Mozart
was a remarkable musician and composer whose legend continues to grow more than two
centuries after his death. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg, Austria in
1756. Before he reached the age of four, he had already exhibited such
extraordinary powers of musical memory and ear-sophistication that his father, Leopold (a
highly esteemed violinist and composer in his own right) decided to sign young Wolfgang up
for harpsichord lessons.
HIS FAMILY
Almost
from day one, the boy's reputation as an unequalled musical prodigy spread faster than
wildfire. At the age of five, he was composing music; by the time he was six, he was
a keyboard virtuoso, so much so that Leopold took Wolfgang and his sister Maria Anna on a
performance tour to Munich and Vienna.
HIS FATHER
From
that time on, young Mozart was constantly performing and writing music. He was the
toast of Austria, and gave many concerts of prepared works and improvisation.
Wherever he appeared, people gaped in awe at his divine gifts. By his early teens,
he had mastered the piano, violin and harpsichord, and was writing keyboard pieces,
oratorios, symphonies and operas. His first major opera, "Mitridate",
was performed in Milan in 1770 (when he was still only fourteen!), to such unqualified
raves that critics compared him to Handel.
At
fifteen, Mozart was installed as the concertmaster in the orchestra of the Archbishop of
Salzburg. Things did not go very well; Mozart didn't get along with the Archbishop,
and relations deteriorated to the point where, in 1781, he quit this lofty position and
headed for Vienna - quite against his father's wishes.
AS A YOUNG MAN
Mozart
wrote Masonic music before joining Freemasonry. His first work was named "Ode
to a solemn Saint Johns lodge" and was written in Salzburg in 1772. The
second was "Thamos, King in Egypt" which he wrote in 1773 and rewrote in
1779.
BOOKS ABOUT MOZART & FREEMASONRY
Not
much more is known about Mozart's joining Freemasonry than an administrative note that he
was initiated as an Apprentice on December 14, 1784 by a Vienneese Lodge ´Zur
Wohltätigkeit´. The next note about Mozart is that the Ceremony of Passing
took place on January 7 in 1785 in another Lodge ´Zur wahren Eintracht´.
Somewhere between that 7th of January and the 22nd of April the following year he must
have been raised to Master Mason as he was present as a Master Mason when his father
Leopold was initiated in the Lodge ´Zur Neugekrönte Hoffnung´.
Now
a grown man, Mozart initially thrived in Vienna. He was in great demand as a
performer and composition teacher, and his first opera, "The Abduction from the
Seraglio", was a hit. But life was not easy. He was a poor
businessman, and finances were always tight, especially after his marriage to Constanze
Weber. Political infighting at the Vienna court kept him from the patronage that
composers of the period so relied upon, and he descended to a life of genteel
poverty. His music from the next decade - and it came at a blisteringly prolific
rate - was only sporadically popular, and he eventually fell back on his teaching jobs and
on the charity of friends to make ends meet. In 1788 he stopped performing in
public, preferring to compose. But his fortune never turned, and when he died in 1791 at
the age of thirty-five, he was buried in a pauper's grave.
HIS WIFE
To
say that Mozart was a composer of unequalled genius is scarcely scratching the surface of
this man's remarkable gifts. He wrote music - complete and perfect, down to the last
accent and inflection - as fast as he could think, and this astonishing rate of production
continues to stupefy scholars today. In his short life, he composed over 600 works,
including 21 stage and opera works, 15 Masses, over 50 symphonies, 25 piano concertos, 12
violin concertos, 27 concert arias, 17 piano sonatas, 26 string quartets...the list is
endless. And what makes these numbers doubly unfathomable is the peerless craft with
which each piece of music was created. Mozart was a master of counterpoint, fugue,
and the other traditional compositional devices of his day; more than this, he was perhaps
the greatest melody writer the world has ever known. His operas range from comic baubles
to tragic masterpieces. His "Requiem", composed not long before his
own death, stands with Bach's "St. Matthew Passion" as the supreme
example of vocal music. His last opera "Die Zauberflöte" could
have become a new breakthrough because this would have been very successful even in his
own day, had he not shortly thereafter died. But even today this opera is awe
inspiring.
In
recent years, Mozart's fame has reached new heights on the popularity of the film Amadeus.
Music scholars love to poke holes in what is admittedly a fantastical portrait of Mozart's
life, and ensuing arguments over his relationship with his musical "rival"
Salieri, his method of composing, and the events surrounding his death have created more
public misunderstandings about this divine figure than ever existed before. What the
recent Mozart vogue has created for the good, however, is increased awareness of his
music, which must be counted among the absolute wonders of the world.
