MOZART AND MASONARY

MOZART AND MASONRY

MOZART

and

MASONRY

by

PAUL NETTL

PHILOSOPHICAL LIBRARY
NEW YORK

Copyright, 1957, by Philosophical Library, Inc.

15 East 40th Street, New York 16, N. Y,

All rights reserved.

Printed in the United States of America

To
HERMAN B WELLS

President, Indiana University

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION 3

MOZART AND THE CRAFT 9

A MASONIC ALBUM FROM MOZART'S DAY 24

MASONIC Music BEFORE MOZART 29

MASONIC MUSICIANS AROUND MOZART 42

MOZART'S MASONIC COMPOSITIONS 46

THE MAGIC FLUTE: BACKGROUND 60

THE MAGIC FLUTE: WORDS AND Music 88

THE MAGIC FLUTE: SEQUELS 94

MOZART'S LIFE 102

MOZART THE MAN 106

MASONIC Music AFTER MOZART 126

FOOTNOTES 130

NOTES 134

INDEX 145

List of Illustrations

PLATE 1. Otto Freiherr von Gemmingen

2. Minutes of the meeting of the "Eintracht"

3. Mozart's entry in the "Kronauer Album"

4. From Naudot's "Apology of Freemasons"

5. Ignaz von Born

6. Emanuel Schikaneder

7. Masonic scene from the "Magic Flute"

8. Scene of the Armored Men from the "Magic Flute"

INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION

Af ONG INTELLECTUAL FORCES of the eighteenth century, based
as they were on the veneration and exaltation of nature and
man, none is of such fundamental importance as Freemasonry. It
is significant because it combined all of the humanitarian teachings
of its time, systematized them, illustrated them with symbols, and
made them generally available in a coherent organization. One
occasionally encounters the belief that Freemasonry has purely his-
torical value today, that it is simply a dead or dying branch of the
great humanitarian movement in the Age of Reason which has
persisted through inertia. If this were so, the flowering which has
characterized Freemasonry since the second World War would be
inexplicable and we would expect to find only meager remains of
it, similar to those of the Rosicrucians and the IlluminatL But as
a matter of fact, a new wave of Freemasonry has been emanating
from the United States. Masonic lodges, which declined in impor-
tance during the nineteenth century, are regaining the positions
they held during the eighteenth. For the ideal of humanitarianism
makes men associate in one way or another, especially after great
catastrophes. The wars of the seventeenth and eighteenth cen-
turies, fought primarily for the interests of the ruling classes, the
measures of suppression of that period, and the French Revolution,
all these resulted in a desire for humanitarian thinking. And the
same process can be observed in our time.

One of the chief attractions of Freemasonry is the example set
by many great intellectuals of the eighteenth century. Among the
ardent Masons were Goethe, Lessing, Wieland, Fichte, and Fred-
erick the Great. By the end of the eighteenth century there were
few important figures who had not been strongly affected by that
new movement.

What then is Freemasonry, and what are its purposes? The un-
informed usually assume it is a secret society with some kind of
political aim augmented by a mysterious ritual. Forced to meet in

secrecy in many countries (Germany, Austria, Russia, Italy, etc),
the Freemasons inspired a whole set of fantastic stories which
revolved about their activities. Since the members rarely broke
their reserve even to defend themselves against false and humili-
ating accusations, some people equated their silence with wicked-
ness and this attitude is still with us. The mystic symbols, the
ritual which makes use of prehistoric customs and ancient Near
Eastern mythology has contributed to it. Because of its secrecy, the
Nazi and communist governments suppressed Masonry by every
possible means. One may recall that in the nineteenth century cer-
tain Roman Catholic groups spread the story that Mozart had been
poisoned by Freemasons. Among various "explanatory" writings
is a book, Freemasonry, by Schwartz-Bostunitsch which purports
to enlighten people about the aims of the order. It represents
Freemasonry as a secret Jewish society which, under the command
of the Learned Elders of Zion, works toward world domination.
It is only a short step from there to the anti-semitic and anti-
Masonic outpourings in the Nazi periodical Sturmer. Attention
should also be called to a polemical pamphlet by Mathilde Luden-
dorff, Die ungesuhnten Frevel an Luther, Schiller, Lessing und
Mozart (The unexpiated outrages against Luther, Schiller, Lessing,
and Mozart) . She claims in deadly earnest that Mozart was poi-
soned by his fellow-Masons because of his pro-German views.

Secrecy is not the key to Freemasonry. Everything concerning
its aims and its ritual is available to the public in books and
manuals. Indeed, some well-informed outsiders know more about
the Craft than many a mason of lower degree who should not
have and does not wish any premature knowledge. Masonry keeps
no secrets from the uninitiated! Yet there is a masonic secret, a
mystery, an experience that cannot be taught or explained because
it lies, like every mystic experience, beyond the realm of con-
trolled consciousness. At its deepest level it is identical with intense
feeling and empathy. The secret of Freemasonry is the secret of
experiencing true love for all mankind, a positive attitude towards
man and life, and broad affirmation of God. It is the realization
that beyond the dark and material world there is a realm of light
towards which all men must strive. The peculiarity of Masonry is
its symbolism, with its roots in the distant past, intensifying this
experience whose sensuous aspect lies in the beauty of the ritual.

Masonry officially enters history with the founding of the first

Grand Lodge of London on June 24, 1717, but it is descended
from the stone-masons' guilds of the Middle Ages. The prefix
"free" signifies freedom from joining a guild and, in a broader
sense, hints at the speculative masonry which arose from the active
masonry. During the seventeenth century more and more persons
of high moral standing were accepted into the lodges.

Freemasons work to build the Temple of Humanity, symbolized
by King Solomon's temple; hence the name "royal art." Ritual
and vocabulary are taken from the old masonic guilds which, like
other guilds, created their own body of legends. (For example,
Hiram, Solomon's architect, is killed by three murderers because
he refuses to divulge the secret.) Elements of ancient Near East-
ern mysteries and some elements of Roskrucian thinking were
woven into the Hiramic legend, resulting in an emphasis on
secrecy. During the eighteenth century a strong rationalistic flavor,
favorable to all charitable, humanitarian, and international ideas,
was added. Freemasonry has not remained unified and static since
the eighteenth century. Its face has changed along with shifting
intellectual trends.

The eighteenth century is considered the pinnacle of Masonic
development. In England and France Freemasonry already had a
social character along with its moral and ethical sides. During the
Age of Reason, many of the ablest men in Europe joined its ranks,
largely aristocrats and, to a lesser extent, philosophers and poets.
A number of heads of state belonged to the Craft, for example
Frederick II, Frederick William II, Grand Duke Carl August of
Weimar, Emperor Francis I, George IV of England, George
Washington, and most presidents of the United States after him.
German philosophy was represented by Fichte and Krause, litera-
ture by Burger, Chamisso, Claudius, Kleist, Klopstock, Wieland,
Herder, and, above all, Goethe, whose works drew heavily from
Masonry. Lessing made a significant contribution to masonic lit-
erature in his dialogues Ernst und Falk. Pope, Sterne, and Swift
were among the ablest masonic writers in Britain, as were Beau-
marchais, Stendhal, and most of the Encyclopedists in France. But
most important for the intellectual history of Masonry is Mozart,
because the Magic Flute, one of the greatest art works of all time,
was the direct result of his Masonic associations. The intellectual
greats among the Masons felt themselves members not only of the
spiritual but also of the actual nobility since they associated on

brotherly terms with members of the aristocracy and with worldly
potentates.

Much has been written about the relationships between various
phases of culture and Freemasonry. Ferdinand Schneider described
the influence of Masonry on German thinking during the end of
the eighteenth century and has shown that the roots of romanticism
can be found in its more mystical offshoots, the Illuminati and the
Rosicrucians. Entire bodies of literature were profoundly influ-
enced by Masonry, possibly because of its curious mixture of free-
thinking and rationalism, materialism and a kind of mysticism
which occasionally approached Crypto-Catholicism. "Strict ob-
servance" was supposedly linked with the Jesuits.

But in the last analysis we have the same situation today as 150
years ago; a world-view basically Christian is practiced, accom-
panied by mystic symbols. Presumably this has a special attraction
for soft, vacillating individuals. A person like Lessing was at-
tracted to the ethical rationalism of Masonry, while Goethe scep-
tically viewed the combination of these principles. Mozart, finally,
was more inclined to its mysticism. This can be felt with certainty
after hearing the gentle, mysterious sounds of the Magic Flute
and the Masonic Funeral Music.

MOZART AND MASONRY

MOZART AND THE CRAFT

MOZART'S ASSOCIATION with Freemasonry did not begin with
his initiation in Vienna, for already during his Salzburg days
many influences and events pointed him towards it. In order to
understand Masonic conditions in Salzburg at that time, we should
glance at neighboring Munich, the center of persecution of the
Illuminati, then rampant in Southern Germany.

In 1784 the Elector issued a decree banning all secret societies
in Bavaria. After several protests by Freemasons and Illuminati,
Father Frank and Kreittmayr, in the name of Elector Carl Theo-
dor, issued a prohibition on March 2, 1785, which resulted in the
banishment of Weisshaupt, the "pope" of the Illuminati, from
Ingolstadt. Further measures against this group followed on June
9 and August 16. Some high officials, including Count Pappen-
heim and Chancellor von Lowendahl, were not pursued because
they had connections at court. Others, notably the physician, Pro-
fessor Bader, Master of the Lodge in Munich, received the full
impact of persecution. Bader's lodge was a daughter lodge of the
"Royal York/' It had been elevated on August 20, 1781, to
manager of affairs in Bavaria and Italy, and co-manager in Switz-
erland, Sweden, and Franconia. It had its own system, based on
that used by the "Chevaliers bien-faisants" in Lyons. Some time
later, on July 3, 1783, Bader joined the Eclectic Lodge.

The order of the Illuminati was founded in the 1770's. Their
"pope," Weisshaupt, used the Jesuits as a model for his organiza-
tion. In 1776 he founded a secret order in Ingolstadt called the
Perfectibilists, whose purpose was to "unite all men capable of
independent thought, unobstructed by vested interests, irrespec-
tive of their nationality, position, or religion, to work for a lofty
purpose." They were going to turn mankind into a "masterpiece
of reason and, thus, to attain the highest perfection in the art of
government."

Weisshaupt himself had been brought up by the Jesuits in

Ingolstadt The internal organization of the order was along
Masonic lines and each member was given a special name. Weiss-
haupt chose the name Spartacus. The founders, who included Lori,
secretary of the Bavarian state lottery, and Dr. Bader, were known
as Areopagites. In 1779 Weisshaupt evolved a syllabus which
provided for three degrees Novice, Minerval, and Enlightened
Minerval in the manner of the blue St. John's Masonry. Weiss-
haupt found an eager supporter in Baron von Knigge. In its
prime, the order had over 2,000 members, among them Carl
August of Weimar, Ernst and August of Gotha, Herder, Pesta-
lozzi, and Goethe (who had the name Abaris). Joseph von Son-
nenfels and Mozart's friend Ignaz von Born were important
members in Vienna. Soon the order had also made bitter enemies,
among them some groups of Freemasons, but especially the Jesuits.
Elector Carl Theodor of Bavaria, influenced by his Father Confes-
sor, the Rosicrucian Frank, ordered the elimination of all secret
societies. Persecutions and arrests soon set in, officers and civil
servants losing their positions. Fantastic rumors were spread about
the order, accusing it of murders, poisonings, conspiracies to
dominate the world, and all other imaginable crimes. Though
membership was punishable by death, Ernst von Gotha gave
asylum to the Illuminati. Finally Count von Stollberg, who had
taken over the leadership of the group from Weisshaupt, limited
its activities. In 1785 the Minerval Church in Weimar, under the
direction of the writer and composer of military music, Christoph
Bode, was the last to close its doors. Bode, a true rationalist and a
friend of Goethe's, was a member of the musical circle of Weimar.
In 1788 Goethe wrote to Carl August from Florence that the
Swiss composer Kayser was intending to copy some church music
by Palestrina, Morales, and Scarlatti and bring it to Weimar,
adding, in jest, "if only Bode does not hear of this." He seemed
to fear that the zealous enlightener would fly into a rage, in the
belief that these Catholic melodies might draw the weaker-spirited
into popish superstition.

Beginning in 1783 there had existed in Salzburg an Eclectic
Lodge, "Zur Fiirsicht" (Prudence) under the direction of Count
Spaur. 1 Several of the members belonged to both the Salzburg and
the Munich lodges. Koch also says that Leopold and Wolfgang
Mozart were Visiting Members of the Eclectic Lodge in Salzburg.
Apart from this there were two Illuminati lodges "Apollo" and

10

"Wissenschaft" (knowledge) , as well as a ladies' "Adoptionsloge."
Koch also mentions the Counts Franz and Nepomuk Spaur,
Professor Schelle, Count Wolfegg, Lorenz Hiibner (the Salzburg
topographer and editor of the Oberdeutsche Literaturzeitung) ,
the court councillors Ernst and Franz Gilowsky, Rector P. Kor-
binian Gartner of the university, and the musicians Brindl and
Benedikt Hacker as members of these lodges. Mozart was friendly
with Wolfegg and, on October 24, 1777, he wrote from Augsburg
that this count had attended a concert of his and had otherwise
taken him under his patronage. Wolfegg's name frequently ap-
pears in Mozart's correspondence, as do those of Spaur and Gilow-
sky. "Katherl" Gilowsky seems to have especially appealed to him.
Basil Amman was another friend of Mozart's among the Illumi-
nati. He died insane at the age of 29 and Mozart wrote on June 7,
1783, ironically commenting on his friend's mental state: "I am
sorry about Basil, and I would never have expected this of
him. ... If you should be able to obtain a German song composed
by him, be so good as to send it to me; it might make me
laugh "

Of the two Illuminati musicians, Brindl and Hacker, the for-
mer's name appears in a letter of Mozart's written to his sister on
October 28, 1772. Mozart refers to him as the "Amant" of
Nannerl Nader, a childhood friend of Mozart and his sister.

Hacker is not mentioned in the correspondence. Born in Dep~
pendorf, Bavaria, in 1769, he established a music store in Salz-
burg in 1802. He wrote a short opera, List gegen List, oder der
Teufel im Waldschloss (Tit for tat, or the devil at the hunting-
lodge) and drawing-room songs for part-singing. Apparently he
was interested in folklore, having collected songs in the Alps
(Gay songs from the "crazy Alps"). Eitner 2 indicates that several
of his masses were found in the library of the Gesellschaft der
Musikfreunde in Vienna, but Librarian Poll disposed of them for
lack of space. Apparently neither Leopold nor Wolfgang Mozart
left any written evidence of their membership in the lodges of the
Illuminati.

Leopold wrote a letter to his daughter on October 14, 1785,
which casts doubt on his membership in the Illuminati. Of the
persons mentioned in it, Christian Cannabich and Friedrich Ramm,
the famous Mannheim oboist, are well known. (14.10.1785)

11

"As I started to write, Herr Rahm and young Cannabich came
in to see me. They are going to Italy. And as Le Brun and his wife
just now happen to be in Verona, where she is singing in an opera,
and two pipers are too many for one inn, Rahm is going to Graz
and then to Venice by way of Trieste.

"I had to take him to call on Count Liitzow. They will stay until
tomorrow, unless they are asked to perform at court, because
Countess Schonborn is also here; she and Count Guntecker. But
Count Baar has left. On the other hand, Count Clam, the aimant
of Madame Duschek (from Prague) is also here. Well, we shall
see what happens. You may have heard that Dr. Hutterer was
taken to the fortress by five men eight days ago at seven o'clock
in the evening. For how long? They say for an indefinite period.
Even Profos Rieder is supposed to go there for four months or
perhaps he is already there because he sent Guttmann some
papers, or had him send them nobody knows for sure. From
Rahm, and already from Marchand's letters, I learned that not
even one-hundredth of the rumors told here about the Illuminati
in Munich is true. The investigations were quite proper. Some
obstinate ones were sent away or went of their own accord. The
rest, who made a dean breast of it to the Elector, remained even
one of their heads, Dr. Bader. The funny thing is that a list of the
members of Bader's lodge is circulating here, some 70 persons,
many of them high-ranking priests, among them Count Spaur, the
Canon of Salzburg, According to Herr Rahm, the true Masons, of
whom the Elector is one, are very much aroused about these
peculiar people. That is why this gossip was thoroughly investi-
gated."

At the time Mozart was admitted to those circles in Vienna
which were largely composed of Freemasons, the number of lodges
was large. After the accession of Joseph II, to be sure, some re-
strictions were imposed. A decree of December 11, 1785 limited
the number of lodges in capital cities to three and commanded
them to submit detailed lists of members from time to time for
the inspection of the government. Nevertheless, the reign of
Joseph II constitutes the beginning of a glorious chapter in the
history of Austrian Freemasonry. The splintering of the order into
several branches may have been the reason for this close super-
vision. There had appeared a number of rather doubtful systems
which carried on all sorts of shady business and quackery in the

12

name of Freemasonry, as witness the flagrant case of Cagliostro.
No wonder, therefore, that preventive measures had to be taken in
order to preserve the health of the movement Around 1781 the
following lodges were operating in Vienna: "Zur wahren Ein-
tracht" (true harmony), a daughter lodge of "Zur gekronten
Hoffnung" (crowned hope), "Zum Palmbaum" (palm tree),
"Zum heiligen Joseph" (St. Joseph), "Zur Bestandigkeit" (stead-
fastness), "Zu den drei Adlern" (three eagles), and "Zu den
drei Feuern* ' (three fires) . In the "True Harmony" lodge some of
the greatest and most brilliant men of the time were gathered
under the leadership of the famous Ignaz von Born. He was the
second Master, having previously been active in Prague, where he
had revived the lodge "Zu den drei gekronten Saulen" (the three
crowned pillars) .

In the Josephmische Curiosa, Born is described as follows:
"One of tie most remarkable, active, meritorious, and immortal
men of the Josephinian period, he was highly esteemed, decorated,
and treated as a friend by the Emperor." Born hoped to establish
a kind of Masonic academy in Vienna, based on freedom of
thought and conscience, similar to the "Neuf Soeurs" in Paris.
It was not long before the best intellects of Vienna and Austria
joined his lodge. Pezzl says of him: "I know of no one whom
people would rather meet, or hear with greater interest. He rules
unchallenged in the best society without causing displeasure. He
has not written much, but everything he says should be published,
for it is always witty, relevant, and his satire is without insult.
All of this knowledge and wisdom is uttered so spontaneously and
playfully that it sounds like ordinary common sense. His utter-
ances are so unique and distinctive that he uncovers unsuspected
slants on even the most commonplace matters. All that enters his
wonderful memory is retained. He has read and investigated
everything from Church Fathers to fairy tales."

Besides Born, a number of other important intellectuals were
members of the new lodge: Alois Blumauer, Joseph Franz Rat-
schky, Leon, Retzer, Johann Baptist Alxinger, Bergmann; and
the scholars Denis, Gruber, Haidinger, Herrmann, Marter, Johann
Mayer, Joseph Mayer, Menz, Miiller, Pacassi, Pallas, Ployer, Raab,
Ruprecht, Schrank, Unterberger, Voigt; the custodian of the uni-
versity library, Carl Joseph Michaeler, a Catholic priest who be-
came a Freemason in spite of the papal bull against the order and

13

who wrote an excellent polemic against his clerical adversaries;
Professor of philosophy Groag; Anton Sauter; Count Ayala;
Hilchenbach, the superintendent of the Protestant community in
Austria; Schmutzer, director of the Academy of Engravings;
Schiller s friend Reinhold, who had to flee to Weimar because of
his progressive views, and who married Wieland's daughter, con-
tributor to the literary journal Teutscher Merkur and later profes-
sor of philosophy in Jena. Other famous members were Stiitz,
director of the Imperial Natural History Collection; Georg Fors-
ter, who circumnavigated the globe; Franz Zauner, a sculptor,
creator of the equestrian statue of Joseph II and the monument at
the tomb of Leopold II; the engraver Adam; the publisher Artaria;
Leber, physician to the Empress Maria Theresia, who also taught
at the university; Peter Jordan; Franz Jager, the physicist Of con-
siderable importance also was Angelo Soliman, 3 the "noble
Negro/' an African prince who played an important part in the
social life of Vienna and is never missing from the roll of the
lodge. I have mentioned all of these individuals in order to give
a detailed impression of the Masonic environment of Mozart.

