In Act 1, Tamino is sent on a mission by the Queen of the Night to rescue her daughter from the evil lord Sarastro. He is accompanied by the friendly bird-catcher, Papageno. But Tamino will soon discover that what he has been told was false, and if he really wishes to win Pamina's hand, he himself will have to undergo his own personal transformation. Mozart turns the "rescue opera" formulas inside out - as he often did with other musical forms - and by the end of Act 1, we realize that everything we have been led to believe up to this point is untrue. Act 2 sets matters right. The opera is one of Mozart's last creations (he died two months after the premiere), but considering that he was only 35 at the time, he was a young man and still developing new styles; The Magic Flute hints at what "might have been" had he lived a longer life.
The Metropolitan Opera HD Live
Prince Tamino and Papageno are sent by the Queen of Night to save her daughter Pamina from the clutches of the evil lord Sarastro.
