Der Fall "Zauberflöte"

For the first time, the libretto of the 'Magic Flute' is interpreted in a new context with the contemporary and intellectual history of the late 18^th century. In Perl's study, Mozart and his librettist Schikaneder turn out to be committed representatives of a radical late-Enlightenment movement, the ideology of the Illuminati, a secret society with the Viennese organisations of which Mozart maintained a close relationship. Because of rigorous censure, the authors had to disguise the work's message: The 'Magic Flute' became a piece of allegorical theatre in which the acting characters impersonate the two irreconcilable forces of the clergy and the Illuminati. The original stage sets even showed a meeting place of the Society in Salzburg. Thus, this opera in a new perspective constitutes a unique mirror of the political events in the Austria of Emperor Francis Joseph.