The Magic Flute: German–English Side-by-Side Libretto With Translation

Papageno’s Enchanted Woodland Concert I've completed a major revision of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute), with the German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder.

This update turned out to be much larger than I originally planned. What started as another review of the German text and English translation became a substantial expansion of the entire edition. The most important change is the restoration of Schikaneder's complete spoken dialogue, which had previously been replaced by short summaries.

The revised edition now includes all 21 musical numbers and the complete spoken scenes, presented side by side in German and English.

The updated edition is available here:

Restoring the Spoken Dialogue

The Magic Flute is a Singspiel, a form of German opera that combines musical numbers with spoken dialogue. Unlike an opera built around sung recitatives, much of the story here develops through conversations between the characters.

In the previous edition, these passages were presented as short summaries. While they helped readers follow the story, they omitted much of Schikaneder's original writing, including Papageno's humor, the conversations between Tamino and Pamina, and the exchanges surrounding the trials of initiation.

For this revision, I went back to the original 1791 libretto and restored the spoken scenes, with a new English translation arranged alongside the German.

In total, I added or restored 18 dialogue sections. This includes the scene with the Three Slaves discussing Pamina's escape from Monostatos, which had been missing entirely.

The result is a much more complete reading experience. Readers can now follow not only the famous arias and ensembles, but also the conversations that connect them.

Revisiting the German Text and Translation

Adding the dialogue was only part of the work. I also reviewed the existing musical numbers and made corrections throughout the German and English texts.

Some were straightforward typographical errors or problems inherited from older digital transcriptions. Others required closer attention to the meaning of particular German words and expressions.

For example, in Sarastro's prayer, O Isis und Osiris, I corrected a passage addressing the gods who guide the wanderers' steps. The earlier English translation introduced a meaning that was not present in the German.

I also revised passages in the ceremonial scenes, corrected terminology, and improved several translations where the English did not quite reflect the original.

One challenge was distinguishing actual errors from historical German usage. Schikaneder's libretto contains expressions and grammatical constructions that may look unusual today but belong to the original text. I wanted to preserve those readings wherever appropriate rather than simply modernising everything.

Stage directions, punctuation, character labels, and the alignment between the two languages received another review as well.

A Revised and Expanded Paperback

The changes have made the paperback substantially longer. The original edition was about 50 pages, while the revised version is now more than 90 pages.

I've also updated the contents to make individual musical numbers easier to find and improved the presentation of the German and English texts.

The new paperback is published as a revised and expanded second edition in DM's Opera Series.

For Readers Who Purchased the Earlier Edition

I also want to mention something for readers who already bought the previous paperback.

Because this revision includes so much additional material, I would be happy to send a free copy of the updated edition to anyone who purchased the earlier version.

If that applies to you, please contact me through LibrettoArchive and mention your earlier purchase.

I'm continuing to review and improve the libretti in this collection. Sometimes that means correcting a few lines; in this case, it meant rebuilding a significant part of the book. I think The Magic Flute especially benefits from having its spoken dialogue restored, because so much of the opera's character and humor can be found there.

— Dmitrii Murashev