Mozart's Die Zauberflöte: a Kingdom of Notes and Numbers
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MOZART’S DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE: A KINGDOM OF NOTES AND NUMBERS by Daemon Garafallo A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of The Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts Florida Atlantic University Boca Raton, FL May 2016 Copyright 2016 by Daemon Garafallo ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The author wishes to express his thanks to his committee members for their guidance, especially to his thesis advisor, Dr. Ken Keaton, for helping the author through a difficult time these past few years, and to Dr. Sandra McClain for going above and beyond in her dual role of committee member and academic advisor and for doing an excellent job at both. He also would like to acknowledge Dr. James Cunningham for his help and guidance throughout his degree. iv ABSTRACT Author: Daemon Garafallo Title: Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte: A Kingdom of Notes and Numbers Institution: Florida Atlantic University Thesis Advisor: Dr. Ken Keaton Degree: Master of Arts Year: 2016 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed Die Zauberflöte in the last year of his life. It was intended in part to glorify Freemasonry as a new Emperor, more hostile to the Masons, took his office. After a brief survey of his life and works, this paper shows how Mozart used number symbolism in the opera, and will equip the reader with an understanding of this as practiced by the Freemasons. Further, it will show how Mozart associated the characters of the opera with specific musical tones. It will expose a deeper understanding of the question of meaning in word and text in his opera. v DEDICATION This manuscript is dedicated to Harold Brown, a great teacher and a great friend. Here’s to never stopping trying to find the meaning in music. It is also dedicated to my mother and sister whose support the last few years, among other things, meant finishing this degree. vi MOZART’S DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE: A KINGDOM OF NOTES AND NUMBERS I. INTRODUCTION AND LITERATURE SURVEY ....................................................... 1 II. MOZART’S LIFE .......................................................................................................... 6 Mozart The Prince ................................................................................................... 6 Mozart The Man ................................................................................................... 11 Mozart The Freemason ......................................................................................... 14 The Zoroastran Riddles ......................................................................................... 17 Mozart’s Works .................................................................................................... 18 IV. DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE ................................................................................................ 33 Opera ..................................................................................................................... 33 Background ........................................................................................................... 34 Synopsis ................................................................................................................ 36 Authorship Of The Libretto .................................................................................. 41 The Change Of Plan .............................................................................................. 43 Freemasonry and Women ..................................................................................... 44 V. DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE, MASONIC OPERA ............................................................... 46 Political Allegory .................................................................................................. 51 Fairy Tale .............................................................................................................. 52 Jungian .................................................................................................................. 53 VI. ANALYSIS OF DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE ....................................................................... 56 vii Structure of the Opera ........................................................................................... 59 Characters as Tones .............................................................................................. 63 Visual Representations in Die Zaberflöte ............................................................. 71 VII. NUMBER SYMBOLISM AND DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE ............................................ 78 The Number “One” ............................................................................................... 78 The Number “Two” .............................................................................................. 79 The Number “Three” ............................................................................................ 80 The Number “Four” .............................................................................................. 81 The Number “Five” ............................................................................................... 82 The Number “Six” ................................................................................................ 83 The Number “Seven” ............................................................................................ 84 The Number “Nine” .............................................................................................. 85 The Number “Ten” ............................................................................................... 85 VIII. INTERPRETING THE RESULTS .......................................................................... 87 The Overture ......................................................................................................... 87 A Pattern in the Opera ........................................................................................... 87 The Number Three, Masonic vs. Catholic ............................................................ 89 Papageno as the Great Architect ........................................................................... 90 IX. MOZART’S DEATH ................................................................................................. 93 X. CLOSING .................................................................................................................... 96 XI. APPENDICES ............................................................................................................ 98 APPENDIX A ....................................................................................................... 99 viii APPENDIX B ..................................................................................................... 100 APPENDIX C ..................................................................................................... 101 APPENDIX D ..................................................................................................... 102 APPENDIX E ..................................................................................................... 103 APPENDIX F ...................................................................................................... 104 APPENDIX G ..................................................................................................... 105 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................... 106 ix FIGURES Figure 1. Icosahedron viewed from an apex ..................................................................... 28 Figure 2. The tetraktys, 10 dots arranged in a triangle ..................................................... 29 Figure 3. the section of the score where the three ladies save Tamino from the serpent ............................................................................................................... 65 Figure 4. "No. 3 Aria" showing vii/V chord on the word "love" ...................................... 67 Figure 5. Sarastro's “No. 10 Aria” showing F and BbM7 chords on the names Isis and Osiris .......................................................................................................... 69 Figure 6. “No. 14 Aria” the Queen of the Night's musical description of Sarastro's death .................................................................................................................. 71 Figure 7. Melodic description of the words in Sarastro's "No. 15 Aria" .......................... 73 Figure 8. Melody notes from Sarastro's “No. 15 Aria”, "the seven-fold circle of the sun" ............................................................................................................. 74 Figure 9. Sarastro uses his weapon, "the seven-fold circle of the sun" ............................ 76 Figure 10. The key centers of act 3a plotted on a circle of F-Major scale notes .............. 77 Figure 11. The trinity of the Catholic Church through Mozart's use of flats and sharps of act 1a ................................................................................................ 91 Figure 12. Two-dimensional masculine triangle above three-dimensional feminine pyramid. ........................................................................................................... 92 Figure 13. The opening chords of the overture ............................................................... 100 Figure 14. The key centers from the opening and the notes from "No. 14 Aria" around the notes of