Today we know all the details of Mozart's entry into the Craft.
To be sure, he left no written record of his Masonic associations
and it is generally assumed that either he, his wife, or his father
destroyed all such papers. This may have been done out of fear of
Colloredo, Archbishop of Salzburg, with whom Mozart had sev-
eral disagreements, and perhaps also because of an anti-Masonic
movement which set in after Joseph's death.

The Viennese Brother Kulka and Otto Erich Deutsch have done
research on Mozart's admission and membership. They studied
the documents of the lodge "Zur wahren Eintracht," preserved at
the State Archives, and came to the conclusion that Mozart was
admitted to the lodge "Zur Wohltatigkeit" and not, as had been
supposed by such earlier biographers as Hermann Abert, into the
lodge "Zur gekronten Hoffnung." Because of the above-mentioned
restrictions imposed by the emperor, these two lodges had been
united with some others to form the lodge "Zur neugekronten
Hoffnung" (newly crowned hope). His admission was presum-
ably arranged by Baron von Gemmingen, the Master of the lodge
whose acquaintance Mozart had made in Mannheim. Gemmingen
(1755-1836) was the author of Mannheimische Dramaturgic
(1779) and a play, Der deutsche Hausvater (1780; The German

14

head of the house) . His name appears frequently in Mozart's let-
ters. On November 18, 1785, Leopold Mozart wrote to his daugh-
ter: "Soon you will be able to obtain in Salzburg the beautiful
book by my very good friend Baron von Gemmingen, which has
already been published in Vienna." Wolfgang Mozart wanted to
compose a melodrama on Gemmingen's Semiramis. In Vienna
the Baron published the Magazin fur Wissenschap und Kunst
(magazine for science and art) from 1784 to 1785. His secretary
Leopold Aloys Hoffmann was at first an eager Freemason and
enlightener who later assumed the role of Judas and became
notorious for his attacks on the order.

Until recently, the year 1785 had been accepted as the time of
Mozart's initiation, but according to the studies of Kulka, it ap-
pears that Mozart was initiated into the lodge "Zur Wohltatig-
keit" on December 14, 1784. Also initiated at this meeting was
Wenzel Summer, chaplain in Erdberg. Mozart had been proposed
for membership on December 5, 1784 and became no. 20 in the
lodge register. On December 24, 1784, he paid an official visit to
the lodge "Zur wahren Eintradit" (true harmony) before being
passed to the second degree at the request of his mother lodge.
This ceremony took place on January 7, 1785, at the 343rd meet-
ing of the lodge "Zur wahren Eintracht." The entry into the
minutes of this meeting says: "After the lodge was opened in
the first and second degrees two entered apprentices were passed
to the second degree with the usual ceremony. They were Vincenz
Marquis Canarisi, son of Joseph, 34 years old, born in Como in
Austrian Lombardy, Captain in the Royal-Imperial Regiment Bel-
gioso at the request of the very worshipful lodge 'Zur aufgehenden
Sonne' (rising sun) in Briinn; and Brother Wolfgang Mozard
(sic), at the request of the very worshipful lodge 'Zur Wohltatig-
keit.' "

In the minutes of the next meeting of the lodge "Zur wahren
Eintracht," Mozart's name is not mentioned, but Haydn's appears.
According to the minutes, it was proposed "to initiate the Peti-
tioner Joseph Haydn, music director to Prince Esterhazy, also the
Petitioner Baron Hallberg of Brussels." After being balloted on
January 24, Haydn was initiated into the lodge "Zur wahren Ein-
tracht" on February 11, 1785. However, the minutes indicate that
"the ballot was unanimously in favor of the candidates and their
initiation was arranged for January 28." Mozart appeared at the

15

meeting of the 28th, probably to greet his venerated friend as a
brother mason, but the initiation did not take place as Haydn was
prevented from coming. At the 353rd meeting, "the Petitioner
Haydn was exempted from paying dues and his initiation set for
February 11." At the next meeting, on that date, he was presented
and accepted as the "Petitioner Joseph Haydn, son of Mathias,
51 years old, born on May 1, of Roman Catholic faith, a com-
moner, born in Rohrau in Austria, by occupation music director to
Prince Esterhazy."

Haydn's initiation into the lodge "Zur wahren Eintracht" was
presumably delegated by the lodge "Zur Wahrheit." He seems to
have attended only once, although he wrote a letter to Count Ap-
ponyi on February 2, 1785, from Esterhaz: "Yesterday I received
a letter from my future sponsor, Baron von Webern. He writes
that he waited for me in vain last Friday, when my initiation, to
which I am anxiously looking forward, was to have taken place.
Through the negligence of our hussars I did not receive the in-
vitation in time and the ceremony was postponed to next Friday
(not February 4, as Abafi 4 says, but February 11). Oh, how I
wish it were that Friday already. Oh, to feel the unspeakable joy
of being among such worthy men!"

After the initiation, the Junior Warden, Joseph von Holzmeis-
ter, addressed Haydn on the subject of harmony. In spite of the
composer's great longing to belong to the Craft, he seems to have
lost interest in it after his entry, or possibly his heavy duties pre-
vented his making the trip to Vienna.

Mozart attended two further meetings, on January 14 and 28.
On March 28 it was announced in the lodge "Zur Wohltatigkeit"
that the music director, Leopold Mozart, and Bashy had been
proposed as candidates for initiation. "Since both are about to
leave the city, we have applied for dispensation in their behalf."
Dispensation was applied for on April 1 and granted by the
Grand Lodge of Vienna, but there are no minutes which directly
record Leopold's initiation., It took place on April 6, 1785, and
ten days later, on April 16, Leopold had already been passed to the
second degree.

The minutes read: "Brother and member of the worshipful
lodge 'Zur Wohltatigkeit' Leopold Mozart was passed to the
second degree with the usual ceremony/' On April 22, both father
and son were again present, and at that meeting Leopold was

16

already raised to the third degree. The entry says: "The Master
announces that, at the request of the very worshipful lodge 'Zur
Wohltatigkeit,' the Fellow Craft Leopold Mozard (sic), member
of the lodge 'Zur Wohltatigkeit,' son of Johann Georg, was raised
to the third degree."

Mozart attended the lodge "Zur wahren Eintracht" on August
12 and again, for the last time, on December 19, 1785. At this
last meeting of the year Freiherr von Hornstein was initiated and
Otto von Gemmingen, the Master of Mozart's mother lodge, was
present.

On February 11 at one P.M., Leopold Mozart had arrived at
846 Schulerstrasse (now no. 8) where his son lived on the first
floor. Haydn visited the Mozarts the very next day, one day after
his initiation. In his company were the Barons Bartholomew and
Anton von Tinti, who had been initiated with Haydn. The string
quartets K.458, K.464, and K.465 were performed that evening,
and Haydn made a remark which has since become famous: "I
declare to you before God, as an honest man, that your son is the
greatest composer I know either personally or by reputation. He
has taste as well as a consummate knowledge of the art of com-
position."

We have the impression that on this occasion Wolfgang Mozart
and Haydn discussed the possibility of Leopold's initiation into
Freemasonry. It almost looks as if Wolfgang had complained to
Papa Haydn about the estrangement between himself and his
father, and had suggested Leopold's initiation as a remedy. If
that is the case, their hopes were not fulfilled, for even after his
initiation, Leopold could not forgive his son for having married
Constanze Weber. It appears from his letters to his daughter that
Leopold was very anxious to return to Salzburg. His return seems
to have been delayed because he was to be raised to the third de-
gree on April 22, at a ceremony at which Ignaz von Born served
as Master. Leopold left Vienna three days later, and on April 30
he wrote to his daughter from Linz:

"I am writing on an impulse and I hope you will receive this. I
finally left Vienna on the 25th at 10:30 in company of your
brother and his wife. At Burkerstorf we ate together at noon, then
they returned to Vienna/* Of course Leopold Mozart kept his
Masonic activities completely secret. There are no hints of them
in the letters to his son, or to his daughter who was now married

17

to Baron Berchtold zu Sonnenburg, a curator at near-by St. Gilgen.
On June 2, only two months after being raised by Born, he wrote
to his daughter: "Baron von Born arrived in the evening at the
inn and immediately went to call on the prince. He was invited
for dinner the next day, and the poet Blumauer, who accompanied
him, was asked to coffee after dinner. Then they continued their
journey to Gastein, and will not stop here again until their return
trip." Both Born and Blumauer, the famous Austrian poet, had
been present at Leopold's raising. Was it the strict observance of
Masonic secrecy that sealed the lips of the otherwise talkative Leo-
pold, or was it fear of the archbishop?

Among Masonic documents in the Austrian State Archives,
Otto Erich Deutsdi found several invitations to concerts arranged
by the lodges in Vienna. On April 20, 1785 at 6:30 lodges "Zu den
drei Adlern" and "Zum Palmbaum" invited the other lodges to
a concert at which Brothers Mozart and Anton Stadler performed.
After the concert Brother Mozart was to entertain the audience
"with his popular improvisations. 1 ' It was a benefit for two fellow-
Masons, the brilliant clarinettists Anton David from Offenburg
near Strassburg, and Vincent Springer from Jungbunzlau near
Prague. Both were also masters of the basset-horn. Perhaps Mo-
zart's acquaintance with these two artists is responsible for his
preference for this instrument in many of his later works.

On December 15 the lodge "Zur gekronten Hoffnung" ar-
ranged a concert with a truly gargantuan program: a symphony by
Brother Paul Wranitzky, director of music to Count Esterhazy; a
duet-concerto for basset-horn by Brothers David and Springer; the
cantata Mdurerjreude (K. 471) and a piano concerto by Mozart;
a serenade by Stadler for six wind instruments in which Brother
Theodor Lotz, violist and first clarinettist of the Batthyany band in
Bratislava, played contra-bassoon; another symphony by Wra-
nitzky, composed especially for the lodge. After all this, Mozart
began his improvisations. We are not certain which piano concerto
was performed on this occasion, but it may have been K. 467 in
C major, Mozart's most recently completed one, or K. 482 in E
flat major, which he finished the next day.

Both the lodges "Zur wahren Eintracht" and "Zur Wohltatig-
keit" met; at that time at the house of Joseph von Weinbrenner,
"Zum roten Krebsen" (red crayfish) in the Pressgasse at the cen-
ter of Vienna. Mozart apparently was acquainted with Weinbren*

18

ner, whose name appears as one of the subscribers to the
February- Academy of 1784. (In Schiedermair's edition of Mo-
zart's letters the name is incorrectly given as Joseph de Wein-
bretnes.)

It is quite interesting to trace the few indications of Mozart's
Masonic associations through his correspondence. The character
of Sarastro in the Magic Flute is usually assumed to be modelled
on Ignaz von Born. But his name appears only once, and also in a
list of subscribers to an Academy concert sent by Mozart to his
father on March 20, a list containing a number of well-known
Freemasons. The only other Masonic references are in his letters
to the Viennese merchant Michael Puchberg, addressed as "dear-
est brother," "esteemed brother in the Craft," and signed
"brother" or "friend and brother." It was Puchberg who often
came to Mozart's financial aid. In 1777, Puchberg had become
a member of the lodge "Zu den drei Adlern" and later he joined
the lodge "Zum Palmbaum." He played a major financial role in
the former and it is evident that he underwrote the above-men-
tioned concert. Puchberg's first wife was the widow of his former
employer Michael Saliet, who is mentioned in a Mozart letter of
August 21, 1773, indicating that Mozart and Puchberg must have
been acquainted at that early date. In 1784, Puchberg was married
again, this time to Anna Eckart.

Mozart's famous letters to Puchberg give us a dear picture of
his unhappy financial situation, especially desperate after 1788.
Puchberg helped him on several occasions, but some biographers
have blamed him for not seeing his way clear to give Mozart the
really substantial loan he was hoping for, only continuing to help
him with comparatively small sums. In defense against this accusa-
tion, motivated by anti-Masonic feeling, we must point out that
Puchberg was only too well aware of the vagaries of the Mozart
couple. He could exercise a certain amount of control by giving
them only a little at a time. When Mozart died his debt to Puch-
berg had grown to 1000 gulden and of course all claims for
repayment were waived. Puchberg then became the guardian of
Mozart's two children, Karl and Wolfgang. A moving letter from
Haydn, written from London shortly after Mozart's death, shows
how Puchberg cared for the composer's estate:

"I was quite beside myself for a considerable time after hearing
the news of his death, and could not believe that providence had

19

so soon recalled so irreplaceable a man into the other world. I
only regret that he failed to convince the still unenlightened
Englishmen of what I preach to them daily. ... Be so good, dear
friend, as to send me a list of the works which are still unknown
here. I shall do my utmost to further them in the best interests of
the widow. I wrote the poor woman three weeks ago in order to
tell her that when her dear son is old enough I shall give him free
lessons in composition to the best of my power so that his father
will be replaced to some degree."

An undated letter of Mozart's, previously published by Schieder-
mair, contains apologies for missing a lodge meeting:

"Dear Brother, I returned home an hour ago with a bad head-
ache and cramps in my stomach. I have been hoping for improve-
ment, but I am afraid there is no sign of it, and I can see that I am
not destined to be present at today's solemn celebration. I beg you,
therefore, dear brother, to present my apologies. The greatest loss
will be mine.

I am for ever,
Your sincere
BROTHER MOZART."

Mozart probably cultivated some Masonic associations in Prague.
It is significant that on the occasion of his visit there in January,
1787, the first to welcome him should have been Count Canal, the
moving spirit behind the founding of the lodge "Zur Wahrheit
und Einigkeit" (truth and unity). Mozart wrote to Jaquin on
January 15, 1787, describing some of the important events in the
early part of his stay in Prague. At Count Canal's house he dined
and attended an opera by Paisiello. He visited Pater Ungar, head
of the university library, who was also a member of the new lodge
of which Canal was the Senior and Ungar the Junior Warden.
Another member, Gottlieb August Meissner, reports that Mozart
visited the lodge several times towards the end of his stay. Accord-
ing to apocryphal reports (Rococobttder) by his grandson Alfred
Meissner, Gottlieb August Meissner, who made notes of the most
important events in contemporary Prague, was a member of the
lodge "Zur Wahrheit und Eitiigkeit" He reveals that the brethren
formed a guard of honor and welcomed Mozart by singing his
cantata Maurerfreude, which he had composed in 1785 in honor
of Born. This consideration moved Mozart deeply. Thanking them,

20

he said that he would pay homage to Masonry in a better way in
the near future. He was referring to the Magic Flute which was
already taking shape in his mind.

In his book, Br . Mozart, Freimaurer und llluminaten, Koch
describes a document said to be in the Salzburger Museum. He
believes it to be Mozart's Lodge Certificate. It is in French:

"We, the Grand Master, the Deputy Master, the Wardens, offi-
cers, and members of the just and perfect lodge 'Crowned Hope
situated in the Orient of Vienna in Austria, make it known that we
recognize the venerable Brother as an Entered Apprentice, Fellow
Craft, and free and accepted Master Mason, and a member of our
Lodge. And we recommend our aforesaid Brother to our good
Brethren, united and dispersed over the face of the earth. Given
at the lodge 'Crowned Hope* in the Orient of Vienna in Austria,
March 22, Anno Lucis 5792." It is hard to find a reason for
Koch's acceptance of this document, for Mozart's name is not
even mentioned.

A letter from Mozart's widow to the music publishing house
Breitkopf & Hartel, written in 1800, is of interest here: "You
know that my husband was a Freemason. ... he also wanted to
found a society to be called Grotte (the grotto) . I found a frag-
ment of an essay about it and gave it to someone who knew about
it and thus might be able to complete it ... I am herewith send-
ing you an essay to help you with your biography. It is largely in
my husband's own handwriting and is about an order or a society
which he wanted to found, to be called 'The Grotto/ I cannot
furnish any more information about it. The elder Stadler, court
clarinettist, wrote the rest of the essay and could probably explain
it. He is reluctant to admit this knowledge because secret orders
and societies are so much hated nowadays."

It is not known exactly what kind of a society this "Grotto"
was to have been. Mozart may have envisaged a merry secret
society similar to the Ludlamshohle (Ludlam's cave) which was
founded in 1810 by Castelli and Mozart's brother-in-law Joseph
Lange. (The essay by Mozart and Stadler is unfortunately un-
known to me.)

Little is known of Mozart's Masonic activities during the last
years of his life. It is the period of the Puchberg letters, but it is
also the time when he was composing the Magic Flute. Free-
masonry has often been accused of neglecting Mozart when he was

21

poor and ill, for it has been pointed out that there was not even
enough money for his personal grave. It was not the Masons, of
course, but Constance who, on the advice of the famous Van
Swieten, ordered a third class funeral for her husband which
meant burial in a grave for four corpses. 5 Van Swieten, Salieri,
Siissmayr, and a few non-Masonic friends attended the funeral.
However, at the next meeting of the lodge "Zur gekronten Hoff-
nung," the new name of "Zur neugekronten Hoffnung," a me-
morial meeting was held along with a raising ceremony. Brother
Hensler delivered a funeral oration. 6 The words of this oration
were printed by Brother Ignaz Alberti in 1792; an excerpt fol-
lows: 7

"It has pleased the Eternal Architect of the world to tear from
our chain of brothers one of its most deserving and beloved links.
Who did not know him? Who did not esteem him? Who did not
love him, our worthy Brother Mozart?

"Only a few weeks ago he stood here in our midst, glorifying
with his magic sounds the dedication of our temple. Who among
us would have thought then how soon he was to be taken, from
us? Who was to know that within three weeks we were to mourn
him? It is the sad fate of men to have to leave this life with their
excellent works unfinished. Kings die, leaving their incomplete
plans to posterity. Artists die, after having spent their lives in
perfecting their art, and general admiration follows them to the
grave. Though whole nations mourn them, it is usually their fate
to be forgotten by these admirers but not by us, my brothers.
Mozart's death is an irreplaceable loss to art. His talent, which
already showed itself when he was a boy, made him one of the
wonders of our time. Half of Europe esteemed him, the great
called him their darling, and we called him brother! Though it
is proper to recall his achievements as an artist, let us not forget
to honor his noble heart. He was a zealous member of our order.
His love for his brothers, his cooperative and affirmative nature,
his charity, his deep joy whenever he could serve one of his breth-
ren with his special talents, these were his great qualities. He was
husband and father, a friend to his friends and a brother to his
brothers. He only lacked riches to make hundreds of people as
happy as he would have wished them to be."

The following poem was attached to the speech :

22

PLATE 1.

Otto Freiherr von Gemmingen, supposedly Mozart's Masonic Godfather.

He was in life good, mild, and gentle,

A Mason of good sense and open heart,

The muses' darling, for he re-created

In our souls what we had felt of yore.

The band is severed now, may Masons' blessing

Accompany him, bright and keen,

For our brothers' love shall also guide him

Into the land of harmony.

And we shall follow in his footsteps,

And seek out those to whom fate was unkind,

And think of him who to poor widows' dwellings

Innumerable gifts did bear.

Who built his happiness on orphans' blessings

And gave his coat to shivering poverty,

While asking only for God's reward

To be upon him in the end.

