Mozart,Wolfgang A._ The Queen of the Night Aria from the Magic Flute K. 620 for trumpet and piano

Mozart, Wolfgang A.
The Queen of the Night Aria from the Magic Flute K. 620
for trumpet and piano
edited & arranged by Wolfgang G. Haas

Mozart’s opera Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute) was first performed in the Theater auf der Weiden in Vienna on 30 September 1891, only a few weeks before the composer’s death on 5 December. The libretto (by theater director Emanuel Schikaneder) unites heterogeneous elements otherwise to be found in the popular theatre of the day, such as fairy tales, singspiel, exotic stories, and freemasonry. Because of – or despite – these diverse elements, the work is not only successful as a theater piece, but also contains philosophical and religious qualities that make of it a unique masterpiece. It is known that Goethe attempted to write a sequel to it, and Beethoven quoted from it in his own opera Fidelio.

The Magic Flute seems to have been completed by July 1791, except for the overture and a few arias. From then until the end of September Mozart worked on other compositions such as the Clarinet Quintet K. 581 (finished on 29 September), the opera La clemenza di Tito K. 621 (written in a few weeks – perhaps only 18 days – for the coronation of Leopold II and first performed on 6 September in Prague), and the Requiem K. 626 (unfinished).