History Trivia / TheMagicFlute

* DescendedCreator: Emanuel Schikaneder, the writer of the libretto, wrote the part of Papageno for himself. Since Schikaneder was a musical-comedy performer rather than an opera singer, Mozart kept Papageno's music simple and tailored to a limited range.

* WriteWhoYouKnow: It's common belief that Emanuel Schikaneder, the librettist, wrote Papageno, a cheerful, [[AttentionDeficitOohShiny easily-distracted]] fellow who falls in love with any woman he meets, based directly on either Mozart or himself, whom Mozart personally described almost word for word as Papageno is normally played... and who originated the part on stage.

* DescendedCreator: Emanuel Schikaneder, the writer of the libretto, wrote the part of Papageno for himself. Since Schikaneder was a musical-comedy performer rather than an opera singer, Mozart kept Papageno's music simple and tailored to a limited range, though he still manages to find ways for Papageno to sing with the actual opera singers without getting drowned out.

* WriteWhoYouKnow: It's common belief that Mozart wrote Papageno, a cheerful, [[AttentionDeficitOohShiny easily-distracted]] fellow who falls in love with any woman he meets, based directly on himself.
** Alternately, he was based on Mozart's friend Emanuel Schikaneder the librettist, whom Mozart personally described almost word for word as Papageno is normally played... and who originated the part on stage.

** Alternately, he was based on Mozart's friend Emanuel Schikaneder, whom Mozart personally described almost word for word as Papageno is normally played... and who originated the part on stage.

*** 1990, conducted by Georg Solti: Uwe Heilmann, Ruth Ziesak, Kurt Moll, Sumi Jo, Michael Kraus

* AllStarCast:

*** 1990, conducted by Georg Solti: German tenor Uwe Heilmann as Tamino, German soprano Ruth Ziesak as Pamina, German bass Kurt Moll as Sarastro, Korean soprano Sumi Jo as the Queen of the Night, and Austrian baritone Michael Kraus as Papageno.

*** 1983, conducted by Wolfgang Sawallisch at the Bayerische Staatsoper: Mexican tenor Francisco Araiza as Tamino, Slovak soprano Lucia Popp as Pamina, German bass Kurt Moll as Sarastro, Slovak soprano Edita Gruberová as the Queen of the Night, and German baritone Wolfgang Brendel as Papageno.
*** 2000, conducted by Iván Fischer at the Opéra National de Paris: Polish tenor Piotr Beczala as Tamino, German soprano Dorothea Röschmann as Pamina, Finnish bass Matti Salminen as Sarastro, French soprano Natalie Dessay as the Queen of the Night, and German baritone Detlef Roth as Papageno.
*** 2003, conducted by Colin Davis at the Royal Opera House: German tenor Will Hartmann as Tamino, German soprano Dorothea Röschmann as Pamina (again), German bass Franz-Josef Selig as Sarastro, German soprano Diana Damrau as the Queen of the Night, and British baritone Simon Keenlyside as Papageno.

*** In {{Amadeus}} there's a memorable scene in which Mozart's [[ObnoxiousInLaws mother-in-law-from-Hell]] is telling him off and in the midst of her tirade she turns into the Queen of the Night.
** In a more musical example, Sarastro's vocal lines are quite simple, making the role accessible to a larger number of deep-voiced men, who are something of a minority to begin with. (It isn't known if Mozart wrote this way ''because'' all he had to hand was a bumbling James Earl Jones, but production managers have been thanking him ever since.)

*** In [[Amadeus]] there's a memorable scene in which Mozart's [[mother-in-law-from-Hell]] is telling him off and in the midst of her tirade she turns into the Queen of the Night.

* WordOfDante: The interpretation that Sarastro is Pamina's father is fairly widespread and shows up in many stagings of the opera, particularly when the libretto is translated and the connection can be made more explicit, and so is frequently taken for granted. (In fact, the interpretation only works because the Queen of the Night's lines about Pamina's father are nearly always cut for time.)