A few of the mysteries behind the opera The Magic Flute…

Almost from the moment of its premiere the public was talking about the occult significance of Wolfgang Mozart’s last major opera, The Magic Flute. There was so much to consider — after all, it was full of Masonic symbols, and, despite the fact that it was a jocular singspiel, it held a pregnant sense of awe — of things not explained. To make things even more convincing, Mozart himself died a few weeks later. Was there a connection? Was Mozart poisoned? What happened? Everyone wanted to know. Or was it just the hand of fate? Some asked. Perhaps writing the Requiem under someone else’s name was what did him in? Others questioned.

Well, for one reason or another, the mystery has continued to this day. And for good reason. What if the opera were, in fact, a prophecy that included Wolf himself? What if that prophecy was to come to life over 200 years later?

Unthinkable! said many. Impossible, said others. Keep the lid on it! said the assassins…no one must know!

However, if this were to be the case, let me provide some details that are implied in the opera. I don’t ask anyone to believe what I say, simply to test my words. Just for the moment take as an hypothesis that the opera being prophecy is simply a possibility — extraordinary though that might be.

Here might be a few insights —

Pamina’s father dies after presenting her with the magic flute. Her Mother, the Queen of the Night, flies into a rage as she feels her power is threatened by her daughter’s having the flute. Sarastro, Pamina’s step-father, steps in and kidnaps Pamina to keep her out of harm’s way, but says nothing to Pamina, who is confused and frightened. Sarastro happens to be Wernher von Braun, with whom Pamina and her family have a connection. Sarastro’s temple of Isis and Osiris is the occult secrets of those committed in the US and Russia to going to the Moon and Mars.  It has, in fact, a number of different locations.  Pamina is brought to a place of relative safety, in the frozen tundra of the Northlands…

The three children are Pamina’s children. They are an even greater threat to her Mother, who comes after them and tries to bewitch them and steal them from Pamina, who is horrified. The Queen of the Night holds the children ransom, creating even more terror. To make matters even more sinister, the Queen has a ‘spare’, so to speak, in Pamina’s sister, Starla, (the so-called ‘other Queen’) who assists her Mother in stealth to try to turn the children against Pamina. And, last-but-certainly not least — add to that the possibility that Monostatos, who happens to be a bass player in an orchestra of false servants in Minnesota, has also attempted, frantically and viciously, to insinuate himself into the lives of Pamina and her children, in order to help the Queen.  He tries to cause Pamina bodily harm and slanders her to his colleagues.  She continues on, following the direction of the Zauberflote, which is always changing, and is always charming.

Pamina has had glimpses of Tamino, but nothing more, except his picture. When she sings her desperate aria “Ach, ich ful’s”…she feels she has lost everything. As the children are being deceived by the Queen, even they cannot help her.

And yet, Pamina perseveres, in love and in faith…with the help of her longest best-friend, Papageno.  Papageno gives Pamina words of hope and faith at just the right moments…and together they keep moving forward…

Update 12.24.20 (M4B*)

I went to Orchestra Hall this week, on December 21st, in fact. That was also the night of the great “Christmas Star”. That day is significant to me because it is the birthday of Monostatos, who affected our lives so profoundly, and it is also the day we were married, long ago. (That lasted 666 days.) I decided to lay hands on the doors of Orchestra Hall and rebuke the enemy in the Name of Yeshua in order to demolish all of the strongholds connected with Monostatos persecuting me on that darkened stage because of the Zauberflote.

It was a cloudy day, cold, with a bitter wind.  I had invited Papageno to go with me, but he had declined. Once I reached the Nicollet Mall I was relieved that he had done so, for what I was witnessing was unexpected and almost overwhelming.  The mall stores are basically shuttered.  The only exception is Target.  There are no Christmas lights.  There are no lights at all. It is desolate. Dystopian. Like Blade Runner. Orchestra Hall had stacks of cardboard boxes in its lobby.  There are signs on the pavement reminding everyone to stand six feet apart.  WCCO is shuttered. They don’t show you that on the evening news. There were no crowds. Just people milling and talking, all carrying bags of some sort.  Acrid cigarette smoke. A woman shouting into her phone. Stragglers walking aimlessly.

Minnegeddon in Minneapolis, I thought.  What else could I call it?

I then went over to Monostatos’ apartment building and laid hands on the door there and rebuked the enemy again.  Hopefully, this nightmare involving him and the Minnesota Orchestra will now come to an end.

Is this what happens when you lock out Mozart?

