Life of Mozart

—348" DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE."direction. It must not, however, be forgotten that instrumentalcolouring is always to Mozart one means amongmany of interpreting his artistic idea, and never aspires tobe its sole exponent, or to overshadow it altogether.That which gives the "Zauberflöte" its peculiar positionand importance among Mozart's operas is the fact that in itfor the first time all the resources of cultivated art werebrought to bear with the freedom of genius upon a genuinelyGerman opera.^^ In his Italian operas he had adopted thetraditions of a long period of development, and by virtue ofhis original genius had, as it were, brought them to a climaxand a conclusion ; in the "Zauberflöte" he stepped acrossthe threshold of the future, and unlocked the sanctuary ofnational art for his countrymen. And they understood him ;the " Zauberflöte " sank directly and deeply into the heartsof the German people, and to this day it holds its placethere. The influence which it has exerted in the formationof German music can be disregarded by no one who has aneye for the development of art.Evidence of the rapid popularity of the " Zauberflöte" isafforded by the imitations of it which were produced at thetheatres Auf der Wieden and Leopoldstadt :Everything is turned to magic at these theatres ; we have the magicflute, the magic ring, the magic arrow, the magic mirror, the magiccrown, and many other wretched magic affairs. Words and music areequally contemptible (except the "Zauberflöte"), so that one knows notwhether to award the palm of silliness to the poet or the composer.Added to this, these miserable productions are still more miserablyperformed.Schikaneder's opera, " Babylons Pyramiden," the firstact composed by Gallus, the second by Winter, first producedOctober 23, 1797, bore a striking resemblance to theS8Beethoven, according to Seyfried (Beethoven's Studien, Anhang, p. 21),declared the " Zauberflöte " to be Mozart's greatest work, for in it he firstshows himself as a German composer. Schindler adds (Biogr., II., pp. 164,322) that he thought so highly of it because it contained every species of song,.even to the chorale and the fugue. If we reflect that this praise from Beethovencan only refer to the intellectual power which succeeded in combining the mostvaried forms into an artistic whole, born of one conception, we shall be convincedhow deep was his appreciation of that power.'" Berl. Mus. Ztg., 1793, p. 142.