Volume 53, Number 1 · January 12, 2006
Mozart's Magic Marriage
By Joseph Kerman
It is hard to experience or even think about Mozart's The Magic Flute without a sense of wonder at how much it differs from all his other operas, ranging from The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, and Così fan tutte, the opera of choice today, to less frequently performed works such as I domeneo, The Abduction from the Seraglio, and La clemenza di Tito. Kierkegaard saw the 'magic marriage' between Mozart's genius and his subject matter in Don Giovanni; but I would argue that Mozart's supreme dramatic work is to be found not in that fire-and-brimstone morality play but in the Masonic fable of his final year, 1791. As I wrote some time ago:
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