"The Magic Flute" An Opera highlighting Enlightenment Philosophy

by frankiespeakin 15 Replies latest watchtower bible

  • frankiespeakin
    frankiespeakin

    Well I think we need a modern Myth and where else to look but the arts. I think Mozart Magic Flute portrays in many ways the asspirations of his time and ours.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Magic_Flute

    Background

    Emanuel Schikaneder, librettist of Die Zauberflöte, shown performing in the role of Papageno. The object on his back is a birdcage; see below.

    The Magic Flute is noted for its prominent Masonic elements; Schikaneder and Mozart were Masons and lodge brothers (see: Mozart and Freemasonry). The opera is also influenced by Enlightenment philosophy, and can be regarded as an allegory advocating enlightened absolutism. The Queen of the Night represents a dangerous form of obscurantism or, according to some, the anti-Masonic Empress Maria Theresa. [ 6 ] Her antagonist Sarastro symbolises the enlightened sovereign who rules according to principles based on reason, wisdom, and nature. The story itself portrays the education of mankind, progressing from chaos through religious superstition to rationalistic enlightenment, by means of trial (Tamino) and error (Papageno), ultimately to make "the Earth a heavenly kingdom, and mortals like the gods". ("Dann ist die Erd' ein Himmelreich, und Sterbliche den Göttern gleich." This couplet is sung in the finales to both acts.)

    The opera was the culmination of a period of increasing involvement by Mozart with Schikaneder's theatrical troupe, which since 1789 had been the resident company at the Theater auf der Wieden. Mozart was a close friend of one of the singer-composers of the troupe, tenor Benedikt Schack (the first Tamino), and had contributed to the compositions of the troupe, which were often collaboratively written. Mozart's participation increased with his contributions to the 1790 collaborative opera Der Stein der Weisen (The Philosopher's Stone), including the duet ("Nun liebes Weibchen", K. 625/592a) and perhaps other passages. Like The Magic Flute, Der Stein der Weisen was a fairy-tale opera and can be considered a kind of precursor; it employed much the same cast in similar roles. [ 7 ]

  • frankiespeakin
    frankiespeakin

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enlightened_absolutism

    Enlightened absolutism

    From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search

    Enlightened absolutism (also called by later historians benevolent despotism or enlightened despotism) is a form of absolute monarchy or despotism in which rulers were influenced by the Enlightenment. Enlightened monarchs embraced the principles of the Enlightenment, especially its emphasis upon rationality, and applied them to their territories. They tended to allow religious toleration, freedom of speech and the press, and the right to hold private property. Most fostered the arts, sciences, and education.

    Voltaire was a prominent Enlightenment philosopher who felt enlightened monarchy was the only real way for society to advance.

    However, historians debate the actual implementation of enlightened absolutism. They distinguish between the "enlightenment" of the ruler personally, versus that of his or her regime. For example, Frederick II, "The Great," of Prussia was tutored in the ideas of the French Enlightenment in his youth, and maintained those ideas in his private life as an adult, but in many ways was unable or unwilling to affect enlightened reforms in practice. [ 3 ] Others rulers like Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, the prime minister of Portugal, used the enlightenment not only to achieve reforms but also to enhance autocracy, crush opposition, suppress criticism, further colonial economic exploitation, and consolidate personal control and profit.

    Enlightened absolutism is the theme of an essay by Frederick the Great defending this system of government. [ 4 ]

    Major nations

    Government responses to the Age of Enlightenment varied widely. In France the government was hostile, and the philosophes fought against its censorship. The British government generally ignored the Enlightenment's leaders.

    However in several nations with powerful rulers—called "enlightened despots" by historians—leaders of the Enlightenment were welcomed at Court and helped design laws and programs to reform the system, typically to build stronger national states. [ 5 ] Frederick the Great--who ruled Prussia 1740-1786, was an enthusiast for French ideas (he ridiculed German culture and was unaware of the remarkable advances it was undergoing). Voltaire, who had been imprisoned and maltreated by the French government, was eager to accept Frederick's invitation to live at his palace. Frederick explained, "My principal occupation is to combat ignorance and prejudice ... to enlighten minds, cultivate morality, and to make people as happy as it suits human nature, and as the means at my disposal permit." [ 6 ] Charles III, king of Spain from 1759 to 1788, tried to rescue his empire from decay through far-reaching reforms such as weakening the Church and its monasteries, promoting science and university research, facilitating trade and commerce, modernizing agriculture and avoiding wars. Spain relapsed after his death. [ 7 ] Empress Catherine the Great, who ruled Russia 1762-1796 was enthusiastic. Emperor Joseph II, ruler of Austria 1780-1790, was over-enthusiastic, announcing so many reforms that had so little support that revolts broke out and his regime became a comedy of errors. [ 8 ] Senior ministers Pombal in Portugal and Struensee in Denmark governed according to Enlightenment ideals.

