What is the poem by Ogden Nash which refers to The Magic Flute?

Answer 1

The poem by Ogden Nash that refers to The Magic Flute is called "The Purist and the Pragmatist":

The Purist: I give you now Professor Twist, A conscientious scientist, Trustees exclaimed, “He never bungles!” And sent him off to distant jungles.

Camped on a tropic riverside, One day he missed his loving bride. She had, the guide informed him later, Been eaten by an alligator.

Professor Twist could not but smile. “You mean,” he said, “a crocodile.”

The Pragmatist: The Night of the Pragmatist In every operatic list There is an exalted tale Of the sorcerer’s mystic veil, But would you for entertainment Place your brain in abeyance, To swallow a melodious fiction As a matter of artistic conviction? O perceptive listener, recall That Opera was once no art at all, But simply vocalizations To distract the public from its troubles and vexations.

So if you would not spend your evening In studying the plot’s contriving, Turn instead to history and learn That once a simple tune could earn More money and more fame Than Mozart’s stately frame, And in the field of popular songs Were counted many fairer throngs Than we shall ever see again Until we purge ourselves of Wagnerian sin.