During the 2012 lockout of the Minnesota Orchestra players I asked a family member who knew Mr. Vanska’s assistant for help getting to Mr. Vanska, to ask to play the Zauberflote for him.  She replied that she ‘didn’t want me to use her contacts.’  I was saddened by this, as the letter I had written to Mr. Vanska had gone unanswered, and I did not even know for certain if he had received it.  But now I could see that it wasn’t enough.  A slap on the wrist for Monostatos was not in everyone’s highest good.

But this is.

They are locked out yet again.  Orchestra Hall is dark yet again.  But this time I don’t think the lights will go back on until we all have some answers.

*M4B=Mozart for Believers

Look to Minnesota in the New Year

When Wolfgang Mozart wrote his last major opera, The Magic Flute, in 1791 he had no knowledge of a place called “Minnesota”. In fact, at that time there was no such place in any formal way, as Minnesota did not become a state until 1859. However, this opera may have turned out to be more than a delightful and exquisite singspiel — it also may contain a prophecy…

Mozart describes a minor character who is simply a blackguard who tries to torture, etc, Pamina. His name is “Monostatos”. Hmm…odd coincidence? It happens to sound not unlike “Minnesota”. Well, in the opera, Monostatos is a rogue to tries to interfere in Pamina’s relationship with her stepfather, Sarastro. Monostatos also ends up trying to assist her wicked mother, the Queen of the Night. A nasty character indeed!

Now let’s turn to another odd coincidence. The Minneapolis Symphony changed its name some time past to be called the Minnesota Orchestra. They did not have to do that. In fact, that seems a rather odd thing to do. But they did.

Then, into the orchestra walks someone who has had a significant influence on the life of my children and me. Someone who, almost literally, crawled out of the woodwork at Orchestra Hall. This person did everything in their power to control our lives. Fortunately this situation did not last forever. It did, however, last 666 days. Needless to say, the effect on all of us — especially my three children — has been traumatic.

What I call the lockout of me by the players occurred at that time. And this person, to my thinking, whose behavior qualifies them in the ranks of “the lowest of the low” can only be called “Monostatos.”

During the 18-month lockout of the MO players I attempted to bring this ironic situation to light, but to no avail.  But an inexorable process still seems to be in place. “Monostatos” is apparently still embedded in their midst. But what may have been intended for ill might instead be working for good…

And all that goodness will take place in Minnesota…:-)

A Simple Christmas…M4B*

Because of the persecution at the hands of my birth family, which included being systematically poisoned in their attempts to control this great gift of shalom that is die zauberflote and try to use it against God’s will, Christmas has a special meaning for me. I learned it the hard way. At the time, I could not understand why it seemed that God had abandoned me to people who insisted on turning themselves into monsters. Yet nonetheless I willingly stood in ankle-deep icy mud, at times with tears running down my face, and sang Christmas carols with the neighborhood children in my hometown of Fairfield, Connecticut. Although I came to realize that the persecution would intensify during the holidays, I never lost my love of every piece of music connected to Yeshua, the Messiah.

But much of the hooplah came to make me quite miserable. The tree, the tinsel, the cotton batting on the mantle with a cardboard sleigh and reindeer, and of course, “Santa Claus” — whoever that was — came to represent to me an abyss of hopelessness.

“Let’s have our Christmas!” my Mother would chuckle, as she got out her notepad to record which gift was from whom, so we could immediately send thank-you notes for everything under the tree.

Well, that was it. The Bible sat dusty and untouched on a bookshelf, and everything swirled around who got what. And of course, I seemed to end up with items I had never wished for nor could ever use. That seemed to be part of the orchestration.

At the time, being quite young, it was all very confusing. Now, looking back, I can see how God has used everything for good, for I literally cannot tolerate anything having to do with Christmas that does not directly lift up the Lord Jesus Christ. I no longer ‘celebrate’ what I call ‘Xmas’. No tree. No lights. No wrappings. Just the music. And The Presence.

And I am richly blessed…I invite you to do the same…:-)

*M4B=Mozart For Believers

“Minnegeddon”, and what it might mean to you…M4B*

As the locked-out Other Mozart I have a unique perspective. In fact, I sincerely doubt that anyone who knows me — be they friend or foe — would disagree with that statement. I see things, as it were, from inside an opera — things are either blissfully wonderful or truly horrible. I even saw what I call a ‘dark angel’ long ago, whom I came to believe goes out of its way to try to cause trouble for me and my family, so I have no doubt that there is an adversary I have to deal with every day…

If my thesis is correct — that Wolf was given an unusual gift of shalom — of the Holy Spirit — that those around him tried to steal from him and refused to confirm — then it follows logically that his death, whatever the technical cause, was an assassination. In fact, looking from my perspective, it seems a miracle that he was able to live as long as he did and succeed in giving us such a prodigious output of masterpieces that have held their own and are beloved over two hundred years later.

