Database for Diveristy and Inclusion in German Studies: Cultivating DIB in and beyond the canon

Decolonizing Die Zauberflöte

The meaning and politics of Wolfgang Amadé Mozart’s (1756–1791) final opera, Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute), with a libretto by Emmanuel Schikaneder (1751–1812), has continuously been the subject of scholar debate. Where scholars frequently argue that the Singspiel does nothing more than reproduce the reigning prejudices against women and Black people, more recently, others have begun to demonstrate through careful reading and research the ways in which the Mozart and Schikaneder might in fact be criticizing contradictions in the Enlightenment postulate of universalism and the lived realities of exploited groups. Without a doubt, some of the more stereotypical motifs in Die Zauberflöte, which portrays the development of the boy Tamino into a rational moral agent and his unification with the wise Pamina, may offend contemporary interpreters. This may particularly be the case with the villainization of figures of the Queen of the Night, her three ladies, and the slave Monostatos, which seems to depend on sexist and racist stereotypes. Yet if the text and music of the Singspiel are analyzed not only from the perspective of the present day, but also with careful attention to the social, political, and philosophical discourses of the eighteenth century, the political tendencies of the work may become clearer. Of note, for example, would be the fact that German intellectuals were engaged in the debates about abolition going on in England through German translations and reviews, and also took time to voice their support (or rejection) of abolitionist principles themselves. Right around the time of the composition of Die Zauberflöte, for example, several articles explicitly criticizing the institution of slavery appeared in the literary journal Allgemeine-Deutsche Literatur-Zeitung. These responses also coincided with the appearance on German stages of abolitionist dramas, including pieces by Gutzkow and other dramatists. There would thus seem to be good reason for scholars to take time to dedicate careful attention to the complicated landscape in which Die Zauberflöte emerged in order to better evaluate Mozart and Schikaneder’s representations of gender and race.

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