Even when lulled to sleep by Sirens' voices

Of flattery and fame, he could enjoy

The happy eyes of his poorer brethren

And never once forgot to be a man. 8

There is no doubt that Mozart had truly accepted the Masonic
view of life, especially the teachings of the third degree. This is
shown in a letter, frequently quoted, which he wrote to his father
on April 4, 1787, when Leopold was seriously ill:

"Death is (to be exact) the ultimate purpose of life and there-
fore, during the last few years, I have acquainted myself so thor-
oughly with this truest and best friend of man, that his image has
not only ceased to frighten me, but has become a source of great
comfort. And I can only thank God for having afforded me the
opportunity (you will understand what I mean) to see in death
the key to true happiness." Further on he writes, apparently re-
ferring to the Masonic secret, "I hope and wish that your condition
is improving while I am writing these lines. If, however, contrary
to all expectations, you do not feel better, then I implore you by
.... not to make a secret of it but to tell me the truth so that
I may be in your arms as soon as is humanly possible. I implore
you by all that we hold sacred."

23

A MASONIC ALBUM FROM
MOZART'S DAY

IN THE Viennese NationalbibUotbek there is a manuscript album,
numbered 209 979-A, entitled "Dedicated to the worthy and
dear brothers and Freemasons by B. Kronauer, 5783." Masonic
emblems, such as the six-cornered star, the triangle, the trowel,
and the square surround the inscription on the title page. Then
follow approximately 70 pages of entries by brother Masons. We
know little about Brother Kronauer except that he lived in Vienna.
He was born in 1743 and died March 2nd, 1799 in Vienna. His wife
was Sophie ( 1747-1830 ) . We do know that Kronauer had the title
'Von Waldeck," that he came from Winterthur, and that he was a
teacher of French. He belonged to the lodge "Zur gekronten
Hoffnung."

The album contains a large number of names significant in
Mozart's Hfe. We may assume that he associated with many of
the persons who wrote entries. The index at the end of the album
contains 74 names, the 63rd of which is Mozart Compositeur. Of
course this entry is of greatest interest. It begins in English:

"Patience and tranquillity of mind contribute more to cure our
distempers as the whole art of medicine." (sic)

"Wien, March 30, 1787."

It continues in German: "Your sincere friend and brother Mason,
Wolfgang Amade Mozart, member of the lodge 'Zur neuge-
kronten Hoffnung' in the Orient of Vienna."

The most striking thing about this entry is the English quotation,
written in Latin script instead of the Gothic running hand which
was ordinarily used by Mozart. It is likely that he was polishing
up his English at that time. He once referred to himself as an
"ardi-Englishman" and seems to have participated in the Anglo-
mania then current in Vienna. This was also the time that he
planned to go to England for an indeterminate period, a plan

24

which was bitterly opposed by his father. Wolfgang had wanted
to send his children to Salzburg to live with their grandfather,
while Wolfgang stayed in England. But Leopold would not hear
of it At this time Mozart had a number of pupils from the Brit-
ish Isles, the Irish tenor Michael Kelly, the English composer
Thomas Attwood and the musician Steven Storace, whose charm-
ing sister Nancy had first sung the role of Susanna in Figaro.

Further interesting entries in the album include no. 41, by
Gemmingen: "Naturam sequere ducem 21^ Otto v. Gemmingen,

III

Master of the Lodge 'Zur Wohltatigkeit' in the Orient of Vienna."
A silhouette of the writer is included, as is also the case with
Ignaz von Born, whose intellectual face is shown on his own page.
It is inscribed with a distydi:

Omne tulit punctum qui miscuit utile dulci.

Utile qui dulci miscuit, omne tulit.

(Signed L.[!}B.)

Speaking of Born, we should also mention the poet and writer
Johann Baptist Alxinger, whose fame was great in 18th century
Vienna. His entry in the album is no. 26. His role in Mozart's
life is secondary and revolves around Mozart's pupil, Maria
Theresia von Trattner, wife of a rich printer and paper manu-
facturer. Mme. von Trattner, like Frau Gottsched and Marianne
Ziegler in Leipzig, was a literary bluestocking, and Alxinger
satirized her. His sarcastic entry in Kronauer's album is ff Rara est
concordia fratrum" dated Feb. 19, 5785; and with his signature,
"member of the very honorable- lodge St. Joseph, royal and im-
perial court agent" This is certainly characteristic of his satire; his
words evidently refer to the scandalous quarrels among the
brothers, associated with the Masonic revolution of 1785.

Another literary figure in Vienna was Alois Blumauer, whom
Leopold Mozart mentions as the companion of Born on a trip to
Gastein. His entry is no. 5, and he signs himself as speaker and
member of the lodge "Zur wahren Eintradit" (true harmony) in
Vienna, and royal imperial book censor. He quotes Horace:

"Rebus angustis animosus atque fortis appare."

Also among the contributions of literary figures is no. 22: "Joseph
Franz Ratschky, resident secretary in Linz, speaker and member
of the lodge Zur wahren Eintracht" It is dated Nov. 13, just

25

before Mozart's initiation. Ratschky is the poet of Mozart's
Gesellenreise.

When Leopold Mozart was visiting Vienna early in 1784, the
actor and dramatist Johann Heinrich Muller, alias Schroter (1738-
1815) gave a banquet for 21 guests. The meal was described by
Leopold in praising but not superlative terms. Muller was also
associated with Wolfgang Mozart. In the Fascbing carnival period
of 1783, Mozart staged a pantomime, furnishing both choreog-
raphy and music, for which Muller wrote some verses. Mozart was
critical of his future brother s poems: "The verses, if we can call
them that, could stand improvement. They are not my product.
The actor Muller has whipped them up." Muller was from Hal-
berstadt and had been a theologian at Halle. He had come to the
Vienna Hopbeater in 1763, and occasionally had business with
Mozart in the days of the intrigues concerning the opera La finta
semplice. Muller's entry, no. 51, is dated Oct. 17, 1786. He iden-
tified himself as a member of "Zur wahren Eintracht" and wrote:

"The shadow on a sun dial
And a false friend
Are equal. For both can be seen
Only while the sun is shining.

May you see no cloudy weather. But if you should, I wish you
friends who are visible in it. Your sincere brother and devoted
servant

J. H. F. Muller, member of the
royal imperial national theater."

The secretary of the above-mentioned Baron von Gemmingen
was Leopold Aloys Hoffmann, originally a zealous and enlightened
Mason who later turned Judas to the Craft. At this time he was
professor at the University of Of en (Budapest) and a member of
the lodge "Zur Wohltatigkeit." His entry was written at the time
of Mozart's initiation which, however, he did not attend. It is
similar to a poem by Matthias Claudius:

"The world is a stage. You enter, look, pass, and are forgotten,
no matter who you are. You are lucky if this thought does not
disturb you, and it will not if wisdom and virtue live peacefully
under your roof.

26

"8 30 4 This as a souvenir of your friend and

x

brother L. A. Hoffmann
Professor at Of en in Hungary.
Member and Secretary of the
lodge 'Zur Wohltatigkeit' in Vienna."

Another interesting entry is that of the Swedish resident consul,
Brother Baron Engestrom, a member of the lodge "Zur gekronten
Hoffnung," dated March 9, 1784. Close to it is a verse written
on July(?) 10, 1783, by the royal Swedish conductor, Kraus, a
native of Mannheim:

(in French) "The things we see daily

Are not those we know best."

In the lodge meetings Mozart must have become acquainted with
the musician Joseph Zistler, Master of the lodge "Zur Sicherheit"
(security) in Bratislava, and a member, along with Dittersdorf,
of the orchestra of the Bishop of Grosswardein. The index of the
album identifies him as the Senior Warden of that lodge, and con-
ductor to Prince Grassalkowite. His entry was written in Bratislava
on September 27, 1785. The so-called composer Bauernjopel is
also represented by a rather long poem and a silhouette.

Perhaps it would be appropriate to discuss some entries in the
album written by brothers not living in Vienna. There is Brother
Friedrich Miinter from Copenhagen, member of the lodge "Zum
Lauten-Kranz" (lute wreath) in Gotha. The Jewish locket-maker
Abramson from Berlin wrote one piece in Hebrew and another
in German: "Happy is he who completely knows pure sunlight."
They are dated July 1, 1788. Another foreign brother is the painter
H. T. Lowen from Berlin, who wrote on Sept. 26, 1784: "Be
happy, love without quarreling, possess without unpleasant-
ness. . . ." Entries in Hebrew are not rare. Brother Brabbee, royal
imperial exchange commissioner and member of the "Bestandig-
keit" lodge, wrote with some ambiguity, "Here lies buried the
dog." A member of the same lodge, Professor Michaeler, librarian
of the University of Vienna, quotes Genesis 14:18 in Hebrew.
Wenzel Tobias Epstein, a man formerly of Jewish faith, Second
Warden and member of the lodge "Zur gekronten Hoffnung"
and a government secretary in Tyrol, wrote: "Rabbi Schamuensohn

27

said, 'Respect your apprentices as yourself. Look up to your fellow
men as if they were your teachers. Obey your masters as if they
were appointed by God/ from the original text of the Mishnah
Abot" Another brother of Jewish descent was the Deputy Master
of the lodge "Zur Bestandigkeit" and treasurer of die Austrian
regional lodge. He was the physician Dr. Ehrenstein, whose entry
is no. 24, dated Sept. 9, 1784, and written in Vienna:

(Latin) "Cuncta elementa gero, sum Terra, est ossibus ignis,
Aether inest naribus, vulva ministrat Aquam

(French) Remember, dear and* esteemed one, your faithful
and sincere Brother Ehrenstein."

There are a number of other interesting entries, all relevant to
a picture of Mozart's circle of Masonic friends. We can mention
only a few more names: Wilkowitz (member of the "Crowned
Hope" lodge and counsel of the ecclesiastic court in Linz) , Brother
Lang (of the same lodge, councillor to Prince Leiningen) , Brother
Weber (court secretary of the Netherlands office) , and Professor
Weissegger from Freiburg-im-Breisgau, both of the lodge "True
Harmony"; Brother Laurente Haschka of the St. Joseph lodge;
Baron von Riedheim, captain in Galicia; another Brother Weber,
speaker of the lodge "Zur Sicherheit" (security) in Bratislava
and book dealer; and many more. A number of entries consist of
cabalistic number exercises, a matter of great interest which must
be discussed elsewhere.

28

MASONIC MUSIC BEFORE MOZART

MOST MASONIC MUSIC has yet to be discovered by musicolo-
gists. Although many famous composers were members of
the Craft and composed a considerable amount of Masonic music,
the professional music historians of later times have not occupied
themselves with the subject. There are two reasons. First, older
Masonic compositions are rather rare. The original song books,
which were easily available to the layman, have been collected
by lodges and withdrawn from the public. They are difficult to
locate today even in large libraries. A more important reason is
that early Masonic music reflects the fact that it was written for
particular occasions. Only the Masonic parts of the Magic Flute
and the Funeral Music can be truly described as having general
Masonic significance. The works of lesser composers are on a much
lower artistic level and usually sound very conventional. Mozart's
supreme importance lies in the fact that, due to his particular
nature and background he was able to transmit his mystical ex-
periences to music. One need think only of the priests' chorus,
"Oh Isis and Osiris," in the Magic Flute, in which an almost mys-
terious effect is achieved by the descending parallel sixths, remi-
niscent of medieval Fauxbourdon.

Masonic music can be divided into three classes. The first con-
sists of various songs and instrumental pieces which were composed
ad hoc for use at lodge meetings, dinners, the St. John's feast,
and other occasions. It is functional music. The second category
comprises music which was not originally intended for Masonic
occasions, but whose contents made it appropriate for such use.
Compositions of a moral or edifying character, such as Mozart's
cantata Die ihr des unermesslichen Weltalls Scbopfer ehrt (K.
619), are typical. The third and highest group includes composi-
tions which are intended to express the Masonic creed but are
not for use in ceremonies. In addition to the Magic Flute and
Masonic Funeral Music, already mentioned, a composition by

29

Naumann, Osiris, could be classified here. In Leaning's Handbucb
der Freimaurerei we find the following requirements for Masonic
music: "Aesthetics has not yet found a formula for determining
true Masonic music. One would, however, expect dignity and con-
tentedness, and even banquet music must not become noisy/' Ob-
viously these are the minimum requirements for functional music,
but Mozart's masterpieces cannot be evaluated by these standards.

Music played a more active role in 18th century Masonic life
than today's. We can trace the basic shifts in Masonry through the
changes in use of music. In the 18th century, since Masonry had
a predominantly social character, Masonic music consisted largely
of social songs. But today Masonry is primarily a spiritual matter
and, accordingly, the purpose of music is to elevate and unite the
spirits of the assembled. Music then assumes a religious aspect.
Practically all religious communities have accepted the great unify-
ing power of music, a power rooted in rhythm. The great force of
the Roman Catholic church was partially due to the potency of its
music, and Martin Luther certainly knew what he was doing when
he introduced congregational singing into the reformed church.

The power of music to function as a unifying force has been
demonstrated by the economist Biicher in his book Arbeit und
Jthythmus (work and rhythm). Music with appropriate rhythmic
structure not only increases the efficiency but also heightens the
pleasure of working. This is achieved because musical rhythm
reinforces the rhythms of the human physiology and because it
decreases the controlled consciousness, introducing pleasant sensa-
tions similar to those effected by narcotics. Industrial music is based
on these processes. Masons, too, use music as a source of efficiency.
As the member enters the Temple, the sound of the organ lifts
him out of his daily routine into a more sublime state of mind and
a spiritual unity with his brothers. This effect is also produced by
ihe uniform clothing and signs.

In order to discuss Masonic music before Mozart we must de-
scend from these elevated thoughts into the depths of musical
bibliography. It would not be possible even to mention all of the
entries in this bibliography, and instead of dealing with the older
Masonic music in detail here, I can only promise to do so in a
future study.

Music played a prominent part in the Craft from the beginning,
not only at lodge meetings but also at the dinners following them.

30

Thus lodges in all countries tried to attract musicians who, in turn,
were glad to gain admission because of the accompanying social
advantages. Shortly after the founding of the Grand Lodge of
London, not later than 1725, a society, Philo Musicae et Architec-
ture Societas Appolinis, came into being and was still in exis-
tence in 1727. Only Freemasons could be invited as its guests.
William Gulston was its president and Brother Francesco Xaverio
Geminiani was "Director of all Musical Performances." Founded
by members of the lodge "At the Queen's Head" in Hollis Street,
it was to be an association of Masons interested in music. A similar
one was the "Anacreontic Society," one of whose members pre-
sumably composed the famous song "Anacreon in Heaven," whose
tune was later used for "The Star-Spangled Banner." Soon, how-
ever, the society Philo Musicae, contrary to the rules, began to
admit members independently and encountered the objections of
the Grand Lodge. Some documents in the library of the British
Museum indicate that at this early date musicians were already
uniting in the name of Masonry.

Geminiani, one of the founders of the society, was the greatest
violinist of his time and a composer of considerable importance.
But gradually music began to play a smaller part in the activities
of the society.

Many brilliant musicians of the period were Freemasons and
held offices in the lodges, for example, Charles King, organist of
St. Paul's Cathedral, Master of the lodge "King's Arms" in 1725.
A member of that lodge was John Immyns, who became assistant
to J. C Pepusch 1 after he was expelled from the society of at-
torneys, and who founded the Madrigal Society in 1741. There
were other important musician Masons. John Shore, inventor of
the tuning fork, was a member of the "Griffin" lodge in Newgate
Street. Morris Green belonged to the lodge which met at the
"Ship's Tavern." He was Sergeant Trumpeter to George III, and
his successor in that office, Valentine Snow, belonged to the lodge
which met at the Rainbow Coffee Tavern. Handel wrote several
works for Snow, including the Trumpet Obligatos in the Messiah,
Judas Maccabeus, and other oratorios. William Boyce was also a
prominent Freemason and composed the song "No sect in the
world can with Masons compare" which is still being sung today.
Arne was another member of the Craft, along with Samuel Wesley,
William Hayes, John Stafford Smith, Samuel Arnold, Mozart's

31

pupil Thomas Attwood, Samuel Webbe, the composer of several
Masonic choirs, and Benjamin Cook. George Smart, well known
as an admirer of Beethoven, was Second Grand Organist of the
Grand Lodge. Sir Michael Costa, conductor at the King's Theater,
the Philharmonic Society, and the Italian Opera, was Grand
Organist. This position was also held by Charles Edward Horsley,
the composer of the song "Masonic Trinity/' The "Entered Ap-
prentice's Song" by Matthew Birkhead, still in use, also dates from
that period. It is a typical English popular song, in the style close
to British folk music.

In 1763 Thomas Hale published his Social Harmony, the con-
tent of which is largely Masonic, and which includes an "Ode to
Freemasonry" by Brother William Hayes. A similar anthology,
Apollonian Harmony, is "a collection of scarce and celebrated
Glees, Catches, Madrigals, Canzonets, Rounds and Canons,"
which contains "The Free Mason's Glee" by Charles Dibdin
(1745-1840), a famous actor and composer. A large number of
such anthologies provided music for all kinds of Masonic social
gatherings. Smollett Holden published A Selection of Masonic
Songs (glees, duets, songs, and canons) in 1795 or 1796, in
Dublin. It contains the song "To Old Hiram in Heaven where he
sat in full glee," which was sung to the tune of the previously-
mentioned "Anacreon in Heaven" by John Stafford Smith. All of
these collections are notated in figured bass.

This type of notation is also used in a collection published at
The Hague in 1766 with the title La lire maqonne, ou Recueil de
Chansons des Francs Masons by the Brothers de Vignoles and du
Bois, with song-texts in French and Dutch. The melodies are
mostly taken from French vaudeville, but there are also some
original songs, designated nouvelles compositions, some of them
by Ignatz Vitzthum. Many of the texts are set to popular tunes,
dances (minuets, gavottes, bourrees) and street songs. Others
again are well-known tunes from French opera comique. The tune
of the Masonic song L'homme toujours fagit pour trouver le
bonheur seems to have been taken from the aria Dans ma cabane
obscure in Jean Jacques Rousseau's Devin du Village. Que Vordre
qui nous enchaine was sung to the tune of Ton humeur, Catharine,
a street tune which was used by Italian comedians in a parody of
Lully's Armide. Chantons le bonheur des Masons was sung to the
popular tune Joconde, which also appears as an aria in Arlequin

32

Atys. The tune used for Fondement de Part was Revenant de
Lorette, which also is sung by Bacchus in a parody of Armide
to the text Ta voix s t est fait entendre dans la Bachique Cour.

An example of an English tune used in this collection is "God
Save Great George, our King," set to a Dutch poem, D'Onge-
weinsheid. De Vergenoeging is set to a German tune, Ihr Schonen,
horet an, from the song collection, Die singende Muse an der
Pleisse by Sperontes, a tune ascribed to J. S. Bach.

Several Masonic song books were also published in the United
States. We mention only The Masonick Minstrel, a "selection of
masonick, sentimental and humorous songs, duets, glees, canons,
rounds and canzonets," printed in Dedham by H. Mann & Co.,
1816. In this book there are also songs of varying origins for
lodge meetings and social occasions. For the opening of the lodge,
"God Save the King" became "Hail Masonry Divine." There is
a canon for ten voices to honor the Grand Master, composed by
Brother G. K. Jackson. Another, for singing at installations, was
set to the tune of "Anacreon in Heaven," beginning with the
words "When Earth's foundation first was laid." There is a
"Senior Warden's Song" by T. S. Webb, to be sung first by one,
then two, and finally three voices. For the St. John's festival there
is an ode by Brother O. Shaw and another by Brother S. Holyoke,
"Let there be light," for the consecration of a lodge. The dirge,
"Solemn strikes the funeral chime," which is also used for the
third degree, seems to be derived from an older source. 2

The book contains many simple songs but also some polyphonic
ones such as the "convivial Masonic canon" by Jackson, "May all
the Universe be Free," set for ten voices. The collection is a hodge-
podge of tunes from everywhere. For example, the glee "Hail,
mysterious, glorious science" is set to Reinhard Reiser's Auf die
Gesundheit oiler Madchen (to the good health of all girls).
Mozart's Das klinget so herrlich (Oh listen, what is it that tinkles
so clear) from the Magic Flute becomes a part-song, "Away with
melancholy." Most of. the songs have a popular character, and
some are on a rather low artistic level.

