Love and death were the two major themes that occupied Mozart in his last years. The score of the opera De Zauberflöte contains his devotion to humanity and reflects that feelings of affection are as typical of the nobility as of the common people. The genius of the composer gives meaning to the sequence of the different scenes of the opera and that the music never stops, transmitting to all audiences how sublime the human condition is.
Pamina’s aria from Act II “Ach, ich fühl´s, es ist verschwunden” (“Ah, I feel it, it’s all over”) expresses the sadness and despair of a young woman who has just undergone two major reversals of her life. life has undergone. On the one hand, she has been cast out and cursed by her own mother, who had been closest to her until then. On the other hand, she does not know how to deal with the sudden indifference of Tamino, the prince with whom she is in love, who stops talking to her as he gestures for her to leave. Pamina is so emotionally moved that she cannot understand that her lover must remain silent in order to pass one of the three initiation tests on the path of wisdom.
The magic flute is a clear nod to Freemasonry, a secret society to which Mozart belonged and whose symbols were the equilibrium triangle and the number three, representative of the change to a new status. That is why the musician from Salzburg starts the opera’s overture with three spectacular chords, adds three flats in the score, gives Tamino three tests to pass and creates groups of characters including three ladies and three boys.
To write the accompaniment to the Pamina aria, Mozart used a simple orchestration in the Baroque tradition, consisting of flutes, oboes, bassoons and strings, in the elegiac key of G minor (which has two faces instead of three). The running rhythm created by the string favors the wind instruments that emit a faint wail on the border of the atony. Tamino is the only hope for a despondent young woman who understands that her best is no longer enough to hold on to her lover. In Tamina’s heart, everything is over, because without her prince there is no room for illusion. Without the happiness of love, crying becomes unbearable and finds rest only in death.
Mozart’s musical talent goes further, emphasizing Pamina’s despondency with dissonant tropes reminiscent of lamentations and tears. The seventh, diminished ninth chords and especially the Neapolitan sixth chords give the expression “my rest” at the end of the aria a moving effect for the listener.
The frame that the great Austrian composer creates for this love story is a supernatural fairy tale, but what happens to Pamina we see every day in real life and the music accentuates the depth of the feelings in this wicked love. Around Pamina’s accident, the world continues its cruel course and retreats, upset and crying, as Papageno eats and drinks, oblivious to so much suffering.
It is worth listening to this masterpiece, because it is probably the most beautiful aria of classicism and the most sublime plea for the virtue and peace of kind hearts.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
