The Magic Flute (German Die Zauberflöte) is a two-act singspiel (an opera with spoken text) written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1791, the last year of his life. Written in a popular style, to a German text by Emanuel Schickaneder, it stands in contrast to the majority of his mature operas, which were written in Italian and contained relatively sophisticated music. It has since become one of the most frequently-performed operas throughout the world, and many of its arias and ensembles are familiar even to listeners who don't know their origin.