From Night to Light: harmony as allegory in Die Zauberflöte

Abstract

Mozart’s final opera, Die Zauberflöte, wields visual and musical metaphor to deliver possibly the most effective allegory of Enlightenment themes ever achieved in Austrian art. Supported by a systematic tonal analysis, this article reviews, integrates and expands upon decades of scholarly research on this opera, with a strict focus on the symbolic dimension of its harmonic elements. By unifying disparate sources and providing an independent overview of tonality throughout the two acts of Die Zauberflöte, this study aims to foment subtler appreciation of Mozart’s use of harmonic contrasts. Special attention is devoted to the manner in which the symbolism of such contrasts evolves together with the opera’s dominant themes, eventually creating a formidable musico-dramatic metaphor of a fundamental Enlightenment narrative — the philosophical struggle of reason against ignorance.