In Act Two of Die Zauberflöte, The Magic Flute, Tamino’s flute has summoned Pamina, but he has taken a vow of silence so cannot talk to her. Fearing that he no longer loves her, Pamina sings this aria in which she wonders if her happiness has gone forever and that she will only find peace in death. Mozart sets these lamentations in a deceptively straightforward style, but also in a key – G minor – which he often reserved for expressing the deepest sadness and tragedy: in parts of the G minor String Quintet and the Symphony No. 40, and in this aria. 

© Nigel Simeone