The Magic Flute isolated exceptions, modern productions strongly reflect the creative preferences of the stage director. "The Magic Flute" is presently among the most frequently performed of all operas. On 28 December 1791, three and a half weeks after Mozart's death, his widow Constanze offered to send a manuscript score of "The Magic Flute" to the electoral court in Bonn. Nikolaus Simrock published this text in the first full-score edition (Bonn, 1814), claiming that it was "in accordance with Mozart's own wishes" ("Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung", 13 September 1815). "The Magic Flute" is noted for its prominent Masonic elements, although some scholars hold that
Libretto of The Magic Flute libretto attracted the admiration of Franz Liszt, who after attending a performance copied down several of them in a personal letter. Ingmar Bergman in his 1975 film of the opera gave special treatment to the didactic poetry by having his characters hoist "a series of placards on which these moral sentiments are carefully lettered." The passage quoted above beginning "Zwei Herzen" has attracted particular admiration: Heartz called it "the loveliest of all the opera's beautiful moments"; Abert wrote of "a paradisal radiance unique in this work". Liszt quoted Schikaneder's verse in his letter and appended, "Amen!". A matter that perturbs