The Augmented Station Orchestra
Conducted by T.H. Morrison

Mozart was a Freemason. Freemasonry was very much 'in the air' at the time The Magic Flute was written, and all the curious plot of the Opera has Masonic ideas at its foundation.

There is much elaborate ceremonial in the Opera, and we hear suggestions of this in the impression Introduction to the Overture, and also later in the course of the Overture.

After the Introduction, we have the merry First Main Tune. This is 'fugal' - i.e., one 'voice' (in this case, instrumental 'voice') starts alone with the tune; next, another voice enters, repeating the tune at a different pitch, and so on. This First Main Tune really runs through most of the Overture. For instance, the beginning of it is going on even while the Second Main Tune is entering.

With this material the Overture trips along happily and straightforwardly, with only one noticeable check - when we have solemn ceremonial again recalled.

The Opera Boabdil, the Last King of the Moors, is founded on an incident in the war of the Spaniards and the Moors, in the fifteenth century. The Ballet music taken from the work consists of three pieces, a Spanish Malaguena (in three time, with a characteristic rhythm beginning with whole beat, two halves, whole), a Scherzo-Valse, and a Moorish Fantasy (two time, commencing with dignified chords and going on to build up the piece over a recurring motif that stumps about in the bass).