The Magic Flute cast: geological correlations with Mozart

Abstract

The year 1991 marks the 200th anniversary of the death of Mozart. His last opera, The Magic Flute, was begun, completed and first performed in the year of his death, 1791. The creation of the opera was closely associated with prominent geologists of the time although the work itself is an alchemical drama, deriving more from Hermetic ‘science’ and magic than from the emerging ‘legitimate’ science of the day.