The important part played by Freemasonry in English social life
can be deduced from the fact that a kind of Masonic ballad-opera,
The Generous Freemason, had been composed and performed al-
ready in 1730. It is by Brother Rufus William Chetwood, prompt-
er at the Drury Lane Theatre from 1722 on. It was printed in

33

1731 by G. Roberts in Warwick Lane and contains a detailed
dedication to all English dignitaries in Masonry. The plot is one
of those rather sentimental stories of rescue in foreign lands, so
fashionable in England at the time. An ode to Neptune by Henry
Carey, part of a Neptune ballet, is one of its features. Years later,
on Dec. 29, 1780, Harlequin Freemason, a pantomime by Dibdin,
was performed at Covent Garden, produced by Messink, a friend
of Garrick.

Turning now to Germany, we must first examine a work by
Sperontes, Die singende Muse an der Pleisse, of 1736. According
to Philipp Spitta, Sperontes was the pseudonym of Johann Sigis-
mund Sdiolze, a Silesian; the historical significance of his collec-
tion lies in the fact that it contains a large number of hit tunes
from the middle of the 18th century. It was intended to have the
widest possible appeal and thus included something for all seg-
ments of society. Significantly, Scholze (who probably was a
Mason) included a song for Freemasons. This song was included
in a Masonic collection of 1745, one year before the first official
Masonic song book made its appearance (Freymaurer Lieder by
Ludwig Friedrich Lenz). The song itself mentions "our Order,"
complaining that it is much misunderstood. Printed under the title
are the Masonic emblems, square, plumb rule, and compass. There
is so little secrecy about these Masonic matters that Masonic songs
could be included in a general song collection in the same way as
students' and soldiers* songs, so little secrecy, indeed, that a noble
lady from Thuringia was able to include French Masonic songs
in a manuscript collection made for her own amusement. In the
Singende Muse the so-called French method of parody is used;
new words are sung to the tunes of songs already well-known.
The French Masonic collections employed the same process.

We now should examine some of the best-known German
Masonic collections. Like the French and Dutch ones, they are
closely linked to contemporary native song writing. The first one
was set down in Altenburg and published in 1746, but the music
of its nine songs is uninteresting. In 1749 appeared the first col-
lection by a German musician, Johann Adolf Scheibe (1708-
1776), whose name is important in the history of Masonic music,
and who also acquired fame of another sort because of his oppo-
sition to J. S. Bach. When the organist of the St. Thomas church
in Leipzig, Christian Grabner, died in 1729, several musicians,

34

among them Scheibe, applied for the position. Scheibe was unsuc-
cessful and the post went to Gorner. Bach was cantor of the
church at the time, and a member of the committee which judged
the candidates. Scheibe later moved to Hamburg where he edited
a periodical, Cntischer Musicus, in whose sixth issue he attacked
Bach violently, calling his music "as tortuous as it is futile because
it is contrary to all reason." Bach replied by composing one of his
most beautiful secular cantatas, The Contest between Phoebus and
Pan. In this cantata he mocked Scheibe, representing him by the
character of Midas, much as Wagner satirized the critic Eduard
Hanslick, who had attacked him, in the figure of Beckmesser in
Die Meistersinger.

It is to Brother Scheibe's great credit that he did his best to
rectify his error some years later. The following passage appeared
in Cntischer Musicus on July 28, 1739:

"Some time ago in a famous city there lived a person whom I
can describe very accurately because I have been dose to him since
childhood and know him as well as myself. Let us call him Al-
fonso. Circumstances forced him to make his living by music.
As he made progress, he began to feel envious of the advantages
of others. And when he heard the ability of experienced men
praised, he would envy them simply because he did not possess
the same skill. Later this envy, which had held him captive,
changed to ambition, which spurred him on to the emulation of
famous men. Thus he gradually overcame his weakness and was
able to hear others praised without blushing. Finally, he became
able to extol them himself and to acknowledge their right to
fame."

This act was truly in the Masonic spirit. Scheibe was one of the
most formidable theorists and critics of his day. One of his lasting
claims to fame is his theory that polyphonic music originated in
the North of Europe, an opinion that has never been discarded.
Scheibe was less important as a musician, however, and Masonic
music would be richer today if his adversary Bach had entered
the Craft.

Scheibe's competitor for the post of organist at the St. Thomas
church, Corner, who was the cause of this quarrel with Bach, had
a brother who also influenced Masonic music. In his "Collection
of New Odes and Songs" (1742) , all of the song-texts were writ-
ten by Friedrich von Hagedorn and set to music in the manner of

35

French vaudeville. This collection is distinguished by popular,
vulgar melodies resembling dance tunes. Gorner was responsible,
however, for at least one innovation; he was the first to commit to
paper a practice which had probably been in, use for some time.
He introduced antiphonal or responsorial singing into some of the
brief songs intended for small, friendly gatherings. Some espe-
cially short songs, and others with little musical interest can be
improved if the refrain or even the body of the song is sung
alternately by two groups or by a leader and a chorus.

Freemasons, not students, were thus the first to use antiphonal
singing in German art song. In the first collection mentioned
above, published in 1746, there are no antiphonal songs, but the
second one, Neue Freimaurer Lieder, dedicated to the lodge
"Zorobabel" in Copenhagen, and dated St. John's day, 5749,
already has some. "Now sings one, now sing all," it declares in
the preface. The arrangement of the verses in most of the songs
shows quite clearly how this is to be done. The music, by Scheibe,
is rather insipid. In 1776, the year of his death, Scheibe published
a "Complete Songbook for Freemasons in two Volumes" (Voll-
standiges Liederbuch fur Freymaurer mit Melodien in zwei
Buchern). The chorus had by then become polyphonic, but it is
arranged in such a way that musically untrained brothers could
also sing it. The second volume of this work was published by
Christian Gottlob Proft in Copenhagen in 1785, but it is not
mentioned in the bibliography of Eitner, or in the works of Kretz-
schmar and Friedlander. People seem to have been aware of
Sdieibe's weakness as a composer, for this new collection, with
compositions by other brothers, was published rather hurriedly. In
its preface it mentioned thirteen Masonic song books on which it
has drawn for material, thereby enriching our bibliographical
knowledge. A large number of the songs are by a new composer,
J. Gotd. Naumann. The songs are placed in order according to
Masonic categories:

Opening of the lodge

St. John's festival

Toast to the King

Toast to the Protector

Master Masons' songs

Fellow Crafts' songs

Entered Apprentices' songs

36

Encouragements

Wisdom

Beauty

Strength

Liberty

Secrecy

Unity

Holy Number

Joy

The ladies
Music

Song to peace
The poor
Closing songs

The songs are scored for clavier accompaniment as were all songs
of that time. They are designed to be "sung at the clavier." But
the score contains only the vocal melody and a figured bass, rather
than a full clavier part like that of the classical composers.

Some songs in the collection have been taken from Roman
Catholic hymnody. For example, Lasst uns singen des Weisen Rub
(let us sing to the wise man's peace), which was included in the
"wisdom" group, appears to be based on the hymn Grosser Gott,
wir loben Dich (Great God, we praise Thee), according to
Baumker (Das katholische deutsche Kirchenlied IV, p. 285).
This tune was widespread throughout the later eighteenth cen-
tury, having already appeared in the hymnal of Empress Maria
Theresia (published in 1774).

Naumann's song of strength ("The faith that binds us brothers
is more durable than steel") is vaguely similar to Papageno's
aria " 'Tis love, they say, love only" from the Magic Flute, and
possibly it served as a model for Mozart. Very numerous in the
collection are the table songs which, understandably, are largely
patterned after students' songs. The various toasts to lords, ladies,
and artists, which are today spoken, were then expressed in
musical form.

Beethoven's teacher, Christian Gottlob Neefe (1748-1798),
also seems to have been a Freemason, Wolfstieg and Irmgard
Leux notwithstanding. In a collection of songs, FreimaurerUeder
zum Gebrauche der ger. und vollk. Loge zum (!) drey H(ammera

37

in Naumburg) aufgesetzt von JE(rnst) Johann Georg 5(chmidt?),
hrsg. von F(riedrich) Gotthilf F(reitag?) (Mit Melodien von
Fenee) Leipzig, Breitkopf 1774. The name of the composer is
given as Fenee, for the inversion of Neef e into Fenee was common
Masonic practice. Perhaps Beethoven's interest in Freemasonry was
due to his teacher's influence. According to recent research, Neefe
was a member of the lodge "Karoline zu den drei Pfauen" (Caro-
line of the three peacocks), and in 1784, also prefect of the Bonn
chapter of the Illuminati, under the name of Glaucus. The six
songs in the Neefe collection are to be sung in "assembly," i.e.,
in a closed lodge meeting. Four years later yet another collection
was published for use at lodge meetings (published by Bock,
Hamburg) , established by the German Grand Lodge. The next year,
a second volume appeared, published, according to Friedlander,
by C G. Telonius.

We have already mentioned Joh. G. Naumann ( 1741-1801 ) , con-
ductor at the court chapel in Dresden, as one of the most remark-
able Mason musicians of his time. He seems to have been very
highly esteemed in Masonic circles, for he was granted admission
into a very exclusive lodge in Dresden whose members prided
themselves on tiieir aristocratic origin. His collection, which was
published in Berlin in 1782 with the title 40 Freimaurer Lieder,
was intended for use at the dinners of German and French lodges.
It is dedicated to Prince Frederick William of Prussia. A large
number of the songs are identical with those of the Copenhagen
collection mentioned above. Naumann was quite an able and in-
dustrious composer, but not one of genius. His songs tend to sound
tearfully sentimental, and the Masonic ones are no exception. The
collection also contains some short instrumental compositions
which were probably used as ritual music. A piece to be played
on entering the lodge is in the form of a simple song with three
recurring beats representing the Entered Apprentice's knocking.
The three-fold handshake, with which the chain is broken, is
represented by three dotted notes at the end. The idea of the chain
is doubtlessly expressed in a piece characterized by chains of sus-
pensions.

After the publication of his song collection, Naumann wrote
an opera, Osiris. His chief biographer, Richard Englander, says
that Naumann probably felt the need of stating his Masonic creed
in a piece of large proportions. We shall return to this opera, first

38

produced in Dresden in 1781, which anticipated the Magic Flute
by ten years in its use of Masonic lore as the main theme. Ac-
cording to Englander, Osiris was one of the few operas of the time
whose dramatic content fully satisfied the standards of Gluck and

Calzabigi.

At the time Naumann was engaged in composing this opera,
Lorenzo DaPonte, Mozart's librettist, was in Dresden staying with
Mazzola, who wrote the text of Osiris. Since DaPonte was helping
Mazzola in his general dramatic work, it is quite probable that he
also had a hand in the creation of Osiris. Mazzola later revised
Metastasio's libretto Titus for Mozart's opera, La Clemenza di
Tito, which was performed in Prague in 1791 for the coronation
of Emperor Leopold II as King of Bohemia. We do not know
whether Mozart or Schikaneder heard about Osiris from DaPonte,
or even from Mazzola himself, but we can safely look upon it as
a forerunner of the Magic Flute. This is evident in the tests which
are reminiscent of Masonic ritual, opposition of good and evil,
the priests choruses, etc. Furthermore, Naumann uses a kind of
Leitmotif-techm<yae which seems to confirm his position as a
transition between the late Neapolitan composers and the roman-
tic opera. The most important Masonic characteristic of Osiris is
the repeated appearance of a series of beats which function as
rhythmic Leitmotifs.

We should also mention a volume containing Masonic songs
by Carl Friedrich Ebers (1770-1836), a composer from Mecklen-
burg. It is inscribed, "15 Masonic Songs for all occasions at the
Festive Board, performed at the united lodges in the Orient of
Berlin, set to music and respectfully dedicated to the Nationd-
Mutterloge zu den drei Wettkugeln (the national mother-lodge
'Three Globes'), to the Grosse Landesloge von Deutschland
(grand lodge of Germany), and to the Grand Lodge 'Royal York
zur Freundschaft' by Carl Friedrich Ebers, member of the lodge
Zum flammenden Stern (flaming star)" (published by Frohlich
& Co.) . The subjects of the songs are the king, the Master of the
lodge, the lodge and its officers, members of the Craft, new ini-
tiates, the charity box, the ladies, St. John's festival, etc. Like
Naumann, Ebers uses Masonic rhythms. For example, in the song
Der Hammer, the rhythm of the Entered Apprentice's knocks can
be heard in the piano introduction. Both the music and the words
are inept, although some of the poets, such as Anschutz, an actor

39

and member of the lodge "Apollo" in Leipzig, Dietner, Kern-
dorf er, and Eberhard are quite well-known. The only non-Masonic
song composed by Ebers is the German popular tune Wir sind
drei Konige der Welt (Bohme, Volkstumliche Lieder der
Deutschen, p. 421). Ebers appears in a dissertation, Die Mecklen-
burger JJederkomponisten des IS, Jahrhunderts by Hans Rentzow,
but his Masonic activities and compositions are not mentioned
there.

A large number of musical works composed for specific Masonic
occasions were published in England and France as well as Ger-
many and Austria. An interesting example is a work entitled
Apologie pour I'Ordre des Francs-Masons par Mr. N[audof},
Membre de I'Ordre, Avec deux Chansons, composee par le Frere
American. This is doubtless a vaudeville song adapted for
Masonic uses. To my essay, "Old Freemason Music" in Musical
Quarterly, the editor added the note: "It has been asserted that this
Brother was none other than Benjamin Franklin."

I should like to add a few words about Masonic music in
France, which has been discussed in an excellent article by Roger
Cotte in Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart. According to
Cotte, music was frequently performed in the earliest French
lodges, beginning in 1725. As in the Lire Magonne, the songs
consist largely of vaudevilles and pontneup, but there were also
some which had been especially composed for the occasion. One
of the most important collections was made by one Jean Jacques
Naudot, presumably the famous flutist who lived in Paris between
1726 and 1745. Tte manuscript of this collection has been pre-
served by the Paris Conservatoire and has the title (in French),
"Notated songs of the very worshipful brotherhood of Free-
masons, preceded by several pieces of poetry on the same subject,
and a march." It was translated into German several times. The
collection contains several original compositions, a male chorus for
three voices (even here the symbolic number three!), and two
marches for several instruments. One of the latter was transcribed
for davecin by Michel Corrette, and the flutist Blavet arranged
the Marcbe de la grande Loge de la Magonnerie for two flutes.

As in Anglo-Saxon Masonry, great importance was attached to
the marches played at French lodge meetings. Henri- Joseph Taskin
(1779-1852) composed several marches as well as other Masonic
music In France, as in Austria, it was customary to perform can-

40

tatas at consecration ceremonies, and Louis Nicola Clerambault
(1676-1749) composed such a work, Les Francsmafons, in 1743.
While he was certainly a member of the Craft, there is some doubt
about the membership of Jean Philippe Rameau (1683-1764),
France s foremost composer of the 18th century. We know, how-
ever, that several of his operas, including Zoroastre, are based on
Masonic ideas.

The Concerts de la Loge Olympique were founded by Masonry.
These concerts were started in 1780 and open only to Masons.
Performances took place within the framework of a Masonic
ritual. The members of the orchestra appeared in embroidered
suits with lace cuffs and wore ceremonial swords and cocked hats.
Queen Marie-Antoinette patronized these concerts, whose moving
spirit was the famous violinist Jean Battiste Viotti (1753-1824).
Luigi Cherubini had his well-known cantata Amphyon performed
there, and Haydn contributed six of his best symphonies.

In 1801 a bowdlerized version of the Magic Flute was per-
formed in Paris with the title Les mysteres d'Isis. Its perpetrator,
a Czech by the name of Wentzel Ludwig Lachnit, managed to
strip the opera of all its wonderful and amusing elements. Papa-
geno was turned into a shepherd named Bochoris, the Champagne
Aria from Don Giovanni and an aria from La Clemenza di Tito
were smuggled in as duets. Cotte observes that this opera had some
influence on French Masonic composers, especially on Taskin.

Among other French composers who were Freemasons but did
not compose any Masonic music were Boieldieu, Pleyel, and
Meyerbeer, and from a later period, Henri Casadesus, Jean Ar-
mand Petit, and Prudent Pruvost. One of the best-known French
Masonic songs, Chant des Matllets, is persistently but wrongly
ascribed to Mozart, just as Freut euch des Lebens was always
claimed for him in the England and America of 1800.

41

MASONIC MUSICIANS AROUND MOZART

npHE FIELD OF MUSIC contributed an exceptionally large number
JL of Freemasons in the 18th century. In Germany and Austria
they were especially welcomed into the lodges because their par-
ticipation helped to create the solemn atmosphere necessary for
the ceremonies, whose emphasis of aesthetic experience has always
been primary.

We shall mention a few musicians who were members of the
Austrian lodges at that time, without arranging them in any order
of merit. There was Franz Zohrer, born in Zwettl in 1749, con-
ductor to Count Palm in Regensburg and a member of the lodge
"Zu den drei Adlern" (three eagles) in Vienna. Nothing further
is known about him. Another member of this lodge was Carlo
d'Ordonez, a musician who, according to Abafi, was born in
Vienna in 1734. Hanslidk, in his Geschichte des Concertwesens,
says that he was born in Spain, and that around 1760 he became
registrar and later a secretary of the Landgericht. He was a profi-
cient violinist and also composed symphonies and cantatas which
were occasionally performed at the academies of the Tonkunstler-
societal. Both Hanslick and Abafi state that he was admitted as a
member of the Imperial Court Chapel in Vienna in 1766, but his
name does not appear in the register. Some chamber music and a
Singspiel (musical comedy) have been preserved. He held the
office of First Steward in the Scottish Rite Lodge.

Paul Wranitzky was a member of the lodge "Zur gekronten
Hoffnung." He was a violinist in Count Johann Esterhaiy's private
orchestra, and from 1785 until his death in 1808 he was director
of the orchestra at the Vienna Court Opera. He played a part in
the history of the Magic Flute and composed several Masonic
songs.

The "Crowned Hope" lodge could also count among its mem-
bers the musicians Joseph Bartha, Vittorio Colombazzo (other-
wise unknown) , the actor and singer Valentin Adamberger, who

42

performed Mozart's Masonic songs; the poet-laureate of the lodge,
Franz Petran, a secular priest from Bohemia who wrote the words
of Mozart's cantata Maurerfreude (Masons joy, K. 471); Ferdi-
nand Schleiss (otherwise unknown), and the ballet master Carl
Prandstetter. The lodge's St. John's festival of 1785 was embel-
lished by three songs with music by Wranitzky and words by
Petran.

One of Mozart's enemies was also a member of the Craft. He
was Leopold Kozeludi, music teacher of the Archduchess Elisa-
beth, the wife of Emperor Francis II, and, after 1792, court con-
ductor and composer to the Emperor. Kozeludi was a member of
the lodge "Zum Palmbaum" (palm tree) and later of "Zu den
drei Adlern" (three eagles) . He had at one time tried to stir up
Haydn against Mozart, and his hateful remarks at the premiere
of La Clemenza di Tito in Prague made him unpopular with his
Bohemian compatriots. Even Beethoven did not escape his veno-
mous opposition.

Another interesting member of the "Palmbaum" lodge was
Carl Leopold Rollig, an official of the court library and an excel-
lent glass-harmonica player. He was cured of a serious illness by
Cagliostro and otherwise became entangled in mystical affairs.
G. A. Meissner reports that Rollig was on terms of intimate
friendship with Johann Gottlieb Naumann.

