Opera in German outskirts of the city. In 1791, he persuaded Mozart to set one of his libretti, "The Magic Flute". This proved to be no ordinary "Singspiel". Though the traditional farcical elements remained, Mozart added a new seriousness, particularly in the music for Sarastro and his priests. Even more than "Die Entführung", the "Magic Flute" pointed the way forward for future German opera. The greatest German composer of the next generation, Beethoven, seized on "The Magic Flute"'s blend of domestic comedy and high seriousness for his only opera, "Fidelio", the story of a devoted wife who saves her husband from political imprisonment.
Opera Australia Butterfly", "Turandot", "Aida" and "Carmen" have played. In 1956, the Australian Opera Company was formed in Sydney under the auspices of the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust. It commemorated the Mozart bicentenary by presenting four Mozart operas in all capital cities, travelling more than 10,000 kilometres, and giving 169 performances. By 1957, it changed its name to the Elizabethan Theatre Trust Opera Company. In 1959 the company's laid-off singers gave the first of many regional tours (presented by state Arts Councils) with Rossini's "The Barber of Seville" using reduced scenery and conducted from the piano by Georg Tintner (Victoria, New South