his character. His enthusiasm for an ideal, and hisnoble and intelligent mind, are opened to us in the finerecitative, and the calmer expression of love which followscompletes the picture of character.Benedict Schack, the original Tamino (b. 1758) was bothmusically and intellectually a cultivated man. He was agood flautist, and composed several operas for Schikaneder'scompany, which he joined as a vocalist in 1784. He hadbecome very intimate with Mozart in Vienna. When thelatter called for him, as he often did, to take a walk, he used,vv^hile Schack was dressing, to seat himself at his writing-tableand compose little bits of the opera which lay there, Schackwas equally famed for his flexible and metallically pure tenorvoice and his artistic and refined execution, but he was avery inferior actor.^"As the piece proceeds the love intrigue takes a peculiartone from its association with the mysteries and with theordeals belonging to them.Many allusions are made to thedignity of marriage as the consummation of righteous love,and this is apparently the sense intended to be conveyed bythe oft-quoted ludicrous doggerel :Ihr (der Liebe) Zweck zeigt deutlich an,Nichts edlers sei als Weib und Mann;Mann und Weib, und Weib und Mann,Reichen an die Götter an.main points, how Tamino is to win Pamina by his^ Lipowsky, Baier. Musik-Lex., p. 297. A. M. Z., XXIX., p. 51g. Meyer,L. Schröder, II. ; I., p. 85.