| EMANUAL SCHIKANEDER AND THE MAGIC FLUTE |
Emanuel Schikaneder: The First Papageno
The librettist for Die Zauberflöte was born in Straubing, Germany, in 1751, and was named Johann Joseph Baptist Schickaneder. When he was three, the family moved to Regensburg. His parents were poor — his father was valet to a count — but he was able to attend the Jesuit Gymnasium (High School) and learn some Latin. The boys at the school earned their living by performing music, and Johann Joseph played the violin and sang. After finishing school, he put this training to good use, becoming a wandering minstrel and traveling all over southern Germany. On one occasion he saw a troupe of actors and decided that was
the life for him. He became a strolling player, now named Emanuel Schikaneder. Tall, dark and handsome, he was usually cast as the “lover”, but also played classical parts. When he was 26, his Hamlet in Munich was so well received that he was obliged to repeat the last scene as an encore, a very rare event.
 At the age of 27, he gave up a permanent engagement in Munich to become the director of his own traveling company. Life as a traveling player was hard; most of the people in the troupe were crowded together in a single covered wagon. They had to bed down wherever they could find a place, often in barns, and sometimes had to depend on the kindness of strangers for food. Yet Schikaneder was able to dress splendidly in shoes with high heels, yellow silk breeches, a yellow silk waistcoat braided with silver, a scarlet coat, a three-cornered hat adorned with white feathers, and with a steel dagger at his side. During the year 1780-81 his troupe played in Salzburg, Austria for many months. There he became friendly with the Mozart family, and was on a ‘du’ basis with Wolfgang. They played bowls and did target practice together, and the actor gave the Mozart family three season passes to his troupe’s performances in Salzburg. When Wolfgang left for Munich for the production of Idomeneo, Schikaneder was among those at the coach stop to see him off. Schikaneder was known for the scenic grandeur of his productions. While he presented classical dramas such as those by Shakespeare, Lessing and Schiller, he also did light plays and ballet and orchestral concerts. He was invited to Vienna by the Emperor Joseph II, who wanted to establish a Singspiel tradition at the court theatre. His first production was Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail (The Abduction from the Seraglio). His wife deserted him for the director Friedel, of the Freihaustheater in Vienna, and Schikaneder returned to Regensburg where he became the director of the so-called “German National Theater”. While there, he had affairs with his leading actresses and was, in general, a Don Juan. He applied for admission to the Freemasons in Regensburg, having been a visitor for several months, but they were sworn to protect morality, and he was suspended from further visits for six months. Thus he was familiar with Freemasonry, but it is not known if he was ever an active member. When, in 1789, Friedel died, Schikaneder returned to Vienna and managed the Freihaustheater with his (former) wife. He and Mozart were frequently in each other’s company. The history of the Freihaus went back to 1647 when Conrad Balthasar von Starhemberg acquired the estate and was granted exemption from taxes. By the late 1780s it had ninety-three dwellings, thirteen shops, four inns, a dancing school, eight workshops, extensive gardens, its own chapel and, from at the latest 1776, a simple theatre.
