Composition Amid Die Zauberflöte

In 1791, the last year of his life, Mozart was already well advanced in writing Die Zauberflöte by July when he was asked to compose an opera seria. His earliest biographer Niemetschek alleged that the opera was completed in just 18 days, and in such haste that the secco recitatives were supplied by another composer, probably Franz Xaver Süssmayr. Although no other documentation confirms Süssmayr's participation, none of the secco recitatives are in Mozart's autograph, and Süssmayr traveled with Mozart to Prague a week before the premiere to help with rehearsals, proofreading, and copying. Scholars have suggested Mozart worked on the opera much longer, perhaps since 1789, but such theories have been thoroughly refuted in the English-language musicological literature.