And, if it is the case that Wolf was assassinated because of a gift of the Holy Spirit, there is enormous support in the Word that God will not let that go unpunished. In fact, we learn from Annanias and Sephira, that anyone who deliberately tries to steal from God can drop dead on the spot. We can, in fact, see after Wolf’s death, that some rather strange things happened to those around him, including Salieri, who went mad, Puchberg, who died broke, and Constanze, who turned into a money-mongering hypocrite, pretending to further Wolf’s work but really just wanting to make money.

But I doubt that the saga ends there. I think, throughout history, that those who produce and perform Wolf’s music, while having contempt for him and his Gift (the movie “Amadeus” is a litany of that contempt, imo), run the same risk those who knew him did. They too are forever affected by his music, as this Gift is carried with it, wherever Wolf’s music goes.

And so, I believe, a Minnegeddon has begun. All that has been hidden about Wolf is coming out into the open. All the money stolen from this Gift is returning to God. And those who act in deliberate contempt can face dire consequences. In fact, from what I see, people stumble into what I call the Kingdom of the Night. It is a kingdom with a heirarchy. At its head, pretending to be a gentle Christ, is the dark angel I call The Night Magician. The actual heavens are closed, and these unfortunate souls seem stuck in this ultimately frightening place, until they come to the real God with real repentance. This kingdom has its own churches and schools, so many do not realize they have been deceived. The lucky ones are those who do not fit, and who are ‘chastised’. They may encounter imbalance in their life, they may even hear this dark angel attacking them. Such happened, in fact, to the player I call “Monostatos”, who kept hearing what they said was a ‘riding-crop voice’.

If I am correct, as events play out, everything having any connection to Wolf will, in fact, end up being turned inside-out. And, if you have anything to do with Wolf or his music, or me and die zauberflote, the same may be true for you…

*M4B=Mozart For Believers

Die Zauberflote, the opera as prophecy…when characters molt…

I knew his music long before I knew his name.  When I learned who Mozart was I became very distressed, as it seemed he had left everything in a terrible mess for me…I did not understand why I had been put into a family that seemed incredibly immature and superficial.  I had no idea the ill-intent that was being masked.

I wanted nothing to do with the opera Die Zauberflote for a long time.  I refused to visit Germany or Austria when I spent a year abroad.  It wasn’t until my children were small when “Monostatos” insisted we view the Bergman movie of the opera.  A door opened, of course.  At the time I felt relieved; if the opera was prophecy I knew all would turn out well. I had only to do my best…

My children, the loves of my life, fit closely into the Drie Knabchen envisioned by Wolf. Their kindness and patience gave me the courage to forge ahead, knowing by that time that my Mother and her accomplices would try to destroy me at every turn.  Before long a real-life Papageno had become part of our extended family.  I knew I was blessed with a friend who would support me in the trials ahead.  And then came a real-life Tamino– or so I wanted to believe…

However, without my realizing, the characters had begun to molt.  I had not taken into account human nature.  Those who were my greatest source of support became my worst adversaries.  My darling children had been bewitched by my Mother, and by their wicked ex-stepfather “Monostatos”.

And so I began a journey to find answers that led me into uncharted territory, and into places I would never have wanted to go.  That betrayal was almost more than I could bear, but the flute kept me going, as it always has, and told me the truth about everything I needed to know.

And that is the message of die zauberflote…the flute itself, not the opera…:-)

 

Misinterpreting the opera Die Zauberflote…:-0

One of the most curious scholastic errors I find myself having to deal with is the lack of intellectual curiosity on the part of scholars interpreting Mozart’s intent and vision with this opera.  For many years the libretto was simply ridiculed — there were ‘two’ Queens of the Night, for example.  How clumsy of Wolf!  How artificial the temple setting…<yawn>…3 children bobbing in and out to keep Pamina from taking her own life in despair, how very trite!  The Queen of the Night ‘must’ have been modeled after Constanze’s mother, Madam Weber.  We all know that!  Oh, and, of course, Sarastro was modeled after Ignaz von Born: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignaz_von_Born. No curiosity there.  End of discussion.

