Sheet Music: Queen of the Night Aria

TitleQueen of the Night Aria
from The Magic Flute
Alternate titlesDer Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen
Opus numberK. 620
ComposerWolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791)
InstrumentationFlute and Piano
KeyD minor
RangeF4–G6
Time signature4/4
Tempo140 BPM
Performance time2:55
Difficulty levelintermediate
Download printable scorePDF Sheet Music (159 kB) (preview)
Download audio tracksMIDI (change tempo/key) MP3 (2.4 MB)
Play-along accompanimentMIDI (change tempo/key) MP3 (2.4 MB)
Date added2009-06-30
Last updated2009-06-30
Download popularity index☆☆☆☆☆ 21.2 (extremely popular)
Categories
Arias, Classical, Opera excerpts, Show-off pieces

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Tuesday 30 June 2009

Tune of the Day: The Queen of the Night Aria

from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's “The Magic Flute”

Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen (“Hell's vengeance boils in my heart”) is the second aria sung by the Queen of the Night in Mozart's opera Die Zauberflöte (“The Magic Flute”). It is often referred to as “The Queen of the Night Aria”, despite the fact that the Queen of the Night character sings another distinguished aria earlier in the opera. In fact, it is considered to be one of the most famous opera arias, highly memorable, fast paced and menacingly grandiose.

Stage set for Mozart's Magic Flute

The aria forms part of the second act of the opera. It depicts a fit of vengeful rage, in which the Queen of the Night puts a knife into the hand of her daughter Pamina and exhorts her to assassinate Sarastro, the Queen's rival, on pain of denying and cursing Pamina if she does not comply.

“Der Hölle Rache”, as the aria is often called, is widely renowned for being a demanding piece to perform well, mainly because of its range of two octaves, from the F in the first register of the flute to the F in the third register. Luckily enough, that is not a problem on the flute, but for a singer… well, that's quite another matter!