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by Guy Shaked
Keywords: Amadeus, The Magic Flute, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Papageno, Antonio Salieri, Emanuel Schikaneder, Shaked, Die Zauberflote
The rumors that Antonio Salieri poisoned Mozart served as plots to several major artistic creations. Most recently, in 1984 they formed the plot of Milos Forman's film "Amadeus".
However, until now, no one was able to demonstrate that Salieri had any special reason to want to poison Mozart at the late months of the year 1791 as the rumors had suggested. The only thing that was shown is that perhaps some measure of artistic competition and animosity existed between the two Viennese composers over the years [1]. However, This study is the first, to show that in Mozart's opera "The Magic Flute" the main comic figure of Papageno is a complex figure that could be understood as having several layers of meaning - one of them is a sharp parody of court composers in general, and Antionio Salieri (the main Viennese court composer at that time) in particular. Such a parody could have provoked hate on behalf of Salieri (who attended the opera only a few weeks prior to Mozart's death) [2]. Giving Salieri a reason to bitterly resent Mozart as an enemy at his visit to Mozart, a day before the later died.
The first interpretation of the figure of Papageno is the literal one. According to it, Papageno is a sly hunter, using music to imitate the voice of birds in order to deceive them and thus catch them. It could be that these imitations are of birds' mating calls as this might be suggested from Papageno words that his main goal is to find a wife. He indeed catches a wife in ninth scene of the second act, which ends in his duet with Papagena, as they decide to raise a huge family. It seems that besides getting a wife in the play, Papageno also got some of the best music in this opera.
While Papageno's method of hunting sounds a bit fantastic to us it has historical roots and was at that time a valid practice. As Vincenzo Galilei's "Dialogo" reveals in 1581 [3] that "we see all the time when birds are captured by means of the pan-pipes of the sly bird catcher". It is this practice that is most likely depicted in this opera.
On the second level of meaning Papageno signifies what his name hints. His name demands interpretation, for it is a unique and invented name and not a real existing one of a human or similar to any real human name. So, Papageno seems to be a composite name in Italian composed of papagalo (parrot) and genio (genius, smart) or genere (type). The meaning resulting from the composite is therefore: "a smart type of parrot".
This interpretation is in accordance to the Papageno's characteristics in the opera. As, like a parrot he repeats the sounds of other birds. Also in his duet with Papagena (not a real human name but merely a female equivalent of his name), they repeat each other's phrases, some of them composed of senseless syllables (pa-pa-pa…) composed from their name's initials like birds utter and not humans. As this happens in the garden, they seem more like two amorous dueting parrots than human figures.
Yet, Papageno has another layer of meaning - for in the opera he functions as a court musician of sorts - imitating the voices of nature at the time of the hunt. Mozart and Schikaneder were at that time "commercial" compoesers and not court ones and they may have ridiculed therefor the image of the court composer (Salieri was the main court composer at that time in Vienna) as a client-servant of the court. Salieri at this year of 1791, fits the image of Papageno the composer of "hunting music" almost perfectly, as his opera "La cifra" includes a hunting scene for the nobles entertainment complete with imitation of hunters' horn as a musical hunting tool (like is Papageno panpipes).
Papageno eagerness expressed in his words that he would rather catch a wife than birds might again be a parody of Salieri somewhat hurried wedding. As Salieri was also quite eager for marriage that his courtship and marriage of Therese Helferstrorfer had taken place very shortly (only eight months) after his master (whom he called his second father) Gassmann died. In fact, his courtship was taking place the very month that Gassmann died (January 1774). When Salieri told Mosel about his marriage he misdates his marriage to a year later (1775) perhaps because he felt uneasy that his courtship and marriage took place so close to Gassmann's death [4]. Thus it could be concluded that Papageno's depiction as eager to marry fit Salieri's history in the field perfectly.
The "Papageno-Papagena"duet at the penultimate scene of the opera ridicules Papageno's parrot like method of composition and therefor allegorically Salieri's. For his love duet with his parrot like wife sounds like two parrots in love stuttering and expressing senseless utterances and their own names. They imitate unsuccessfully each other's sound and thus a beautiful melody is created. The fact that Mozart's Papageno's (Salieri's) whistles are far more beautiful than what ever Salieri indeed wrote must have created further humiliation for him as his music as Mozart's parrot was better than his own.
Amnon and the Camel's Walk from the Opera Amnon
The Feast from the Opera Amnon
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[1] John A. Rice, Antonio Salieri and Viennese Opera, Chicago: Uni. of Chicago Press, 1998: 461-464, 474-475
[2] Salieri, perhaps did not understand immediately the arrows meant for him by the figure of Papageno. It is also possible that he did not want to show his humiliation in public (accepting that he is an allegorical figure to Papageno and therefore admitting he understood the insults in the opera and also saw similarity between Papageno and himself). For Salieri did not display any sign of resentment or humiliation. Together with Cavalieri he hailed the opera with "bravos" and praised it at the first time he heard it. (See: Rice, Antonio Salieri, 491-492]
[3] Vincenzo Galieli, Dialogo della Musica Antica et della Moderna, Robert H. Herman (tr.), Phd Dissertation, University of Texas, 1973: 550
[4] Rice, Antonio Salieri, 27
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Hear Psalm 122 by the author in the background of photos of Jerusalem from
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Josquin
Des Prez : Biography; At the court of Louis XI; Two Textual layers in Josquin
's 'Tu Solus'; The Motet-Lament 'Absalon, fili mi'
Johannes Ockeghem :
Biography; S'elle m'amera-Petite camusete: A sophisticated game of meaning and structure;
Polytextuality from Machaut to Ockeghem
The
painting "Libreria Musicale" (Musical Library) by Giuseppe Maria Crespi,
as a source of information on the "Storia della Musica" (History of Music)
by Father Martini
Jacques Offenbach: The Tales of Hoffmann
The
music of Abraham Casseres (Jewish Music)
A translation of Girolamo
Mei's letters go Vincenzo Galilei and Giovanni Bardi
The allegory of Monteverdi, Peri and Caccini's Operas on "Orfeo" (Orpheus)
Girolamo Mei's
biography
Music in
the Bible
The harp
as a hidden symbol in Bernini's 'David'
Short Story : "Letters from the Grave: Mozart writing to Beethoven"
Other articles by G. Shaked:
ART -
BIBLICAL STUDIES -
BIOLOGY
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CINEMA
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LITERATURE
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MUSIC -
PHILOSOPHY
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PHYSICS
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