Johann Holzer, member of the lodge "Zur wahren Eintracht,"
wrote a number of songs and Masonic compositions. Some of the
songs with piano accompaniment were published in 1779, and
some of these, in turn, appeared under the editorship of Irene
Schlaffenberg in volume 54 of Denkmaler der Tonkunst in Oester-
reich. Very little is known about Holzer's life. In addition to
twelve German songs, he left some chamber music works, now in
the archive of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna. Anton
Johann Holzer was employed at the Austrian war office. His col-
league there, Joseph von Holzmeister, an amateur musician, de-
livered the address to the new initiates at Haydn's initiation. The
speech was reproduced in the Journal fur Freymaurer* In the first
volume of this periodical, 1784, two of Holzer's songs were
printed. One, 1m Namen der Armen (in the name of the poor),
with words by Gottlieb Leon, beginning "Brothers, listen to the
cries of the poor," is scored for two voices and cembalo accom-
paniment. The music is gentle and slightly reminiscent of Mozart's

43

songs, though less formidable. The other song by Holzer is a
setting of Ratschky's Gesellenreise (Fellow Craft's journey), pub-
lished in 1785, which was also set to music by Mozart. Likewise
for two voices and cembalo, it is designated as a march. Evidently
it was actually performed at a ceremony.

One of the less praiseworthy Masonic compositions of Mozart's
time was a circus-like pantomime, Adoniram's Tod t composed and
conducted by one Brother Hyam, and performed by a company of
dressage riders in April, 1784. A survival of the equestrian ballets
of the 17th century, this "horse opera" does not contribute to the
dignity of Masonic intellectual history.

A collection of Masonic songs from this period includes com-
positions by Brother Bauernjopel. Its tide was Lieder zum Ge-
braucb der Freimaurerloge 'Zur wabren Eintracht' in W., In
Musik gesetzt von Br. -/-. The composer was speaker of the
lodge "Zur Bestandigkeit" (constancy) in Vienna, and it was said
that he could say "a hundred stupid things a minute with a wise
face." This collection also contains a poem by Blumauer set to
music by Sarti, whose Masonic status, however, is uncertain.

Three more songs from this period were performed on July 24,
1785, at the St. John's festival of the lodge "Zu den drei Feuern"
(three fires) in Vienna. The first of them is intended to be sung
before dinner, giving thanks for the "gifts of Mother Earth." The
second is entitled "For the collection for the poor," and the third
is for the dosing of the lodge ("Our chain is the image of true,
warm harmony"). The composer of these songs was Georg
Benda, a member of the lodge in Altenburg, but at that time a
resident of Vienna. The three songs are entitled "The St. John's
festival of the lodge 'Three Fires' in Vienna, celebrated on
July 24, 1785, set to music by Brother B-a." Mozart and Benda
certainly were well acquainted even though the friendship is not
documented, and Mozart was deeply impressed by Benda's Medea
and Ariadne auf Naxos. Indeed, Mozart even sketched a setting of
Gemmingen's Semiramis in the style of Benda's melodramas
(plays with music background) . On Nov. 12, 1778, Mozart wrote
to his father: "You know that Benda has always been my favorite
among the Lutheran conductors, and I am so fond of these two
works that I carry them around with me."

Now a few words about the musicians in the lodges in Prague
which Mozart visited. Franz Xaver Hloschek and his son Anton

44

were the only musicians in the lodge "Zu den drei gekronten
Saulen" (three crowned pillars) . Their name is spelled "Loschek"
in the Jahrbuch der Tonkunst von Wien und Prag, 1796. A mem-
ber of their lodge was the physician de Vignet who not only loved
music but was also a generous friend to Mozart. On June 13, 1792,
he arranged a memorial concert for the benefit of Mozart's widow,
in which his daughter and Mme. Duschek participated.

In addition, we should mention the following Masonic musicians
and artists belonging to Lodges with which Mozart had friendly
relations. The musician Schmidt(?) from Briinn belonged to the
St. Joseph Lodge of which Wenzel Himmelbauer, "traveling musi-
cian," was a member. The latter was born in Bohemia, an excellent
cellist who, together with Dittersdorf , was a member of the orches-
tra of Count Grassalkowitz. Ch. F. Schubart is quite enthusiastic
about Himmelbauer's playing and his pleasant personality. Accord-
ing to Eitner, he supposedly lived in Bern, Switzerland. Peter Graf,
another "Tonkiinstler," belonged to the same Lodge. Johann
Friedel, an actor of Schikaneder s theater, and the actor Karl L.
Schmidt were members of the "Bestandigkeit," of which also
Joseph Grassi, later Professor at the Kunstakademie in Dresden,
was a member. It was this Grassi who participated in a pantomime
in February, 1783, choreographed by Mozart himself (Sdienk,
page 579).

45

MOZART'S MASONIC COMPOSITIONS

ON MARCH 26, 1785, Mozart composed his Gesellenreise
(Fellow Craft's Journey). It is known that Leopold Mo-
zart was passed to the second degree on April 16 of that year.
Therefore it is highly probable that Wolfgang composed the song
for that occasion, especially since he did not visit the lodge "Zur
wahren Eintracht" between these two dates, and since prominent
Masons were usually initiated there. As already indicated, Rat-
schky's poem was also set to music by Holzer. It is remarkable that
Holzer's setting was published in the Journal fur Freymaurer
early in 1785, at about the time that Mozart was composing his
setting. Holzer's choice of harpsichord for accompaniment, and
Mozart's of organ, indicate the contrasting characters of these two
compositions. While Holzer's rhythm and tempo are suitable for
the ritual, which gives him no cause for special sentiment but is
simply one step on the Mason's road, Mozart's song is gentler,
and more solemn, perhaps a representation of homage to his old
father. Joseph Franz von Ratschky (1757-1810), the poet, was
one of the most famous writers of his day and a high-ranking civil
servant. Sonnenfels had recommended him to Emperor Joseph
and he ended his career as a Staatsrat. In 1785 he wrote an essay
on "The tolerance publicly granted to the order of Freemasons by
Emperor Joseph II," and in the same year his poems were pub-
lished by Brother Rudolf Graffer, in the first book printed on
vellum in Vienna. Many brothers subscribed to it. It contains the
poem Gesettenreise, which was later parodied as "Life's Journey"
by D. Jager. Ratschky had a good sense of humor.

A second song, with a poem by Brother Schittlersberg, was also
set to music by Mozart (K. 483) and was designated to be per-
formed at the opening of the lodge "Zur neugekronten Hoflf-
nung." Schittlersberg was Senior Warden at the lodge "Zur
wahren Eintracht" The translation of the first stanza follows:

46

Oh sing today, beloved brothers

Your song of jubilation,

For Joseph's benevolence

Has crowned anew our hope

And in our hearts a threefold flame now gleams.

In order to understand these words, one must realize that while
Joseph gave the Freemasons permission to meet, he decreased the
number of lodges in Vienna from eight to three. Thus the lodges
"Crowned Hope," "Charity," "St. Joseph," and "Three Fires"
were dissolved, and most of their members joined the "Newly
Crowned Hope." The words of the song play on the names of
these lodges and otherwise refer to the merger. Since the event
took place in December, 1785, we can assume that this is the time
of the song's composition. It is scored for a solo voice, a three-
part chorus, and organ accompaniment, and its beginning is
slightly similar to the song of the three genii in the finale no. 21
of the Magic Flute ("The rosy flush that greets us yonder") .

We see that Mozart was already beginning to use the ritual
number three in the manner typical of the Magic Flute. A hymn
for the dosing of the lodge, also dating from 1785, is K. 484,
for three male voices. A translation of the text as it appears in the
autograph follows.

1. Solo Oh you, our new leaders,

We thank you now for all your faith.
Oh lead us ever in the paths of virtue
That all rejoice in the chain that ties us,
The chain that binds us to better men,
And giveth sweetness to life's chalice,
Gives sweetness to the cup of life.

Chorus The holy adjuration we also vow:

To strive for perfection of our great temple.

2. Solo And on the rungs of truth

Let us approach the throne of wisdom

That we may reach its holiness

And that we of her crown may be worthy,

If charity will drive out

The jealousy of the profane.

The words of this hymn indicate that it was intended for the in-
stallation of a new set of officers. Evidently both of these songs
were composed for the same evening. Their words were printed
with the following remark: "For the first solemn opening of the
very worshipful lodge 'Newly Crowned Hope/ on the 14th of
the first month, 5785." Otto Erich Deutsch has proved that this
is a misprint; since the merging of the lodges took place only at
the end of 1785, the date should have been 5786.

Deutsch includes the texts of two more songs, Zur Eroffnung
der Meisterloge (for the opening of "Newly Crowned Hope")
and Zum Schluss der Meisterarbeit, "by a brother of the lodge
(i.e., Gottlieb Leon), set to music by Br. M . . ." (evidently
Mozart, probably in 1786). Thus these two songs, entitled Des
Todes Werk (the work of death) and Vollbracht ist die Arbeit
der Meister (die work of the Masters is finished) might be two
lost compositions of Mozart's. The occasion of their composition
is uncertain. I suspect that they were performed at the memorial
meeting of November 17 for the Duke of Mecklenburg and
Count Esterhazy, at which the Masonic Funeral Music was also
performed. The two songs are accompanied by figured bass, whose
chords must be completed by the organist. This is true of another
Masonic song, K. 148, written, according to Kochel, in 1772, al-
though J. E. Engl dates it from 1784, a time when Mozart was
already a Mason. The words have a Masonic ring:

Most holy tie of brotherhood's deep friendship,

Which equals the joy found in paradise.

A true believer, yet not opposed

To this world. This truth is comprehended,

Yet kept secret.

The style and flavor of this song are very similar to those of
Gesettenreise, and point to the "Crowned Hope" lodge. Einstein,
like Kochel, accepts circumstantial evidence for the belief that
Mozart wrote this song about 1772, that is, in his Salzburg period.
His reasoning is that Mozart wrote no figured-bass songs after
1784, except for a parody, Die Alte (the old woman, K. 517).
On the other hand, Wyzewa, St. Foix, and Abert are convinced
that the song was composed after Mozart's initiation.
We counter Einstein's argument by asserting that two later

48

songs, K. 483 and 484, are also written for figured bass. But if
the song was indeed composed in 1772, it would simply mean
that young Mozart was already well acquainted with Masonry at
the time. He also composed two German religious songs, Gottes
Lamm (O lamb of God) and Als aus Aegypten Israel (When
Israel out of Egypt) , K. 343, for solo voice and bass accompani-
ment. According to Jahn, these are really studies for Masonic
music, but Einstein thinks they were written for a hymnal which
Archbishop Colloredo was planning in 1782. These hymns had
already been composed by 1779.

On April 20, 1785, Mozart composed the cantata Maurerfreude
(Mason's joy). The words were written by Brother Petran for a
meeting of the lodge "Zur gekronten Hoffnung," called because
Ignaz von Born had just been honored by Emperor Joseph for
his latest metallurgical discovery. The secretary of the lodge,
G. D. Bartsch, sent out a newsletter saying that the lodge had
decided to meet and celebrate with Born, and to show him love
and respect. The letter goes on to say: "Several songs were per-
formed on this occasion, and also a cantata written by Brother
Petran and set to music by our famous Brother Mozart of the
very worshipful lodge 'Zur Wohltatigkeit.' It was sung by Brother
Adamberger and has now been published by Brother Artaria, to-
gether with a drawing by Brother Unterberger and a preface by
Brother Epstein. All profits from the sale of this work will be
given to the poor, and we hope that you will do all you can to
promote its sale in your neighborhood."

At this meeting the compositions of other brothers were also
performed. One of them, Bei der Almosensammlung (collection
for alms), beginning "Worthy Masons, true brethren, now it is
time to think of the poor," had words by Matolay, music by
Wranitzky, both members of the "Crowned Hope" lodge. It was
sung by Adamberger, and the score was later published, with an
engraving by Mansf eld, and sold for the benefit of the poor,
Alfred Meissner, whose Rococobilder (Rococo sketches) is sup-
posedly based on a diary of his grandfather's, A. G. Meissner, a
member of the lodge "Zur Wahrheit und Einigkeit" (truth and
unity) in Prague, says that this cantata was performed in Prague
on the occasion of a visit by Mozart. As we have already said,
Maurerfreude was first performed on April 20, 1785, in the
presence of Leopold Mozart.

49

Since 1782, the "Crowned Hope" lodge had been meeting on
the first floor of the house of Baron Moser (rebuilt in 1835),
where a Temple had been installed. But after-meeting dinners
were usually given at the "Freemason casino" Cafe Jiingling, in
the Leopoldstadt district of Vienna, then Untere Donaustrasse 5,
now Praterstrasse 6. The original owner, Joseph Mayer, was a
member of the lodge "St. Joseph" and his successor, Johann
Jungling, belonged to the "Newly Crowned Hope," though at
first as a serving brother.

The score of the cantata, with piano accompaniment, was en-
graved and published with a frontispiece depicting the Temple
of Humanity standing in a classical landscape. The title of the
cantata appears as an inscription on the temple, on whose right
are two female figures as well as Ignaz von Born, in whose honor
the cantata had been composed. Born stands with his right hand
on his breast and is represented as an elderly bearded man. One
of the female figures is putting a wreath on his head, while the
other, wearing a crown, holds his hand. The inscription reads:
"Die Maurerfreude, a cantata sung on April 24, 1785, in honor
of our very worthy brother B. by the brethren of the lodge, G. H.
in the CX of Vienna, words by Brother P., music by Brother W, A.
Mozart; published for the benefit of the poor; available in Vienna
and in the best art and book stores in Germany."

Ignaz von Born was born in Karlsburg in 1742 and died in
Vienna on July 24, 1791. Originally a Jesuit, he left the order
after 16 months to study law at the University of Prague. After
a tour of Europe he returned to Prague, devoting all his energies
to the study of natural science and founding a "Society for the
Study of Mathematics, National History, and Natural History."
In 1776, Empress Mark Theresia called him to Vienna to take
charge of the Imperial Natural History Collection. Because of his
high moral principles, his wit, and his charm, he soon became the
friend of all Viennese scholars, who gathered about him in the
lodge ' < Zur wahren Eintracht." The one-time Jesuit became one
of the most outspoken opponents of monastic orders, attacking
them in his famous Monachologia. In 1784, he wrote a detailed
artide on the mysteries of the Egyptians in the Journal -fur Prey-
maurer. This, coupled with his unchallenged authority on all
ethical and Masonic matters, made him into an almost legendary

-50

figure. Rightly or wrongly, it has been assumed that he was the
model for the character of Sarastro in the Magic flute, but he did
not live to see that opera performed.

The work that led the Emperor to honor Born on the occasion
mentioned above was published by Brother Christian Friedrich
Wappler and was entitled Ueber das Anquicken der gold- und
silberhaltigen Erze, Rohsteine, Schwarzkupfer und Huttenspeise.
It described an improved method of gold and silver mining which
was introduced in all state mines by imperial decree. On this occa-
sion the Emperor received Born and highly praised his work.
Franz Graflfer, in his Wiener Memoiren und Dosenstucke, de-
scribes a conversation between Born and the Emperor: "This is
one of the most important discoveries of the century," says the
Emperor. "I could do no better than to introduce this method
immediately. It is already being used in Saxony and Sweden. And
here is a letter which says that they are using it even in Mexico."
He hands Born a letter, enclosed in a communication sent to the
Emperor by Benjamin Franklin, and Born blushes with joy. Frank-
lin, after all, was one of the most prominent Masons in North
America as well as a great scientist.

Let us return to the composition. Brother Petran, the poet, was
priest to Count Thun. The tenor Adamberger, who sang the can-
tata at the first performance, was the father of the famous actress
Toni Adamberger who later became the bride of Theodor Korner.
The drawing for the beautiful engraving, by Sebastian Mansfeld,
came from Ignaz Unterberger, and the work was printed by Pas-
quale Artaria. All these men belonged to the lodge "Zur gekron-
ten Hoffnung," as did Wenzel Tobias Epstein, who wrote the
preface. Of Jewish descent, Epstein (1758-1824) was renowned
for his chess-playing and coin-collecting, and was eventually en-
nobled and took the title von Ankersberg.

Ignaz von Born rigidly adhered to his Masonic convictions. In
1785, when the elector of Bavaria, Carl Theodor, decreed that all
civil servants and members of the Academy of Sciences must leave
the Craft, Born immediately returned all his Bavarian diplomas.
He declared that he was not only unrepentant but also proud to be
a Mason. He asserted that members of the Craft were distinguished
by being just, obedient to God, loyal to their country, and chari-
table to their fellow-men. In spite of all this he later renounced
Masonry, for reasons unknown, and resigned from the lodge. On

51

April 27, 1787, he wrote the following in Mozart's album, in
Latin:

"Sweet Apollo, who hast given thy art, thy gifts to our Mozart
so that he may provide sounds with his strings to him who de-
mands them, sounds which my hand also desires, sharp, deep,
quick, slow, harmonious, plaintive, loud, soft sounds, blending
without offense, bring it about that his pleasing lyre may sound
with his music for many happy days, and grant the harmony of
a pleasant fate."

In the library of the Munich conservatory there is a manuscript
score of the cantata Maurerfreude, with an ecclesiastic text super-
imposed. The music has been arranged for soprano, tenor, alto,
bass, trumpets, and drums. Possibly this Masonic composition was
used to fight Masonic ideas after the collapse of the movement in
Bavaria, for the new words begin: "See how the power of this
heresy is disappearing." Mozart composed the cantata especially
for Brother Adamberger, taking care to accommodate his vocal
and artistic qualities. Therefore, the main portion is a long tenor
solo, the beginning of which is in the style of an Italian concert
aria. Then follows a recitative beginning, "See how wisdom and
virtue turn with favor to the son of Masons," and an accompanied
andante recitative: "Take, beloved, this crown from the hands of
our eldest son, from Joseph. This is the greatest joy of Masons,
yes, this is the triumph of Masonry." At the word "Joseph" the
tempo suddenly quickens to express the jubilant moment. Again
the dotted eights present Masonic rhythms. The allegro movement
whkh follows is for tenor solo, two tenors, and bass. It can be
performed by a chorus or soloists but, if we consider the small
number of lodge members, and especially the few good voices,
the possibility of a performance by only three singers is very great.

The second among the larger Masonic works is the Kleine
Freimaxrerkaatate (little Masonic cantata) K. 623, with words by
Imanud Schikaneder, written for the consecration of the temple
of the lodge "Zur neugekronten Hoffnung" during November,
1791. As we shall see, Schikaneder was not a member of that
!odg& and it is oat quite dear how he came to write the words.
We may assume that Mozart, with whom he was working on the
Magic Flute, had been asked to furnish the cantata. In any case,
Lewis is mistaken in naming Schikaneder among the outstanding
memfoers of this lodge. The cantata is the last work completed by

52

Mozart and also the last entry in his own handwritten list of com-
positions. It was published in 1792 by Joseph Hraschansky, a for-
mer member of the "True Harmony" lodge. It had, as an appen-
dix, the song "For the closing of the lodge" ("Let us then with
hands united . . ."). The first edition significantly calls this work
"Mozart's last masterpiece . . . before his death surrounded by his
closest friends." The appendix does not appear in the manuscript
and is obviously not part of the cantata, which ends with a repeti-
tion of the opening chorus. We must assume that this appendix,
which in time became very popular, was not by Mozart at all, but
possibly (according to some scholars) by Michael Haydn. It has
now become the Austrian national anthem.

The Wiener Zeitung printed the following announcement on
January 25, 1792: "Admiration and gratitude to the departed
Mozart induced a humanitarian society to publish a work by this
great artist for the benefit of his widow and orphans, who are in
need of help. One can justly call it his swan song. Composed with
his unique talent, it was first conducted by him two days before
his final illness for his closest friends. It is a cantata for the con-
secration of the Masonic lodge in Vienna, and the words are the
work of a member of that lodge."

The Kleine Freimaurerkantate, scored for two tenors, one bass,
two violins, viola, double-bass, flute, two oboes, and two horns,
begins with an allegro chorus:

Let our joy be blazened forth
By the happy music's sound.

