Myth, gender, and musical meaning:The magic flute,Beethoven, and 19th‐century sonata form revisited

Abstract

Due to its convoluted story, The Magic Flute is rightly seen as one of the most problematic works in the standard repertory, particularly when the moral ambiguities and inexplicable twists in that story seem to imply misogynist and racist views on the part of Schikaneder and, by implication, Mozart. Analysis of the plot in terms of Jungian symbols and archetypes, however, allows all the characters to be seen as aspects of a single personality, and the peripeties of the story to be interpreted as standard stages in the process of male psychological and spritual self‐actualization. Such a reading, in turn, is relevant to the current controversy over gendered interpretation of tonal form in music, which is also usually argued in external (extraverted), rather than psychological (introverted) terms. The plot archetype presented in Mozart's opera sheds considerable light on the more inward‐looking implications of sonata form, particularly as it has been handled by Beethoven and his successors. Interpretation of both composers’ lives in terms of current psychological theory supports this connection by allowing the content of that archetype to be understood emotionally and psychologically. This is turn provides an opportunity to remythologize Romantic music in a way that emphasizes its relevance to contemporary society, while also grounding the content of that music in constructs which are not ultimately dependent on gender.

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