at Salzburg.  He was a reckless, dissipated theatre manager, and at the time of the composition of the “Magic Flute” was running a small theatre in Vienna.  The competition of the larger theatres had nearly beggared him, and in the midst of his perplexities he applied to Mozart to write him an opera, and intimated that he had discovered an admirable subject for a fairy composition.  Mozart at first objected; but Schickaneder, like himself, was a Freemason; he had been his companion in dissipation, and exercised a great influence over him.  Mozart at last consented.  A compact was made, and Schickaneder set to work on the libretto.  As he was a popular buffoon, he invented the part of Papageno, the bird-catcher, for himself, and arranged that it should be dressed in a costume of feathers.  It is a trivial part, but Schickaneder intended to tickle the fancy of the public, and succeeded.  The first act was finished, when it was found that the same subject had been chosen by a rival theatre, the Leopold Stadt, which speedily announced the opera of “Kaspar der Fagottist, oder die Zauber-Zither,” by a popular composer, Wenzel Mueller.  The piece had a successful run, and in order to prevent a duplication, Schickaneder reversed the point of his story, and changed the evil magician, who stole the daughter of the Queen of Night, into a great philosopher and friend of man.  It is owing to this change that we have the magnificent character of Sarastro, with its impressive music.

The scene of the opera is laid in Egypt.  Sarastro, the high-priest of Isis, has induced Pamina to leave her mother, Astrifiamenti, the Queen of Night, who represents the spirit of evil, and come to his temple, where she may be trained in the ways of virtue and wisdom.  At the opening of the opera the dark Queen is trying to discover some plan of recovering her daughter and punishing Sarastro.  In the first act appears Tamino, an Egyptian prince, who has lost his way, and is attacked by a huge serpent, from which he is rescued by the three attendants of the Queen.  The latter accosts him, tells him her daughter’s story, and demands that, as the cost of his deliverance, he shall rescue her.  He consents.  She gives him a magic flute, and with his companion Papageno, a rollicking bird-catcher, who is also presented with a magical chime of bells, they set out for Sarastro’s temple.  Papageno arrives there first, and in time to rescue Pamina from the persecutions of Monostatos, a slave, who flies when he beholds Papageno in his feather costume, fancying him the Devil.  They seek to make their escape, but are intercepted.  Tamino also is caught, and all are brought before Sarastro.  The prince consents to become a novitiate in the sacred rites, and to go through the various stages of probation and purification, and Pamina again returns to her duties.  They remain faithful to their vows, and the last ordeal, that of passing through a burning lake up to the altar of the temple, is triumphantly