Then an instrumental introduction, with brilliant passages for the
flutes and violins, leads us into a festive and exultant mood. The
following solos begin with imitation; their contrapuntal style is
characteristic of Mozart's more serious Masonic compositions:

Make this place a holy temple

By the bond of brotherhood,

And brothers, all within your hearts,

This day our temple sanctify.

We shall see again in the Magic Flute that Mozart frequently
uses contrapuntal devices to accompany points of climax and ten-
sion with Masonic significance. The chorus now sings a reprise of

53

its opening number, f ollowed by a recitative surely sung by Adam-
berger:

For the first time, noble brothers,

We are met in this great seat of virtue and wisdom

and truth,

We consecrate ourselves to the sanctity of our labor,
Which is to discover for ourselves the great mysterious

truth.

Joyful are all brethren on this day,
This happy day of holy dedication
By which the brotherhood is bound in unity.
Let us be thankful that human kindness
Reigns among men once again upon earth.
Sweet will be the memories of this place
Where every brother's heart speaks
Of what he was and what he is,
And what, by his endeavors, can become.
He learns by example, shielded and cared for by

brotherly love.

It is here that there reigns the holiest,
The chief, the greatest of all virtues,
Charity, enthroned in solemn splendor.

It is possible that the rather peculiar ending of this recitative
may be Schikaneder's compliment to the lodge "Zur Wohltatig-
keit" (charity), to which Mozart belonged. The recitative is
followed by a tenor aria, certainly also sung by Adamberger:

Generously the godhead omnipotent
Not in noise and pomp and clamor ....

and doses with a duet for tenor and bass,

In years to come these walls shall stand
Bearing witness to our labor.

The appendix is the song which has since become a Masonic ode:
*Xet us then, with hands united . . . ," scored for two tenor voices,
bass> and organ accompaniment. The title is "For the dosing of
the lodge/'

In addition to the specifically Masonic compositions Mozart also

54

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composed several works which are not designated for the Craft
but which are nevertheless Masonic in spirit Foremost among
these is the cantata K. 619, Die ihr des unermessltchen Weltalls.
The words are by a merchant from Hamburg, Franz Heinrich
Ziegenhagen, who, under the influence of Rousseau and the En-
cyclopedists, made several attempts at educational reform.

In a pamphlet, "Science of the Proper Relationships to Crea-
tion . . . ," published in Hamburg in 1792, Ziegenhagen declares
that he would like to reform all existing religions and to persuade
aristocrats and intellectuals to take up the study of relationships,
which has advantages over all existing religions. With a view to
founding a colony near Strasbourg, based on his principles, he
desired to meet parents who wanted their children to devote them-
selves to agriculture. To us he sounds like a rationalist crank of
the worst kind. He wished to propagate his ideas by aesthetic
means and asked Chodowiedei for eight engravings and Mozart
for a suitable song. Ziegenhagen was himself a Mason and mem-
ber of the lodge "Zu den drei Schliisseln" (three keys) in Regens-
burg indicating that he was probably a friend of Schikaneder's,
who may have referred him to Mozart. The manuscript is now in
the university library of Uppsala, where it was taken, together
with sketches for the Magic Flute, by Silverstolpe at the beginning
of the 19th century. According to a report to Breitkopf & Hartel
by Niemetschek, the cantata was first performed at a "Lawyers
Academy" in Prague, on March 19, 1799. It was orchestrated by
the inventor of the "orchestrion," Thomas Anton Kunz.

Ziegenhagen's science of relationships was to teach mankind to
find a way to happiness by doing away with religion in favor of
a natural law arising out of men's "natural" relations to one an-
other and to nature. "Every suppressed or merely tolerated fellow
human being shall become an equal member for the good of all.
I speak especially of the Jews, whose condition no humanitarian
can observe without pity. They would free themselves from the
astrological superstitions of the Talmud and the laws of their
prophets." Religious tolerance was, in fact, one of the primary
conditions of Ziegenhagen. This attitude is illustrated in an engrav-
ing on the title page of the cantata, which represents a kind of
Masonic lodge, with the Master in the right foreground. In the
middle stands a deformed Jewish man, possibly representing Moses
Mendelssohn. There is a group of ministers in the corner repre-

55

senting various religions, among them a Rabbi; and the inscription
on the temple says: "Place yourselves in the proper relationship
to each other and to the rest of creation." The "Works of Crea-
tion * are depicted in another large engraving where we see an
idealized animal farm with fields, gardens, and orchards, grown-
ups playing with children, in short, paradise on earth. It is un-
likely that Mozart knew the contents of this pamphlet since it was
published after his death.

Jahn states that there is no such thing as a Masonic style in
music. But for this cantata Mozart again adopted the special at-
mosphere used in all his Masonic compositions, a flavor which we
may designate as his "humanitarian style." To our modern ears,
the text of the cantata sounds hypocritical and insincere, but the
deep humanitarian feeling in the music still rings true. That Mo-
zart was definitely thinking of Freemasonry when he composed it
can be seen by the dotted rhythms of the piano accompaniment,
by the tenor part, but most clearly in the melody which recalls
one of the priests' scenes from the Magic Flute. The words un-
doubtedly were also influenced by Masonry. One passage, "Let
strength and beauty be your aim and brightness of intellect your
honor," indicates the "Three Lesser Lights" of Freemasonry, wis-
dom, strength, and beauty.

There is one more cantata by Mozart which may have been
destined for Masonic use, Dir, Seele des Weltdls, K. 429. Accord-
ing to Kochel, it was begun in 1783, before Mozart became a
Mason, but it was never completed. The humanitarian style, well-
developed as it appears in his later Masonic compositions, is not
yet evident Nevertheless this work clearly shows Mozart's pre-
occupation with Masonic and humanitarian ideas in the years
before joining the lodge.

The spirit of the cantata is related to that of Gebler's King
Thomas. The sun worship of the Egyptians, with which Mozart
was acquainted, is expressed by these words: "Oh mighty one,
without thee we could not live. From thee comes fertility, warmth,
and light." Since it is scored for two tenors and bass, and other-
wise emphasizes the number three like the Kleine Fretmaurer-
kantate and Maurerfreude, it probably has Masonic significance.
But its use of a large ensemble, with oboes, horns, string quartet,
bassoon, and mixed chorus may have made its performance in the
lodge impractical.

The Masonic Funeral Music for orchestra, K. 477, is one of
Mozart's most important compositions. It was written around
November 10, 1785, a year after Mozart's initiation, and per-
formed at the Lodge of Mourning honoring two famous Masons,
Count Esterhazy and the Duke of Mecklenburg. Esterhazy was a
highly esteemed Hungarian nobleman, a Privy Councillor and high
official in the government department dealing with Hungarian and
Transylvanian matters, and a member of the "Crowned Hope"
lodge. Georg August von Mecklenburg-Strelitz was a major-gen-
eral and an affiliated member of the lodge "The Three Eagles."
The ceremony took place on November 17, 1785, with an address
by Brother Epstein, later printed by J. R. von Ghelen in a pam-
phlet which also contained another obituary for the Duke by a per-
son associated with the lodge. The Duke had the nickname "Quin-
Quin" which was used by Hugo von HoflFmannsthal in Rosen-
kavalier and recorded in a diary of Khevenhiiller's known as Aus
Maria Theresias Zeit. The number of performers required for this
piece gives an indication of the importance Mozart attached to it.
It is scored for string quartet, two oboes, a clarinet, three basset-
horns, two horns in E flat and C, and a contra-bassoon.

The low, threatening notes of the winds anticipate the serious
mood. Several chords serve as an introduction, then a plaintive,
rhapsodic melody is played by the solo violin. This juxtaposition
of winds and strings corresponds to the dialectic of life and
inexorable death. Thus, the melody of the violin, which never
really takes the firm shape of a song, is confronted by the relent-
less cantus firmus of the woodwinds. The latter is not taken
verbatim from Roman Catholic liturgy but possibly from the He-
brew psalms. It must be a very ancient melody, for it is found in
Persian and Italian Jewish songs. A tune in Idelsohn's Songs of the
"Babylonian Jews as well as Jeremiah's Lamentation are similar to it.

The string quartet, as a symbol of man struggling against his
fate, fights against this cantus firmus, which represents the unalter-
able downfall of the individual. The dotted rhythms in the bass
accompany the sobbing of the strings which, towards the middle
of the piece, rear up in sudden anguish and then return to a gentle
but serious lament. This is a true picture of death which the Mason
Mozart carried in his mind when he wrote to his father for the
last time on April 4, 1787. I should point out that Alfred Ein-
stein, probably the foremost Mozart scholar of the 20th century,

57

was not a Mason; nor was Otto Erich Deutsdbu Yet Einstein at-
tached far greater importance to the Masonic influences in Mo-
zart's life and work than had ever been done before. One of
Mozart's most important works is the great symphony in E flat,
L 543, which was finished on June 26, 1788. Einstein wrote about
it in his classic book, Mozart, his Character, his Work (p. 234) :

"We can hardly avoid the assumption of some secret Masonic
meaning less in a 'programmatic' sense than simply to find some
way of explaining and characterizing this mysterious work. E-flat
major is the key of the trio Mozart dedicated to his friend and
helper, Puchberg. It is the key of Die Zauberflote. And just as in
the overture to the work the adept knocks at the gate and waits
anxiously in the dark, so he does here again, until the six-four
chord brings the light. The unusual song-theme of the Allegro,
too, is full of those 'ties' that symbolize the brotherhood of Free-
masons. Is it impossible to interpret the Andante in A-flat in the
sense of that letter of 4 April 1787, addressed to Leopold, which
we have quoted, with its thoughts of death, 'that best and truest
friend of man,' of which the thought is 'not only no longer terri-
fying to me, but is indeed very soothing and consoling/ Does not
this program suit well the festive character of the minuet and the
cheerfulness of the Finale & cheerfulness that reminds us only
very slightly of Haydn?"

We have noted the difference between Mozart's Masonic com-
positions and those of earlier composers. While the latter are
of a strictly functional character, Mozart's are full of the Masonic
spirit Not that Mozart was a model Mason. But instinctively he
came as dose as anyone to understanding the most fundamental
ideas of Freemasonry which, after all, are symbols. All the com-
positions by Naumann, Scheibe, B. A. Weber, Ambrosch, Franz,
Hurka, and all the rest are idle chatter compared to a few bars
of Mozart's Masonic music To be sure, the older pieces were
usually adapted from tunes already in existence just as the melodies
from the Magic Flute were to be adapted for Masonic songs quite
soon after their creation. In 1795, Freimaurerlieder mit Melodien,
three volumes edited by Boheim and printed by G. F. Starcke in
Berlin, appeared with some material from the Magic Flute, addi-
tional evidence that this opera was already then assumed to be
Masonic.

But die gentle and yet firm quality of Mozart's Masonic style

58

was probably the greatest attraction. Boheim's collection begins
with the song "Let Truth and Spotless Faith be Thine" sung to
the tune of Papageno's song, " 'Tis love they say, love only, that
makes the world go round/' This text has been sung to Mozart's
melody a million times by Masons and non-Masons alike. Para-
doxically, it was the station identification of the largest German
broadcasting station under the Nazis. It was published with an
English text by Willig in Philadelphia between 1798 and 1804.
The second song in Boheim's collection, a song of consecration,
is sung to the music of Sarastro's aria.

Heuss described this kind of music in an essay, Die Humanitats-
melodien im Fidelia (humanitarian melodies in Fidelio). He calls
it "quietly glowing with metaphysical warmth" and points out
that Beethoven also used this style in his younger days. To be
sure, Mozart was already approaching it before he became a
Mason. But I still believe that the experience of Freemasonry was
of the greatest importance in the development of this style, and
that the Magic Flute was so successful because in it the humani-
tarian style was perfected.

There is no doubt that many works of Beethoven as well as
those of the Romantic composers are based on this humanitarian
style. We would do this music a disservice by subjecting it to
mechanical analysis. Some of its characteristics are the lofty arches
of the melody; large intervals; serious, song-like melodies reminis-
cent of old choral music; quiet, simple rhythms. A more objective
description is out of the question.

59

THE MAGIC FLUTE: BACKGROUND 1

TT is REMARKABLE that at the end of his life Mozart created two
JL masterpieces, the Magic Flute, which glorifies the Masonic
ideal, and the Requiem, which expresses an acceptance of death in
a way very different from that of the Masonic Funeral Music. The
spiritual backgrounds of these works are very different: Cathol-
icism gave birth to the Requiem, and the Masonic creed inspired
the funeral music and the Magic Flute. This shows the versatility
of the master, but it also demonstrates the unity of his artistic
creations. The reason for this unity, the quintessence of his later
years, is a preoccupation with the relationship of man to the world,
a world which man himself creates, on which he is not dependent
as was the thinker of the Baroque era. This was the new autono-
mous approach to life as it is expressed by Kant, by Goethe's Faust,
and especially by the classical composers. Man fights against his
fate. Like Beethoven in his fifth symphony, he refuses to be over-
whelmed by it, he grasps it by the horns. This is Mozart's approach
to God and life. To him Freemasonry is not a rational means for
explaining the secret of life but rather something that helps him
make his peace with fate. True, fate is created by man, but its
negative side, the insignificance of the individual, is accepted as
something natural and unalterable.

In order to understand the true nature of Mozart, we must not
dwell too much on his demoniac side, as some musicologists like
Heuss and Abert have done, but we should concentrate on the
classical aspects of his nature. Only then can we see the impor-
tance of Freemasonry for him, and we will recognize the same
Masonic idea in the Requiem and the Magic Flute. It is acceptance
of death but not capitulation. Death does not frighten him. It does
not mean entry into paradise or hell, as it did for the Baroque
thinker. Mozart simply accepts death as one of the functions of
existence, a less important one than life, man the individual. This

60

is the fundamental teaching of Freemasonry expressed so movingly
in the initiation scenes of the Magic Flute.

The suggestion to write a Masonic opera may have come from
Mozart's librettist DaPonte, who, several years before, had helped
Mazzola complete the text of Johann Gottlieb Naumann's Masonic
opera Osiris. Already in that opera we can observe the struggle
between good and evil, and there are some testing scenes in an
Egyptian setting. But on the other hand, Mozart may spontaneously
have gotten the notion of glorifying Masonry in an opera. The
specific impulse to write it may have come from Schikaneder, who
was a member of the Craft, but not, as was generally assumed, of
Mozart's lodge.

The research of Brother Dr. Bernhard Beyer of Bayreuth has
clarified Schikaneder's Masonic career. As a theatrical producer,
for whom pomp and circumstance were supreme values, Schikane-
der did not hesitate to get involved in transactions hardly ethical
or legal, if they were to his financial advantage. A typical South
German, born in Regensburg, he travelled widely and was known
throughout Germany. Like many others of the 18th century, he
entered the Craft for worldly reasons. His petition for admission
sounds almost like the dialogue of the priests in the Magic Flute:
"Deeply revered gentlemen,

Not curiosity or selfishness but the most sincere esteem of your
exalted assembly motivates my most humble prayer for admission
to your sanctuary from which, in spite of the greatest secrecy,
radiates a glimmer of nobility, humanity, and wisdom. Enlighten
me by your wise teachings, make me in your image, and I will
remain with wannest thanks,

Your most honoring and humble servant,
Johann Emanuel Schikaneder

Regensburg, July 4, 1788."

Komorzynski points out in a biography of Schikaneder that his
worst qualities were being exhibited at that time in Regensburg.
He had offended public opinion by his braggadoccio, he adver-
tised to a degree quite unheard-of in his time, and his private life
gave evidence of scandal. Finally he encountered great trouble
because of the dismissal of two actresses with whom he had been
intimate. Public indignation about him and his private life found

61

its way to the lodge. In the archives of the lodge "Karl zu den
drei Schliisseln" (Charles to the Three Keys) there is the follow-
ing draft of a letter to Schikaneder, dated June 4, 1789:

"Excerpt from the minutes of May 4, 5789: Pleasing as the
rare visits of Brother Schikaneder have been to the lodge, this
matter which has been brought to court and which has become
food for public gossip is strikingly unpleasant.

"It would not be in the interest of the lodge to remain indiffer-
ent in such a case. Therefore, it has been unanimously decided at
this present meeting to make known to Brother Schikaneder that
"in view of the sensational occurrence he should
refrain from visiting the lodge at the forthcoming
St. John's festival and for the following six months.
"In order to avoid unpleasant consequences it has been deemed
necessary to inform Brother Schikaneder of the decision of the
lodge by this excerpt from the minutes.

By order
(signed) Hammerschmidt, Secretary/'

Schikaneder, whose contract with the theater was not renewed,
wanted to remain on friendly terms with the lodge. He ate humble
pie and hoped that in due course enough water would flow under
the bridge. He had already been passed to the second degree and
decided to write an apologetic letter to the lodge:

"Most honorable and esteemed Brethren,

I hope that this case, painful though it be, will not harm me so
much as to deprive me of my honest name. I laugh at the wicked
people. Good ones will understand why I have acted thus and not
otherwise. However, if I have committed an error which might
harm the honor of the lodge, I beg the forgiveness of the
entire honorable assembly.

"There are errors which are older than the honorable Craft,
which I revere and into which I had the good fortune to be ac-
cepted. Honorable brethren, I submit to your wise judgment. And
when I shall again know the happiness of being within your circle,
I shall try to convince you all, honorable brethren, that I will
behave in a manner worthy of you.

I am yours,
E. Schikaneder."

62

This evidence of Schikaneder's membership in the Craft is, of
course, important for determining the authorship of the libretto
of the Magic Flute. Some authorities have believed that this li-
bretto was not written by Sdiikaneder at all, but by an actor living
in Vienna at the time, Johann Georg Metzler, known by the
name of Giesecke. This assertion was made by Julius Cornet, tenor
and opera director, in a book, Die Oper in Deutschland und das
Theater der Neuzeit, published in 1849. It was included without
qualification by Otto Jahn in his biography of Mozart in 1859
and Jahn's reputation as an authority on Mozart caused its general
acceptance. Cornet received the information from Giesecke him-
self, who was living in Vienna in 1818. Cornet was in the habit
of daily meeting Seyfried and some other theatrical people in a
certain Viennese restaurant. One day a distinguished-looking
gentleman in a blue frock coat and white scarf introduced himself
to this group as Giesecke, Professor of Mineralogy in Dublin. Only
Seyfried recognized him. Comet says that Giesecke claimed au-
thorship of the Magic Flute, a matter about which Seyfried may
have had some notions.

E. Dent, who did a considerable amount of research on Gie-
secke, is inclined to believe this. But we are justified in question-
ing his opinion. If Schikaneder had not been a Mason, Giesecke's
claim would have better grounds. Admittedly, he was a member
of the lodge "Zur neugekronten Hoffnung" for a time, but his
name does not appear in Mozart's correspondence. Through the
Danish mineralogist K. J. V. Steenstrupp, who published a diary
of Giesecke's travels to Greenland from 1800 to 1813 (Copen-
hagen, 1910) , we know something of his life.

Giesecke was born in Augsburg in 1761, studied law and
mineralogy at the University of Gottingen. After having acted
with various theatrical companies, he appeared in Vienna in 1789.
In the fall of 1789 he had begun to work for Schikaneder at the
Theater auf der Wieden, where he remained for some time. Accord-
ing to Rommel, Giesecke wrote several plays in that capacity, all
of them destined to fail because he had no talent as a playwright.
In his fundamental study on Giesecke, Rommel draws the con-
clusion that his claim to authorship of the libretto was never
uttered. Cornet did not say anything about Giesecke's remark for
two generations after the first performance of the Magic Flute,
or thirty years after the remark was allegedly made. None of the

63

people whom Cornet named as having been present on that occa-
sion ever confirmed or repeated it. Seyfried seems to have known
nothing about it. One must remember that in those days, as today,
teamwork was more important in the theater than individual
work. It is quite possible that Giesecke, or perhaps the prompter
Haselbock, gave Schikaneder some ideas which were used in the
production. But certainly the conception of the work as a whole
was Schikaneder's, all of this in spite of Dent's favoring Giesecke,
who had become a typical Irishman.