In short, if there is anything about the opera Die Zauberflote that the critics don’t understand, they have just tended to blame Mozart!  To think that he, of all people, would agree to such a lumbering and clumsy plot!  What was he thinking?  :-0

Musicians and their critics have, in my estimation, one consistent shortcoming, and that is a refusal or an inability to think outside-of-the-box.  If it doesn’t come on paper, staff or otherwise, or someone has not ‘told’ them something, they just refuse to consider the possibility. Very unscholarly approach, to my thinking…

If, on the other hand, one considers that a genius such as Mozart knew exactly what he was doing and agreed to, and sensed in a way that he was launching this opera out into a future time and place where it might even conceivably come to exist in the material world, one might actually grasp what Wolfgang Mozart was all about.  For he did not have a mind riveted by limited thinking.  He simply moved forward with assurance and tenacity, not unlike the father of modern rocketry, Wernher von Braun on his quest to land men on the moon and return them safely to the earth.

So to those tempted to settle for superficial clues to what the opera Die Zauberflote is really all about I humbly ask that you consider the possibility that Wolf was describing people who would not even be born on this earth for over 200 years, and that he was doing his very best to describe them. 🙂

Update 12.19.20

In this year of pandemic, when just about everything we thought we knew has been turned upside-down, allow me to heartily suggest that you re-think everything you have heard and thought about this opera. Please keep an open mind and a gentle heart, and you will be blessed.

Imagine a genius so profound that he could prophecy 200 years into the future, in a time and place that did not even exist in 1791.

Then listen to the Zauberflote.  There are many sound files at this site.

The prophetic opera Die Zauberflote and what I am calling ‘Minnegeddon’…:-0

If you dare to look at Wolfgang Mozart’s last major opera, Die Zauberflote, as prophecy, instead of simply a sublime singspiel, you cannot help but begin to understand what Wolf was really all about and why he had to be silenced.  Here in the Midwest, in the 21st century, the entire opera has come to life.  Right now, we are at the equivalent of the last major fight scene between the Queen of the Night, Monostatos (and his orchestra) are coming up against Sarastro and his loyal brethren.  My husband, my longest best friend Brad (Papageno) and I (Pamina) are making our way through the last of the trials.  We are exhausted, and a bit worn around the edges, but alive and resilient.

The extraordinary lovely power of the flute has brought us through every difficulty and each seemingly impossible test.  My only regret, at this point, is that my three dear children (now grown) are not with me.  They have been spun out of the vortex and are, artistically speaking,  currently being held captive by the (second) Queen of the Night, who happens to be my sister.  Ironically, in the opera, there is no mention of what happens to the three children; simply that they are there to help Pamina survive the separation from Tamino.  The reality has been much more traumatic than I would have wished.  Just the same, they are the best people I know, and I have faith that all will work for good in the end…so bear with us…:-)

MinnegeddonPartDeux — just for “Starla”and Yoko?…really, ladies? Really? :-0

Update, January 27, 2023

Some time has passed since this post was written, and some things have changed.  Bob Dylan has insisted on telling us about our connection to John Lennon.  And Piper has some new characters…

It looks like the Queen of the Night (my mother) has some helpers…a Wanna Be…and possibly an adjunct! Well, John calls her the “Mother of Night”, so that kind of fits.

And Monostatos has increased in size with Bob as the leader of the cadre, and Bill, along with his cohorts at the Minnesota Orchestra…

Oh, and my best friend Brad (Papageno) is now married to his little dove Missy (Papagena)…however, he is complaining that he is being tested more as a Christian than I am!  I would beg to differ with him, but what good would that do?

And it looks like Minnegeddon is in full swing, where the truth comes out about everything that has happened to us…

Original post…

In the novel “Piper to the Alternative”, Pamina’s mother is Mildred Payne.  She is the great Queen of the Night.  She hurls down curses with a bolt of lightning.  She emanates charm that can seem almost irresistible.  At other times, the air glows black and white with the depth of her profound wickedness.

Mildred was also an adept at various evil strategies.  One of them, in fact, perhaps her favorite, was that of finesse.  In order to accomplish this, you set your prey up through flattery and deceit, and then move in to destroy them, getting them to do something or give up information they would never otherwise do.

By the time of MinnegeddonPartDeux (post Monostatos’ Orchestra lockout) Mildred is dead.  A proxy or two seem to have tried to step up to the plate.  They too try to corner Pamina and cause her harm. They seem intent on becoming Mildred’s little mini-me’s.  Of course, the energy of the great die zauberflote protects Pamina.  And, as it might be expected, Pamina has learned from her experiences with her mother how to finesse her adversaries…

So instead of a slanted field, there is instead an even one…:-)