Libretto of The Magic Flute role in the content of Schikaneder's libretto. Mozart was an active Mason in Vienna, and wrote a substantial quantity of music for his own lodge, including in 1791 (see "Mozart and Freemasonry"). Schikaneder had been a Mason in Regensburg (1786–7) for a few months before his lodge suspended him. The simpler accounts of Masonic influence in "The Magic Flute" assume that Masonry provided a system of values, symbolism, and ritual for the opera, but no part of the narrative. More elaborate accounts suggest that the opera was intended as an allegory with a hidden Masonic agenda. For instance, the evil
Orlando (opera) operas’ (Handel and the Opera Seria, p. 91), comparable on several counts with "The Magic Flute". The opera is scored for two recorders, two oboes, bassoon, two horns, strings and continuo (cello, lute, harpsichord). Orlando (opera) Orlando (HWV 31) is an opera seria in three acts by George Frideric Handel written for the King's Theatre in London in 1733. The Italian-language libretto was adapted from Carlo Sigismondo Capece's "L'Orlando" after Ludovico Ariosto's "Orlando Furioso", which was also the source of Handel's operas "Alcina" and "Ariodante". More an artistic than a popular success at its first performances, "Orlando" is today recognised