Giesecke did, in fact, revisit Vienna in 1818, in order to sell
some valuable mineralogical specimens to the imperial collection.
His biography reads like a novel. In 1800 he took leave-of -absence
from Schikaneder and embarked on a mineralogical expedition
through Germany and Scandinavia. In Copenhagen he opened a
school of mineralogy. After that he went to Greenland, living for
seven years like an Eskimo, in order to study its minerals. In spite
of a poor command of English, he became Professor of Mineralogy
in Dublin in 1813 and received an Irish title. He sent numerous
specimens to Goethe. When he suffered a stroke and died at a
banquet in Dublin at the age of 72, there were several solemn
obituaries and the museum was closed for a fortnight. He was a
sensitive, artistic, and scholarly man, but, as we have seen, a
dilettante in literature and drama who could not possibly have
mustered the talent for a work like the Magic Flute. From what
we know of his character it seems improbable that he ever made
the claim. The whole matter, which has been such a force in the
literature on the Magic Flute, is probably nothing but a piece of
Viennese coffee-house gossip.

A letter written by Seyfried, now at the Mozarteum in Sakburg,
sheds some interesting light on Cornet's story. It indicates that
Giesecke pointed out Wieland's Dschinnisdan to Schikaneder,
from which the latter derived the plots of several librettos. This is
probably the true basis of Cornet's tale and it heralds the end of
the affair Giesecke. The letter even mentions the prompter Helm-
bock, who also appears in Cornet's story. Cornet had said: Many
people have thought that the prompter Helmbock worked with
Schifcaneder on the opera, but Seyfried believes that it was the
prompter Haselbock who put Schikaneder's rough draft into verse
form. Seyfried died in Vienna in 1848, and it strikes us as note-
worthy that Cornet's book appeared the following year, when the

(A

only real witness of the incident was no longer in a position to
verify it. In any case, Seyfried seems the more reliable of the two
men. Cornet sounds suspect in saying that Seyfried alone knew
about Giesecke's claim, while Seyfried asserts that he had heard
stories about Mozart and Schikaneder from Giesecke. Moreover,
Seyfried was not very fond of Schikaneder and would not have
kept Giesecke's statement to himself. Even Dent does not regard
Cornet as absolutely reliable. Here then is the letter:
"My esteemed friend,

"With heartfelt thanks I return the manuscript which you have
entrusted to me. It gave me great pleasure, somehow making me
feel younger, and it must be of historical interest to every art-
lover. According to your request I am making some comments for
whose reliability I am willing to vouch.

"Schikaneder made the acquaintance of Mozart, and later of
Zitterbarth, in a Masonic lodge. Not the very famous one to
which Born and all the literary elite of Vienna belonged, but a
little bread-and-butter lodge whose members diverted themselves
at the weekly meetings with music, games, and the joys of a rich
table. Giesecke, who told Schikaneder about Wieland's Dschinnis-
dan and thus provided him with the material of several of his
operas, often talked to me about it Work on the Magic Flute
probably did not begin until the Spring of 1791, since Mozart
did not spend much time on it and was generally a fast worker.
He often worked at Gerl's quarters or in Sch.'s garden a few
steps from the theater. I was often a guest at that table and con-
ducted many rehearsals in that drawing-room, or, properly, shade.
The prompter, Haselbock, had to write the verses on Sch.'s rough
drafts and some of it may have been completely his own work,
e.g. 'Good morrow, pretty maid, come tell me what's the matter*
just after 'What place is this, where have I strayed?' The libretto
was finished up to the first finale when Die Zauberzither, oder
Kaspar der Fagottist (the magic zither, or Kaspar the bassoonist)
appeared in Leopoldstadt. Perinet had also used Wieland's fairy
tale, but had stuck closely to the original except for making it
more acceptable to local taste. This worried our Emanuel con-
siderably, but he soon thought of something, gave the whole plot
a new twist, and thus improved it considerably. Had he not, Mo-
zart would hardly have left us this wonderful, poetic, romantic
swan song.

65

"Mozart visited the coronation in Frankfurt on his own initia-
tive, in order to try to patch up his financial holes by giving con-
certs. When he visited Prague, in response to an invitation from
the Bohemian aristocracy, all the ensemble pieces of the Magic
Flute up to the last finale were ready, that is, vocal parts, figured
bass with the main motifs written out. My cousin Henneberger
was, meanwhile, working hard at rehearsing with this partial
score. On his return September 10 or 12 Mozart quickly pro-
ceeded to orchestrate and to write a few small pieces which had
been omitted. On the 28th, as his own thematic catalogue indi-
cates, the priests' march and the overture were completed. The ink
was still wet when the music of the overture was brought to the
dress rehearsal.

"As far as I know, Guardasoni had the opera translated into
Italian in Prague in the Winter of 1793. I myself had a tight
squeeze at the first performance of this flauto magico, which the
miserly producer always called la maladetta Zaberflute because of
its unusually lavish settings, costumes, and decorations. I remem-
ber quite vividly the tenor Benedetti as he came tripping out,
calling to the pursuing snail-like monster, Ajuto, ajuto, io sono
perduta. Bassi was very good as Papageno and Danzi an enchant-
ing Pamina. Campi was unexcelled as Queen of the Night, but
her husband Gaetano the most pitiful Sarastro I have ever seen, a
real caricature.

"On the evening of December 4, when Mozart was already
delirious, he imagined that he was present at a performance of
the Magic Flute at the Wiedner theater. Almost his last words,
whispered to his wife, were, 'Quiet, now Mme. Hofer is singing
the high F. Now the sister-in-law is singing the second aria, 'Til
have revenge . . ." How strong her B flat, how long she is holding
it Listen, listen, listen to the mother's vow.'

"The second part, Das Labyrinth oder der Kampf mit den
Elementen (the labyrinth or the struggle with the elements) was
written by Winter himself. The opera composed in conjunction
with Callus is entitled Babylons Pyramiden."

In his excellent book, Die Alt-Wiener Volkskomodie, Otto
Rommel has demonstrated convincingly that this letter was written
to the librettist of Fidelia, Friedrich Treitschke. Treitsdike wrote
a novelette in the second volume of the music yearbook Orpheus
(1841) entitled "The Magic Flute, the Village Barber, Fidelio."

66

Here some passages from this letter are reproduced verbatim. Ap-
parently Treitsdike had asked Seyfried, who was then about 64
and ailing, for some information to help him in writing the novel-
ette. The following quotation from it is proof of the connection
between the two men:

"The author had just finished the finale of the first scene, when
the Leopoldstadt theater produced a drama most unwelcome to
him, "The Magic Zither, or Kaspar the Bassoonist/ Perinet had
also used Wieland's fairy tale, but had stuck closely to the original,
except for making it acceptable to local taste. This worried our
Emanuel considerably, but he soon thought of something, gave
the play a new twist, and thus improved it considerably. Had he
not, Mozart would hardly have had enough material for his won-
derful dramatic swansong."

Since Seyfried was only fifteen when the Magic Flute was
being written, his memory must have been supplemented by retro-
'spection. The fact that there was a sudden change in the plot is
today firmly established in all the literature relating to the opera.
Seyfried's letter brings us to the history of the Magic Flute.

Schikaneder came to Vienna in 1789, began to work as a theat-
rical producer, but soon found competition in Marinelli's theater
for which Friedrich Hensler was writing exotic operas and Perinet,
operas on supernatural subjects. Magic and oriental themes were
very fashionable in Vienna at that time and, indeed, had already
been featured in the days of the Venetian school of opera. Gluck's
Chinois poli en France and Mozart's Entfubrung are well-known
examples of exotic material.

In order to outdo Marinelli, Schikaneder decided first to in-
vestigate the sources from which Hensler and Perinet were draw-
ing their material. His first "magic opera," Der Stein der Weisen
oder die Zauberinsel (the sages' stone or the magic isle), with
music by Schack, was performed in 1790. The material came from
Wieland's fairy tale, Dschinnisdan. This opera was again per-
formed in 1804, and Komorzynski gives a list of the characters
taken from contemporary reviews. There was one good and one
evil genius, an innocent couple whose love encounters many ob-
stacles, a humorous character with a happy-go-lucky wife, and an
underworld ruler called Eutifronte. There is no question but that
it is a precursor of the Magic Flute. On March 7, 1791, in order
to save himself from financial ruin, Schikaneder asked Mozart to

67

compose an opera for him using the story "Lulu or the Magic
Flute" from the third volume of Dschinnisdan. Mozart, who knew
Schikaneder from Salzburg, agreed and began composing. They
had progressed as far as the first finale when a dramatization of
the same fairy tale entitled Kaspar der Fagottist was produced at
the Leopoldstadt theater, with music by Wenzel Miiller. Forced
to change the plot, Schikaneder introduced Masonic themes. All
of this is the generally accepted origin of the Magic Flute, but in
order to interpret the facts properly we must return to Giesecke.

According to Komorzynski, Giesecke may have given Schikane-
der another supernatural libretto, Oberon, Konig der Elf en, at the
beginning of 1791. It was performed on May 6, with music by
Wranitzky. Thus, Schikaneder must have known it when he asked
Mozart to collaborate in March of that year. In Giesecke s opera
a young knight and his page, Scherasmin, abduct the beautiful
Amanda from the sultan's palace. The knight is also accompanied
by Oberon, who gives him a magic horn to ward off danger. The
comical Fatme becomes the girl-friend of Scherasmin. All this is
based on the fairy tale "Lulu" in Dschinnisdan, in which a sorcerer
steals the "radiant fairy's" daughter and also the "golden ray of
fire." A prince is sent to rescue her. The radiant fairy has given
him a ring which enables him to take on any appearance he wishes,
and a magic flute which can influence people's passions. Dis-
guised as an old musician, he enters the villain's seraglio and res-
cues the beauty. The sorcerer is doomed to everlasting flight before
the victorious fairy. Scherasmin is given to the prince as a com-
panion. Oberon's horn corresponds to the magic flute in Mozart's
work, ^ and to Papageno's pipe. The fairy becomes the Queen of
the Night and the sorcerer is turned into a lustful moor. The prin-
cess's portrait is given the hero to persuade him to embark on the
rescue mission.

Mozart and Schikaneder began working together at the inn on
the Kahlenberg and a summer-house in the courtyard of the Frei-
haos, the same house which now stands on the Kapuzinerberg in
Salzburg. Then came June 8, 1791, and Perinet's dramatization
of the fairy tale "Lulu," Kaspar der Fagottist, was produced.
It is assumed that Schikaneder's plot was suddenly changed at this
pomt, but we shall probably never be sure. Perhaps both Mozart
and Schikaneder suddenly became aware of its triviality which
became all the more apparent in the company of MiiUer's music.

68

What had already been composed, that is, everything up to the
first finale, was left intact, but from there on the story is said to
have been changed. The good queen suddenly becomes a vindictive
woman, the three genii, whom she herself had sent, suddenly be-
come associated with the other side, with the worshippers of light
and Sarastro, their high priest. It is possible, as Komorzynski
indicated, that the tests by fire and water were originally to be
passed by the wicked sorcerer, like those in Zelnor und Eremide,
which was performed in Munich in 1782. This is the basis of
Jahn's theory of a sudden break in the history of the Magic Flute.
But in reality there was no such break.

Tests and trials were very common in 18th century literature.
In Wieland's Stein der Weisen a magician describes his descent
into the great pyramid in Memphis to be initiated into the mys-
teries. In order to prove his worthiness he had to pass several
tests, first to swim across a raging torrent and then to walk on a
narrow path through a sea of flames, whereupon the God of Holy
Silence imparted the solution of the mystery (Komorzynski).
Wieland, in turn, may have derived this motif from Terrasson's
novel Sethos, to which we shall return presently. He had been
interested in the occult for a long time but did not become a
Mason until 1809. He may not have understood the Masonic ideas
in Sethos, which were beyond the capacity of uninitiated persons
and were not used in Dschinnisdan.

There is another opera which seems to have considerably in-
fluenced the work of Mozart and Schikaneder, Das Sonnenfest der
Brahminen (the sun festival of the Brahmins) by Hensler, per-
formed by Marinellfs company on Sept. 9, 1790. The plot is
taken from Kotzebue's Sonnenjungjrau (sun maiden) and deals
with an Englishman and an Indian girl. There are assemblies of
priests, temple scenes, hymns to Brahma, and, at the end, the
temple of the sun. The symbol of the sun appears between rows
of columns, surrounded by sparkling stars.

Thamos, Konig von Aegypten by Gebler, for which Mozart
had composed the music in 1780, is a further source of material
for the Magic Flute. In the temple of the sun at Heliopolis, deco-
rated with a golden symbol of the sun, the banished King Menes
reigns as high priest. He has taken the name of Sethos and watches
over the love between his daughter, Tharsis, and Thamos, whose
father has usurped Menes's throne and banished him. Thamos

69

expects to be king when his father dies. He has a confidant,
Pheron, who is also in love with Tharsis and hopes to become king
of Egypt with her as his queen. Aided at first by the sun priestess,
the malicious Mirza, he conspires against Thamos. But Sethos,
disclosing his true identity, uncovers the conspiracy. Thamos and
Tharsis become king and queen, Pheron and Mirza are punished
by death.

The opera Osiris by Naumann has been neglected as a source
for the Magic Flute. We know already that its composer was a
Mason and composed a number of Masonic songs. He intended
Osiris to be his great testimonial in behalf of Freemasonry, much
as Mozart and Schikaneder conceived the Magic Flute to be theirs.
Here, too, the sun-worship of the Egyptians is essential. Orus, like
Tamino, must face all sorts of dangers before he can win Aretea,
the embodiment of virtue. In the manner of the first draft of the
Magic Flute, Aretea has fallen into the hands of a wicked sorcerer.
Osiris, King of Egypt, gives her picture to Orus and bids him to
be steadfast The aria Oh, cara vista is similar to Tamino's aria,
sung upon seeing Panama's portrait, "Oh, loveliness beyond
compare."

All of this has a mythological background. Osiris, King of
Egypt and protector of civilization, is opposed by Typhon, who
represents evil A struggle ensues between Typhon's son, Geron,
and Osiris's son, Orus, both in love with Aretea, who is under the
protection of Isis. Note the similarity to Thamos, in which the
prince and Tharsis grow up under the guidance of Menes. The
end of the opera is parallel to both the Magic Flute and Thamos:
Annihilation of the forces of darkness, a change of scene, a grand
finale in the temple of the sun. 2

Osiris had a model in Naumann's Swedish opera, Cora
ocb Alonzo (1782). Its libretto, by G. G. Adlerbeth, was
taken from Marmontel's novel, Les Incas. This opera became very
popular, especially after a piano arrangement was published in
Germany in 1780. Incidentally, this piano score and the preface
to it were prepared by Mozart's friend in Dresden, Johann Leo-
pold Neumann. Englander has pointed out that this opera, al-
though it deals with the consecration of Peruvian priests for the
service of the sun, contains Masonic choruses similar to the songs
which Naumann was composing at the time. As one example, the
aria, Du heilige Quelle rtiner Seelen (Oh holy spring of pure

70

souls) is a forerunner of "Oh, Isis and Osiris," even in the details
of the orchestral accompaniment. Again, the high priest's recitative
on p. 67 of the piano score, Du wirst den Strahlengott nun
schauen (Now you will see the radiant god) is reminiscent of the
priests' scenes in the Magic Flute, the dotted notes in the bass may
be Masonic elements, and as Tamino seeks his Pamina and follows
her through the horrors of wilderness, Alonzo searches for Cora.
This quest is represented by a ballet in Naumann's second scene.
Alonzo and the priestesses come out of their dwellings and per-
form a pantomimic dance which expresses horror and confusion.
Alonzo paces back and forth, distraught because he does not see
Cora among them. As, in the Magic Flute's 32nd scene, Tamino
asks, "Oh voice of mystery, lives then Pamina still?" Alonzo de-
mands of the invisible priestesses, "Is Cora dead? Where is she?
Where?" The choir answers, "Stranger, ihou seekest news in
vain." It seems to me that the scenes between Alonzo and Cora
must have profoundly influenced Mozart and Schikaneder. This
is also true of the character of Zulma, a counterpart to the Queen
of the Night. Note the recitative of Alonzo, "Tyrannical woman,
whom even heaven must condemn." Perhaps Mozart saw this
opera on his Dresden sojourn, if indeed he did not already know
the piano score. His letter from Dresden, written on April 13,
1789, describes a visit which he paid to Neumann, where he saw
Mme. Duschek again. After breakfast he heard a mass by Nau-
mann in the court chapel conducted by the composer. Mozart
thought this work mediocre.

This, then, was the background of Mozart and Schikaneder
when they set out to turn fairy tale into opera. From here on it
was only a short distance to the genuinely Masonic ritual through
which the Magic Flute became a drama of more than local and
timely importance. In order to integrate all the sources, we must
turn to one more work which influenced the Magic Flute, es-
pecially the fashioning of the priests' scenes. It is Terrasson's
novel, Sethos.

In 1837, Eduard Duller had already pointed to Sethos as one of
the sources in an essay, Bin Ruckblick auf die Quellen des
Gedichtes zur Zauberflote (a review of the sources of the libretto
for the Magic Flute). Later scholars began to neglect this novel,
until Dent once more pointed out its importance. 3

The author, Abbe Jean Terrasson, Professor of Greek at the

71

College de France, was born in Lyons in 1670 and died in Paris in
1750. Sethos is the only well-known book among his writings on
the history of philosophy. It was published in 1731 and entitled
SethoSj histoire du vie tiree des monuments anecdotes de I'ancienne
Egypte. Traduite d'un manuscrit Grec. Several German translations
appeared, beginning with one by Wend, published in Hamburg
in 1732, under the title, Abriss der wahren Heldentugend des
Sethos, Konig von Aegypten (sketch of the true heroic virtue of
Sethos, King of Egypt) .

The definitive translation, however, is by Matthias Claudius,
published in Breslau by Gottlieb Lowe (vol. 1, 1777, vol. 2, 1778)
with the title Geschichte des aegyptischen Konigs Sethos (story of
the Egyptian King Sethos) .

This novel was a great influence in French Freemasonry as the
basis of the Misraim cult which uses the Egyptian ritual. This cult
was founded by individuals who, like the writers J. L. Laurence,
Marie Alexandre Lenoir, and Reghellini de Schio, found the roots
of Masonry in ancient Egypt. Egyptology was then very fashion-
able in France because of Napoleon's expedition. Sethos continued
to play a role in Freemasonry to the end of the 19th century. The
famous Egyptologist, Lenoir, was mainly concerned with the con-
nection between the ancient Egyptian religions and Freemasonry.
He is responsible for establishing this relationship as part of the
Masonic heritage.

Throughout the 18th century these matters were the subject of
much speculation. In the first issue of the Journal -fur Freymaurer,
Ignaz von Born dealt with the mysteries of the Egyptians in an
essay in which he, like Terrasson, referred to the writings of
Diodorus Siculus. This Roman historian, a contemporary of Julius
Caesar and Augustus, was the author of a world history whose
first volume was devoted to the Egyptians. Besides Diodorus and
Plutarch, Lucius Apuleius, born 125 A.D., influenced our opera.
The initiation ritual and several other details seem ultimately to
be based, at least partially, on his Metamorphoses.

