The Magic Flute Unveiled: Esoteric Symbolism in Mozart's Masonic Opera (Paperback)

~ Jacques Chailley (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

A professor of music history at the Sorbonne reveals the hidden significance of this popular opera, relating it to the esoteric traditions on which it was based, and to Mozart's own Masonic involvement.

Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Inner Traditions (January 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 089281358X
• ISBN-13: 978-0892813582
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #446,508 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A classic study, May 25, 2007

By	John "John" (Iowa, USA) - See all my reviews

Prof. Chailley's examination of one of Mozart's masterpieces is scarcely recent news: the book has been around for decades. It is none the less a seminal work for all of its longevity.

Particularly as an "outsider"--Chailley was not a Freemason--the author writes with clarity, insight, and years of familiarity with his musical subject, and clear understanding of his fraternal one. The result is a book that is both readable and informative. With even-handed thoughtfulness, Chailley provides important information for anyone who wants to understand The Magic Flute--an otherwise enigmatic work.

This is an important book. In fact, it is a landmark of music scholarship. There are, of course, other books and articles dealing with this subject, but none supersedes this one, and some should be consigned to the benighted trash pile of conspiracist ravings.

Chailley's work should be in the library of any serious Mozart student.

While Chailley is more a scholar of music than of esoterica, it should find its way into libraries of students of Freemasonry as well. In fact, it might encourage some Masons to take Mozart a bit more seriously than many do.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Magic Flute dissected, May 27, 2008

By	bayz (Netherlands) - See all my reviews

The tenet of this book is that the Magic Flute is not some fairy tale with farcical elements but a symbolic depiction of the Battle of the Sexes (and the elevation of Woman) in the guise of Tamino's (and Pamina's) initiation rites into the Masonic order.

The book is divided into three parts, the first dealing with the relation between Mozart and Freemasonry in general and the circumstances of the writing of the Magic Flute in particular. The second part details the Masonic beliefs and practices in the Viennese lodges at around 1800, one of which counted Mozart as a member. The third part is a detailed, scene by scene analysis of the entire opera on the basis of the original libretto, both musically as well as theatrically, applying the insights from the first two parts. Since I am a musical illiterate I cannot comment on the musical aspect.

I have a DVD of the opera and it was great fun to compare it with the analysis in the book. From the start there were serious discrepancies. The Magic Flute was not painted gold, Tamino was not an arrowless archer in Japanese dress and the Three Ladies forgot to put on their veils. (Gold is the colour of the Sun, symbol of Male superiority. Tamino without arrows signifies that as an uninitiated he lacks penetrating insights, his Japanese dress indicating he comes from the Orient, where the Sun rises. The veils are a symbol of feminine ignorance, the Ladies' flirtations over an unconscious Tamino representing an inferior kind of love, analogous to Monostatos' lusting after Pamina).

I still remember how flabbergasted I was when I first saw the opera, shocked by what seemed to me its nonsensical story. This book offers an explanation. Whether you accept it or not depends on how convincing the middle part is. Not being a Freemason the author had to reconstruct Masonic beliefs and initiation rites out of independent sources. Nevertheless the book is a stimulating read and I therefore recommend it wholeheartedly.

5.0 out of 5 stars a well researched book, March 26, 2009

By	Robertson Thomas (Hapcheon, Gyeongnam, South Korea) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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The author knows his stuff. He frequently compares passages in the opera with earlier compositions, other compositions by Mozart, and later compositions. He also knows his Freemasonry.

Usually, his musical analysis makes sense, but there were a few points which I was not sure about. He calls the overture both a fugue and a sonata movement. I went through the score of the overture, following his analysis, and I still cannot identify it as either one. On pages 174 and 266, he speaks of twelve chords signifying a clock striking twelve, but I cannot identify those chords.

The author realizes that the libretto for this opera is often maligned, and he hopes to explain it well enough to reverse the reader's opinion. I am not sure he succeeded in my case. At the beginning of the opera, Tamino faints at the sight of a monster, the Three Ladies rescue him from that monster, and the Three Ladies send him on a courageous mission. It seems to me that if there is anyone who should go on a courageous mission, it is the Three Ladies.

It has also seemed strange to me that Tamino's opinion of Sarastro is reversed through a mere statement from one of his priests. After all, what would you expect a follower to say about a leader?

But now that I think about it, I have seen such an incident in real life. I knew a girl whose older sister was taken in by the Moonies. Fearing that her sister had been drugged or hypnotized, the girl went to the Moonie headquarters and screamed and cursed at the person who answered the door. The Moonies put this younger sister through their introductory program, and two days later, she was take in too.

Does this book portray Masonry favorably or unfavorably? The numerical symbolism is interesting, the symbolism of the four elements is interesting, but that does not make up for sexism and racism.