In 1787, this theatre was replaced by a new one, Der Theater auf der Wieden, and it was there that Schikaneder offered operas, comedies, tragedies, spectaculars, concerts and ballets. It was also there that, on September 30, 1791, Die Zauberflöte had its première. The theatre was built of stone with a wooden interior. Schikaneder added a balcony so that the total capacity was about 1000. The stage was so narrow that it was overcrowded by the hoop skirts worn by the women. Yet drawings of the time show that the settings and effects were spectacular. For example, Schikaneder’s staging for the trials is described as follows: "The scene changes to two large mountains: from one mountain we can hear the rushing and roaring of a waterfall; the other spits out fire; both mountains have a grill through which one can see both fire and water; where the fire burns, the horizon should be light red, while a dark fog lies over the water." Schikaneder developed House Rules which all members of the company had to swear to obey. The rules applied to him as well as the rest of the company: "Since morality, good order and the natural art of politeness of the actors and actresses toward each other constitute the soul of a good company, I have made the following rules: Each actor, on entering the dressing room, shall take off his hat and behave with propriety to the director as well as the woman [attendant?] No one shall reject a role. Excuses such as the need of a hairdresser,study of [another] role, going to the country in the summer, or a fake illness, won’t do. Tardiness is severely punished, also fights, quarrels, or an insulting exchange of words at rehearsals or perform nces, unseemly laughter or loud talking in the auditorium, putting on powder or cleaning shoes in the dressing room. No one is allowed to stay away over night without the permission of the director. No member of may make a derogatory statement either about the director, or about a member of the company, and is not allowed to talk about the title, inner value or the story of a new piece, which would be damaging to the director. In the case of an indiscretion of this nature, he will forfeit his engagement. The musicians must be in their places in the orchestra at the beginning and not wait until they are called, keep quiet and not disturb the actors or audience by laughter or useless chatter. Whoever breaks the rules will be fined 20 Kreuzer as punisment. The fines will be collected and used to help the traveling actors who are recommended by at least one member as honorable citizens, and who do not bring disgrace to our profession."
The structures at the Freihaus remained until they were destroyed in the 1950s. The only part left was a small garden house in which, it is claimed, Mozart worked on Die Zauberflöte. This was moved to the Salzburg Mozarteum where tourists can still visit it.
At the time of Die Zauberflöte, the public always wanted something new, and preferred lighter fare. Even Goethe devoted two-thirds of the offerings in his theatre in Weimar to trifles. A high proportion of the productions were written by Schikaneder himself, but many other important writers were represented including Goethe, Beaumarchais and Shakespeare. In 1790 he produced Der Stein die Weisen (The Philosopher’s Stone) to a text by himself. One duet, in which the heroine can only meow like a cat, may have had music by Mozart. He also commissioned new operas by others, including, of course, Die Zauberflöte by Mozart. The only restriction on the répertoire was the stipulation in the license that the theatre would mount only German-language productions.
Did Schikaneder write the libretto for Die Zauberflöte? His authorship went unchallenged during his lifetime, but in later years the debates waxed hot and heavy. Many others were proposed as possible authors. How could such an “obscure” man, a man of limited background, produce such a masterpiece? Today most accept him as at least the principal librettist, although parts may have been contributed by others. He was the author of some one hundred plays, some of which were, for decades, box-office draws in Vienna. He was a close friend of Mozart’s and a musician and composer in his own right, one of the most talented men of the theatre in his time. He knew what the public wanted and had the theatrical expertise to provide it. (He once said that he wrote to amuse the public, but not to cheat them.) The perfect librettist for this material, he was Papageno, the part he wrote himself, the longest one in the opera.
In 1786, the Emperor had granted Schikaneder an imperial license to open his own theatre, but he didn’t take advantage of it until 1801. He then built the Theater an der Wien, the largest and most lavishly equipped at that time. It could hold 2,200 people, larger than the Vienna Staatsoper (State Opera House) today. The main curtain could be raised and lowered with pulleys. (Until then stagehands had to jump from the loft, acting as counter-weights, to lift the curtain.) On the roof he erected a larger-than-life statue of himself as Papageno. This theatre is still in use today. He commissioned the opera Fidelio from Beethoven and helped
underwrite the expense of producing it. In 1802 Schikaneder gave up his regular salary and drew a fee for each of his performances. He was able to build a splendid home which became known as the Schikaneder Schlössel (Schikaneder castle). One room was painted with scenes from Die Zauberflöte.
All told, Schikaneder presented Die Zauberflöte over 200 times, and produced at least 400 operas, ballets, tragedies and comedies. But the good times were over. His extravagance with the new theatre eroded his resources. Five years after it was built he left the city and, for a while, worked in what is now the Czech Republic. He was offered a job in Hungary, but he was ill and slowly becoming insane. By the time he arrived he could not recognize anyone. He died on September 21, 1812 and, like Mozart, was buried in a communal grave. His obituaries reflected the sad last years of his life and ignored his great successes.EAO
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