The Magic Flute Queen of the Night's coloratura, the bells, Sarastro's trombones, even the farewell in Scene I for clarinets and pizzicato strings—a single dramatic stroke." The opera begins with the overture, which Mozart composed last. "Scene 1: A rough, rocky landscape" Tamino, a handsome prince lost in a distant land, is pursued by a serpent and asks the gods to save him (aria: "" segued into trio: ""). He faints, and three ladies, attendants of the Queen of the Night, appear and kill the serpent. They find the unconscious prince extremely attractive, and each of them tries to convince the other two
Libretto of The Magic Flute to draw a generalized observation from the proceedings on stage in order to promote virtue or condemn vice." Cairns attributes a taste for "didactic sentiment" specifically to the Viennese popular theater. Concerning "The Magic Flute" specifically, Rosen writes that it "develops ... a conception of music as a vehicle for simple moral truths." The opera's didacticism is concentrated in passages of poetry, set in the ensemble scenes, in which the characters cease to converse with each other and join in singing an edifying lesson to the audience. One example is found in the first act, just after Monostatos and his