    [edit] Rulers associated with enlightened absolutism

  • frankiespeakin
    frankiespeakin

    http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/1923259

    Theoretically, an "Enlightened Despot" is a political figure who possesses absolute power but uses this power solely for the benefit of those over whom he rules.

    Origins

    The idea of the enlightened despot in Western society comes originally from Plato's "Republic," where the Greek philosopher outlines his view of the perfect state as one ruled with absolute power by "Philosopher-Kings."

    The Enlightenment

    European history went through a phase of "enlightened despotism" in which the ideas of the enlightenment about social progress were carried out through reforms pushed forward by absolute rulers. This is also the time in which the phrase "enlightened despot" itself was first used.

    Claims and Reality

    While absolute rulers from the Roman Emperors to Adolf Hitler have all claimed to be benevolent or enlightened despots, most modern scholars would counter that most of them have really used their power solely to benefit themselves.

    Democracy

    The political opposite of the "enlightened despot" is democracy, which claims that giving any one person absolute power is far too dangerous and that people should always have some sort of control over the actions of their government.

    Examples

    There is a great deal of debate over who may actually be considered a true example of an enlightened despot. However, some of the most commonly mentioned are Akbar the Great of India and Joseph II of Austria.

    Source:

    Plato's Ethics and Politics in "The Republic"

  • Azazel
    Azazel

    Apart from all that , this is my favourite Operetta by Mozart . Great start for any who think Opera is a bit too heavy.

  • frankiespeakin
    frankiespeakin

    Azazel,

    My favorite part is in Pop, pop, pop duet near the end.

  • frankiespeakin
    frankiespeakin

    http://books.google.com/books?id=b3ddWSxmi9cC&pg=PA417&lpg=PA417&dq=plato+enlightened+despot&source=bl&ots=fIF9FAOrzc&sig=xQkgXM6uruDr1cJbbbtxnyqK3PI&hl=en&sa=X&ei=gn4ET6ndKIzKiQL01qD5Cg&ved=0CEgQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=plato%20enlightened%20despot&f=false

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voltaire

    Voltaire

    From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search For other uses, see Voltaire (disambiguation).

    François-Marie Arouet
    Voltaire

    Voltaire at 24, by Catherine Lusurier after Nicolas de Largillière 's painting
    Born21 November 1694
    Paris, France
    Died30 May 1778 ( 1778-05-30 ) (aged 83)
    Paris, France
    Pen nameVoltaire
    OccupationWriter, philosopher, playwright
    NationalityFrench

    Influences[show]

    Influenced[show]

    François-Marie Arouet ( French pronunciation: [f??~.swa ma.?i a?.w?] ; 21 November 1694 – 30 May 1778), better known by the pen nameVoltaire ( pronounced: [v?l.t???] ), was a French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher famous for his wit and for his advocacy of civil liberties, including freedom of religion, free trade and separation of church and state. Voltaire was a prolific writer, producing works in almost every literary form, including plays, poetry, novels, essays, and historical and scientific works. He wrote more than 20,000 letters and more than 2,000 books and pamphlets. He was an outspoken supporter of social reform, despite strict censorship laws with harsh penalties for those who broke them. As a satirical polemicist, he frequently made use of his works to criticize intolerance, religious dogma and the French institutions of his day.

    Voltaire was one of several Enlightenment figures (along with Montesquieu, John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Émilie du Châtelet ) whose works and ideas influenced important thinkers of

    Philosophy

    [edit] Religion

    Voltaire at 70. Engraving from 1843 edition of his Philosophical Dictionary.

    Voltaire did not believe that any single religious text or tradition of revelation was needed to believe in God. Voltaire's focus was rather on the idea of universal laws, demonstratable, and in the main, still waiting to be discovered in the physical world as well as those of the moral world, underlying every religious system, along with respect for nature reflecting the contemporary pantheism.

