Counting the notes: Numerology in the works of Mozart, especially Die Zauberflöte

Summary

A non-standard contribution to Mozart's bicentenary year is made by showing that he was a refined numerologist, especially in the opera Die Zauberflöte (1791), but also in some other works of his maturity. An extensive analysis of this opera is furnished, showing that the numerology is evident not only in the structure of the work and the design of melodies and repetitions of musical and literary motives, but even in the timing and staging of the first performance. The numerology is shown to be inherited from the Masonic tradition, to which he and his librettist Schikaneder adhered. The suggestion is made that a significant but largely unnoticed aspect of Mozart's thought should become a normal part of professionalized musicological study of Mozart. The chances for such a development are appraised sceptically in the final section.