The Magic Flute work, with Sir Thomas Beecham conducting the Berlin Philharmonic, was completed in 1938. Both of these historic recordings have been reissued on modern recording media. Since then there have been many recordings, in both audio and video formats. The opera has inspired a great number of sequels, adaptations, novels, films, and other works of art. For a listing, see "Works inspired by The Magic Flute". The Magic Flute The Magic Flute (German: ), K. 620, is an opera in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a
Libretto of The Magic Flute to sublime human aspiration – in short from the circus to the temple, but never neglecting an opportunity for effective theater along the way. The sources for the work fall into (at least) four categories: works of literature, earlier productions of Schikaneder's theater company, Freemasonry, and the 18th-century tradition of popular theater in Vienna. The Schikaneder troupe prior to the premiere of "The Magic Flute" had developed considerable experience with performing fairy tale operas with similar plots, characters, and singers. Two bear a particularly strong relationship to "The Magic Flute": A very long tradition asserts that Freemasonry plays a major