    Like other key thinkers during the European Enlightenment, Voltaire considered himself a deist, expressing the idea: "What is faith? Is it to believe that which is evident? No. It is perfectly evident to my mind that there exists a necessary, eternal, supreme, and intelligent being. This is no matter of faith, but of reason." [ 25 ] [ 26 ]

    As for religious texts, Voltaire's opinion of the Bible was mixed. Although influenced by Socinian works such as the Bibliotheca Fratrum Polonorum, Voltaire's skeptical attitude to the Bible separated him from Unitarian theologians like Fausto Sozzini or even Biblical-political writers like John Locke. [ 27 ]

    This did not hinder his religious practice, though it did win for him a bad reputation in certain religious circles. The deeply Catholic Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote to his father the year of Voltaire's death, saying, "The arch-scoundrel Voltaire has finally kicked the bucket...." [ 28 ]

    Evolving views of Islam and its prophet, Muhammad, can be found in Voltaire's writings. In a letter recommending his play Fanaticism, or Mahomet to Pope Benedict XIV, Voltaire described the founder of Islam as "the founder of a false and barbarous sect" and "a false prophet", [ 29 ] a view he later revised upon further research for his Essai sur les Moeurs et l'Esprit des Nations. [ 30 ]

    There is an apocryphal story that his home at Ferney was purchased by the Geneva Bible Society and used for printing Bibles, [ 31 ] but this appears to be due to a misunderstanding of the 1849 annual report of the American Bible Society. [ 32 ] Voltaire's chateau is now owned and administered by the French Ministry of Culture.

    In the Scottish Enlightenment the Scots began developing a uniquely practical branch of humanism to the extent that Voltaire said "We look to Scotland for all our ideas of civilisation". [ 33 ] [ 34 ]

    In a letter to Frederick II, King of Prussia, dated 5 January 1767 he wrote about Christianity :

    La nôtre [religion] est sans contredit la plus ridicule, la plus absurde, et la plus sanguinaire qui ait jamais infecté le monde. [ 35 ]
    (Ours [religion] is without a doubt the most ridiculous, the most absurd, and the most bloody to ever infect the world.)

    [edit] Religious tolerance

    In a 1763 essay, Voltaire supported the toleration of other religions and ethnicities: "It does not require great art, or magnificently trained eloquence, to prove that Christians should tolerate each other. I, however, am going further: I say that we should regard all men as our brothers. What? The Turk my brother? The Chinaman my brother? The Jew? The Siam? Yes, without doubt; are we not all children of the same father and creatures of the same God?" [ 36 ]

    [edit] Race and slavery

    Voltaire rejected the Christian Adam and Eve story and was a polygenist who speculated that each race had separate origins. [ 37 ] Like other philosophes, such as Buffon, he divided humanity into varieties or races and attempted to explain the differences between these races. Voltaire took this position primarily to defy Christianity [citation needed] and biblical monogenism. He wondered if blacks fully shared in the common humanity or intelligence of whites due to their participation in the slave trade. [ 38 ] [ 39 ]

    His most famous remark on slavery is found in "Candide", where the hero is horrified to learn 'at what price we eat sugar in Europe'. Elsewhere, he wrote caustically about "whites and Christians [who] proceed to purchase negroes cheaply, in order to sell them dear in America". [ 40 ] [ 41 ]

    [edit] Anti-semitism

    According to the rabbi Joseph Telushkin the most significant of Enlightenment hostility against Judaism was found in Voltaire, [ 42 ] although claims to the contrary have been made that his remarks were in fact anti-Biblical, not anti-semitic. [ 43 ] Thirty of the 118 articles in his Dictionnaire Philosophique dealt with Jews and described them in consistently negative ways, [ 44 ] although this analysis overlooks the fact that he had already defended the Jews as more tolerant than the Christians in his "Treatise On Toleration" the previous year and issued "Le Sermon du rabbin Akib", a text attacking anti-semitism, three years before that.

  • Band on the Run
    Band on the Run

    Did you major in political theory or science? I read Voltaire for poli sci. and French. When I see the Magic Flute, I have great difficulty figuring out what is going on. Perhaps I should buy a libretto. Maybe this thread will help me understand what is happening in the future. Candide - loved it.

  • DagothUr
    DagothUr

    It seems Mozart wrote the Queen of the Night Aria for his sister-in-law, who was an accomplished soprano.

  • frankiespeakin
    frankiespeakin

    BotR,

    No I didn't it is just something I find interesting. I do have the feeling that the human species is evolving in intelligence,, and altruism, rationalism must also keep pace with intelligence or else we are doomed. I do feel we are much more gregorious and less prone to violence than primitive man so it seems that's the way our DNA is going, but we do have to play a lot of catch up ball with our psychie if we hope not go extinct in the near future.

  • Azazel
    Azazel

    The Magic Flute is steeped in Masonic symbology and rites and it was always a bit spooky. But its such a good tale. BoR borrow a libretto from your local library and have a read ,its quite an interesting story.

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