Mozart's final (or second to last, depending on how you count it) opera is The Magic Flute , or Die Zauberflöte . It's a type of German light opera called singspiel that includes both spoken dialogue and musical numbers. The segregation between "speech" and "singing" in singspiel has created a false sense that drama happens during the speeches, and static emotional expression happens in song. In reality, plenty happens during the music. Mozart is a master caricaturist, capable of representing any number of emotions in seamless rapidity. The Queen of the Night's first aria, "O zittre nicht," ranges from regality to piteousness, and ends with imperious bravura. Pamina's aria "Ah! ich fühl’s" delicately traces her emotional journey from grief to despair. But my favorite is the duet between Papageno and Papagena. Here, Mozart captures not only the characters' quicksilver joy, but even sketches out the arc of a happy marriage, mov
ruminations etc.