Another very early source is the third century novel, Aethiopica,
by Heliodorus. It deals with the very involved fates of two lovers,
Tfaeagenes and Chariclea, who, like Tamino and Pamina, undergo
difficult tests and are finally consecrated as priests. Particulars
about the connections between the Magic Flute and 18th century
Egyptology can be found in Die Zauberfiote, erne Studie zum

72

Lebenszusammenhang Aegypten-Antike-Abendland by Siegfried
Morenz (Koln, 1952). Morenz traces the names Pamina and
Tamino to Egyptian origins. Unfortunately, Schikaneder was mis-
taken in naming them. Their names should have been Pamino
and Tamina, since Pa-min indicates the male, and Ta-min the
female, belonging to Min, a local god of Coptos and Achmin, the
patron of the Eastern desert of Egypt

About the time of Horn's publication on the mysteries of the
Egyptians there appeared a small booklet, Grata repoa, oder die
Einweihung in der alten geheimen Gesellschap der egyptischen
Priester (Grata repoa, or the initiation into the ancient secret
society of Egyptian priests), printed in 1785 (no place of publica-
tion given) . Although he seems to have derived a certain amount
of inspiration from it, Born refers to this anonymous publication
with some contempt. A closer examination of those parts of Ter-
rasson's book which bear on Masonry and have played a part in
the creation of the Magic Flute may help us to appreciate the re-
lationship among all these writings.

Queen Dalucca, undoubtedly a relative of the Queen of the
Night, seizes the throne after the death of Queen Nephte, and
establishes a reign of tyranny and retribution. Meanwhile, Sethos,
the rightful king, grows up under the wise guidance of his tutor,
Amedes, and is initiated by him into the mysteries of Egyptian
priesthood. In our opera, Sarastro is cast in the mold of the high
priest, whose sayings at the funeral of Queen Nephte are full of
wisdom. The funeral procession, which reminds us of Sarastro's
triumphal entry, is described in great detail: 4

"Daylight was shut off from the entrance of the palace, which
was illuminated with lamps. A gilt carriage with four wheels was
placed under the entrance. On the carriage was the queen's throne
with three steps leading up to it, and above the throne a golden
crown set with many precious stones, borne by a golden sphynx
with spread wings. The carriage had two shafts and was drawn
by 14 horses splendidly harnessed as for a triumphal procession.

"The high priest of Memphis, who was to present the dead
queen to her judges, was carried behind her in an open coffin,
dressed in white, with a veil over his face, in the position of a
deceased. The rest of the priests walked behind them in two
single files of about 500 each and separated by a distance equal
to the width of the road. They were uniformly dressed, veiled, in

73

one hand carried an augur staff bent at the top and in the other
a ring or compass of gold from which a piece of rope was sus-
pended/'

The dead queen is to be taken before a tribunal, a choir of
priests, who were to judge her and decide whether she was worthy
of being admitted to the gods. "The tribunal is seated on 41
chairs forming two semi-circular rows, placed on a wide platform
with twelve steps leading up to it. They wore tunics or white
vests, as priests and initiates, and over these the wide, red cloaks
of judges. Each wore a golden chain with a sapphire engraved
with the figure of truth suspended from it. 5 They sat in the fol-
lowing order: the high priest, chief of the senate, sat on a raised
chair in the middle of the semi-circle, and on each side sat the
two initiates, judges named in Memphis, of which Amedes was
the first. Beside them sat 16 'Priests of the Labyrinth/ 6 and then
22 initiates chosen by the others."

This explains the number of priests, 18, at the beginning of
the second act of the Magic Flute. Abert's explanation 7 of this
number as twice three-times-three is probably in error. According
to Masonic tradition, 18 priests kept watch over Hiram's grave,
and the number of priestesses who performed the sacrifices in
Sethos (p. 281) is also 18. The high priest's announcement that
all those present were now to present any well-founded accusa-
tions against the dead one has a truly Masonic ring. The decision
as to whether the queen is to be admitted among the immortals is
to be based on examination.

"The judges throw small pieces of white paper into the 'dread-
ful urn,' the mere thought of which makes the ancient kings
observe justice." Even palms appear in the novel. Sethos and the
priests, as well as the initiates, carry palm branches in the tri-
umphal procession; in the Magic Flute this is done by the three
genii. The following passage from the high priest's funeral oration
is remarkable. It deals with the Queen:

'The thought of revenge never entered her mind. She left it
to ordinary people to practice hatred." We may well assume that
this passage inspired Sarastro's aria, "We know no thought of
vengeance." The work stresses descriptions of the priests' cos-
tomes. At public processions they are blue, purple, or red and
cover the head. This is reminiscent of the blue used in Craft
lodges and the red of the Royal Arch. In the Magic Flute, the

74

priests signify assent by blowing trombones. In the novel, the
dead queen's carriage is announced by shawms and oboes, alternat-
ing at regular intervals with trumpets and drums.

The new initiates wear "tunics, trains, and veils, swords in their
hilts, red and gold colored sashes and crowns of myrtle and palm
leaves." The palm leaves may be the counterpart of the sprig of
acacia in the Masonic ritual. Schikaneder, however, has put the
palm branches in the hands of the three genii. They replace the
three priests of Terrasson who "appear now grave, now serene,
and encourage the neophyte to observe silence in the company of
women." In both novel and opera, two priests, "wearing a veil
that reaches down to their chests," lead the neophyte. It is, how-
ever, the descriptions of the tests themselves which had the great-
est impact on the Magic Flute.

The entrance of the labyrinth is at the North. While discussing
ethical problems, Amedes and Sethos are secretly watched by the
priests. The neophytes are led by an initiated guide. The words of
Amedes to Sethos give us an indication of Schikaneder's conception
of the setting for the tests. "My son, you see to the North a door
by which we entered and by which we could leave again. You see
another door to the East which leads to a path running parallel
to the archways which are still closed to you." This path was six
feet wide, very even, and in a semi-circle. A warrior six feet tall
stood on each side. As Sethos tried to enter he noticed on one arch-
way the following inscription in black letters:

"WHOEVER WALKS THIS PATH ALONE WITHOUT
LOOKING BEHIND HIM SHALL BE PURIFIED BY FIRE,
WATER, AND AIR, AND IF HE CAN OVERCOME HIS
FEAR OF DEATH HE SHALL EMERGE FROM THE
BOWELS OF THE EARTH INTO DAYLIGHT, AND HE
SHALL THEN HAVE THE RIGHT TO PREPARE HIS SOUL
FOR RECEIVING THE SECRETS OF THE GREAT GODDESS
ISIS."

A comparison of this inscription to the song of the Armored
Men shows the extent to which Schikaneder has drawn from
Claudius's translation of Sethos:

75

Who treads the path of toil that unto wisdom leadeth

His soul the purge of fire and water needeth.

When him the awful fear of death no more can fright

Then may he rise to gain the sacred light.

There with the enlightened shall he take his place

To know the mystic rites of Isis face to face.
The two now set out, Sethos walking ahead, Amedes wearing
a helmet-like lamp on his head. They reach a square window. If
the candidate loses courage the priest is to take him back to the
entrance and exact a promise to keep his experiences secret Sethos
is amazed at the length of the path. Walking a considerable dis-
tance, "they come to a locked iron door on the right, that is, the
South side. Two steps further they see three men with helmets
and the head of the god Anubis. One of them addresses the
candidate:

" 'We are not here to bar your way. Continue if the gods have
given you courage. But if you should want to turn back later, we
shall hinder you. Now there is still time to turn back, but here-
after, unless you continue on your way without shrinking or look-
ing bade, you can never leave this place again/ Sethos passes on,
and at the end of the path he sees the faint glow of a flame.
Doubling his pace, he arrives at a vaulted chamber in which two
huge fires are burning; the smoke escapes through some pipes in
the ceiling from which the flames are deflected downwards, giving
the room the appearance of a red-hot oven." Between the two fires
Sethos sees "a grill of red-hot iron, eight feet wide and thirty
feet long." He walks across the grill and thus passes his trial by
fire. His trial by water consists of having to swim across a raging
torrent, holding a burning torch in his hand. The last of Sethos's
tests is one of mechanical skill, no trace of which can be found
in the opera.

After Sethos has passed all his tests he comes to a room which
is "brilliantly illuminated by daylight or, at night-time, by lamps."
He is received by the priests ranged in two rows in the sanctum.
He gets a drink of water from the river Lethe which will help
him "to forget all the maxims he has learned from the uniniti-
ated.*' The high priest then tells him to stand in front of the
statue of Isis, Osiris, and Oms, and says, "Oh, Isis, goddess of
the Egyptians, give your spirit to your new servant who has braved
so many dangers for your sake. Let him find die riches of his

76

soul and teach his heart your law so that he will be worthy of
knowing your secrets." The Magic Flute has a corresponding
passage:

Oh hear us, Isis and Osiris!

For these that seek your light we pray,

In all their perils grant them patience

And lead them safe in wisdom's way!

Let them draw near without denial;

Or if too frail to stand their trial,

Their youthful ardor call to mind,

So may they life eternal find.

The musical structure of this aria is also related to Terrasson's
description. In the novel, all the priests repeat the first words of
the prayer; Mozart parallels this by having the priests' chorus
repeat the last line of each stanza of Sarastro's aria.

The inscription over the doorway, "He who walks this path
alone . . . ," seems to have made such a deep impression on Mozart
and Schikaneder that the scene with the two Armored Men has
been turned into something almost super-human. But Abert is
mistaken in saying that the words of their song are similar in style
to those of contemporary Masonic songs. This is out of the ques-
tion, since the lodge lyrics never went beyond everyday thoughts.
The importance assigned to this scene in the novel caused the
librettist to place it in a strategic spot. As in the Masonic Funeral
Music, Mozart here uses a polyphonic setting, and the figured
chorale is a picture of the darkness of human fate at whose end
is only death. The ostinato motif, taken from an old chorale, like
the cantus firmus in the -Funeral Music, reminds us that we can-
not escape our fate.

If a candidate failed any of the three tests he could not return
to the upper world for the rest of his life. He was then seized by
three men, "servants of the second degree," who took him to a
subterranean temple from which he could never return to the
surface of the earth. This was done in order to assure the secrecy
of the mysteries. Unsuccessful candidates, the initiates of the
second degree, lived pleasantly in this captivity and could even
marry if they wished. It is highly probable that Mozart and
Schikaneder had these unsuccessful ones in mind when creating the
Papageno scenes. He, too, undergoes the tests, but cannot make

77

the grade and is satisfied with food, drink, and Papagena. There
is a dear distinction between the initiates, who strive for purity
of the soul, and the others for whom worldly existence is all.

The frequent thunderclaps in the Magic Flute also have their
model in S ethos. In the third test, "the noise of the wheels in the
darkness is fully as dreadful as death itself." This noise also
served as a warning signal for the priests in the sanctum who were
waiting for the new initiate. They instantly closed all windows
and openings through which the people in the temple could look
in. The common people knew nothing of these hidden machines
and imagined that the noise was a thunderstorm, unleashed by a
god as a signal that he wished to communicate with the priests.

The next portion may also have influenced Mozart and Schi-
kaneder. According to it, Orpheus came to Egypt from Thrace
in order to be initiated, failed the tests, but was admitted as a
special favor. Euridyce was stung by an insect and died. Orpheus
found the entrance to the underworld, and when he read the in-
scription on the doorway he imagined that passing the tests and
being initiated would enable him to find Euridyce and to lead her
back from the world of spirits. He passed the fire and water tests.
When he failed the third one, he took his lyre, determined to die.
But the priests were merciful because of his art, granted him ad-
mission to the temple and reunited him with Euridyce.

We also find the Orpheus motif in the Magic Flute. Obviously,
Tamino's flute is the counterpart of Orpheus's lyre, but more
important, we have the combination of love for a woman and de-
sire for initiation, a combination which is not found in other
dramatic works of the period. This circumstance alone is sufficient
justification for calling Setbos the most important single source
of the Magic Flute.

The initiation of women is an important theme in the literature
of that time. Heliodorus, although stating that women were barred
from sacred ceremonies in principle, already relates the case of
o0e noble lady of outstanding character for whom, like Pamina,
an exception was made. Schikaneder drew all his information on
esoteric matters from Ignaz von Born's essay, mentioned above,
which is based on the writings of Diodorus Siculus and refers to
Setbos. He may also have heard some of the many circulating
stories about female Masons. The question was constantly being
discussed in German literature. In 1785, Wieland wrote in

78

Teutscher Merkur that, "as far as women were concerned, Free-
masons were willing to open their hearts but not their lodges."
When Goethe's son, August, was a guest at a ladies' night of the
lodge "Amalia" in Weimar and was asked to express their thanks
to the lodge, his father wrote a humorous verse for the occasion:

Sollen aber wir, die Frauen
Dankbar solche Bruder preisen
Die ins Inner e zu schauen
Immer uns zur Seite weisen?

which may be freely translated as

Why, oh why, should we, the women
Grateful to those brothers be
Who cannot perform their duties
When in our company?

Herder, in his Masonic writings, also dealt with this question,
which was being discussed throughout Europe. Goldoni satirized
the exclusion of women from lodges in a comedy, Donne Curiose
(curious women) .

During the 18th century, the so-called Lodges-of- Adoption, into
which both men and women were admitted, began to spring up
in France. The famous lodge "Les neuf soeurs," the lodge of
Voltaire, had its own Lodge of Adoption over which presided
Mme. Helvetius, wife of the French philosopher and litterateur
Claude Adrien Helvetius. In 1781 Queen Marie Antoinette said
about these lodges, Tout le monde en est.

There are many stories about the admission of women into
regular lodges. One of the most famous is about Mrs. Elizabeth
Aldworth, daughter of Arthur St. Leger, Viscount Doneraile, who
inadvertently entered the lodge in her father's company. Since she
had unintentionally heard part of the ceremony she was initiated
in order to guard the Masonic secret. Thackeray tells this humor-
ous story in My Grandfather's Time. At this point we should men-
tion the so-called Mopsorden of which both men and women were
members. As a matter of fact, the exclusion of women was never
put to strict practice, viz. the French Le Droit bumain and the
American Order of the Eastern Star.

The duet "man and wife, wife and man approach divinity,"
points to the high ideals of love and humanism which are most

79

persuasively expressed in Masonry. The final secret of the Craft
is symbolized by the Hebrew password, Makbenak (he lives
within the son). It represents the principle of resurrection and
regeneration, symbolized by the initiation which in its most lofty
form is shown in the Magic Flute.

To return to Sethos, there are even more parallels to the Magic
Flute. The candidate must fast for 81 days (nine times nine, die
Masonic triad) and is allowed only water to drink. At the end of
the fast he is rewarded with a light meal and a glass of excellent
wine (Papageno's drinking scene). Even the serpent appears in
the novel, but it is a monster which consumes whole herds of cattle.
It is killed by Sethos at the beginning of the novel, instead of the
three ladies. There are other parallels which we cannot discuss
here.

Schikaneder may have used yet some other sources for creating
his Egyptian setting. Ferdinand Josef Schneider, in his book, Die
Freimaurerei und ihr Einfluss auj die geistige Kultur in Deutsch-
land, points out a number of such writings from the end of the
18th century. Did they stimulate the creation of the opera, or was
it the Magic Flute which aroused people's interest in ancient
Egypt?

A novel by Fr. Eberhard Rambach, published in Zerbst in 1793
and entitled Aylo und Dschandina oder die Pyramiden, describes
a society aiming at universal happiness. Geheimnisse der alten
Egypzier by Christian Heinrich Spiess, published in Leipzig in
1798, describes the "irresistible longing" for Egypt, the land of
ancient secret wisdom. Here two boys become "victims of envious
relatives." Schneider shows that initiated women play an impor-
tant part in the esoteric novels of the late 18th century. We can
only completely appreciate the Magic Flute if we see it against a
background of the contemporary fiction which abounds with
ghosts* knights, and robbers.

Though for the initiated there can be no doubt about the essen-
tially Masonic nature of the Magic Flute, many students have been
unaware of this aspect of the work. Even in today's literature
several studies of this masterpiece dismiss its Masonic implica-
tions with a passing reference. Ever since it was first performed,
this opera has been assigned interpretations of the most diverse
kinds.

These interpretations are the subject of a study by Bliimml,

SO

published in the first volume of the Mozart-] ahrbuch, entitled
Ausdeutungen der Zauberflote (interpretations of the Magic
Flute). At the beginning there were two schools of thought, one
revolutionary, one conservative. The Masonic interpretation did
not appear until later, but it won the day. Bliimml is quick to
admit that it has long been accepted, even though "it is more
speculative than objective."

Already political bias tended to encroach on scholarly objectivity.
In 1817, the revolutionary interpretation was well known in the
Rhineland even before Franz Graffer asserted it in Josephinische
Curiosa. According to his view, the opera's background is the
liberation of the French people from the shackles of despotism
through the wisdom of a better government. The Queen of the
Night represents the despotic rule of Louis XIV, Pamina personi-
fies freedom, the daughter of tyranny, Tamino is the people. The
three ladies are the deputies of the Three Estates, Sarastro stands
for the wisdom of better government. The priests are the national
assembly, Papageno represents the rich, Monostatos the emigres,
Papagena, equality, etc. We are reminded of George Bernard
Shaw's satirical interpretation of Richard Wagner's operas. Even
the wild animals are said to represent the coats-of-arms of various
countries, the lion representing Holland, the leopard England,
and the eagle the Holy Alliance.

But we can also reverse the charges. While the revolutionary
interpretation fitted the progressive Rhinelanders, Mozart seemed
to the Austrian reactionaries of the Metternidi era a man of ex-
emplary honesty who virtuously upheld the established order. In
1794, in a weekly paper published in Linz, Gottergesprache gegen
die Jakobiner (speeches of the gods against the Jacobins), the
Magic Flute is described as a bulwark against the French Revo-
lution. Representing France, Pamina receives a prince, Tamino,
and is rescued from the unhappy fate of a republic. Papageno,
the bird-catcher, lures people into the Jacobin Club where he will
imprison them and hand them over to the Queen of the Night,
that is, the republican government. Here, too, art is subverted by
specious political allegory.

Significantly, it was not in Austria, where Freemasons had been
persecuted since the death of Joseph II, but in Northern Germany,
that the Masonic interpretation first appeared in writing. Since
in Prussia Masons had never been persecuted it was natural that

81

the Masonic traditions surrounding the Magic Flute should settle
there. Ludwig von Batzko, the blind historian, attended a Konigs-
berg performance of the opera in 1794, which proved a profound
experience for him. His allegorical interpretation was published in
Journal des Luxus und der Moden IX, in an essay entitled Alle-
gone aus der Zauberflote.

Bliimml points out that Batzko's explanation is based on that
simple formula, the age-old struggle between light and darkness,
good and evil, enlightenment and superstition, thus preparing
the way for later interpretations in the specifically Masonic sense.
Batzko makes no absolute assertions about Masonry, but only
points out "that some scenes allude to the ceremonies of certain
orders. Their members will recognize them without explanation,
and even the uninitiated will understand part of them provided
they are acquainted with the mysteries of the ancient cultures. But
for those who are ignorant of these it would take too long to
explain the individual allusions and expressions/'

Leopold von Sonnleithner (1797-1873) was the first non-
Mason to see the opera as a glorification of Freemasonry. In an
essay on the Magic Flute written in 185 7, 8 he points out that after
the end of the first scene, "Schikaneder introduced a new subject
which does not appear in Joachim Perinet's operetta, Kaspar der
Fagottist, although the same source was used for both works. This
subject, a glorification of Freemasonry, created some discrepancies
between the first and second acts/' Sonnleithner was old enough
to know a number of contemporaries of Mozart and Schikaneder,
and he may also have been acquainted with Seyfried, 9 who prob-
ably told him about the great days of Freemasonry in Vienna. His
essays were presumably written at the request of Otto Jahn, die
great Mozart biographer who was the first to advocate a purely
Masonic interpretation of the Magic Flute.

But Blfimml completely omits the most important document;
the original printing of the libretto in 1791 proves, beyond a
shadow of doubt, that Schikaneder, and of course also Mozart,
were thinking of nothing other than Freemasonry in creating their
masterpiece. This is obvious even on the title page which depicts
the entrance of die temple. A five-pointed star, symbol of the
second degree, is suspended, and on the lower right are those of
the fiist degree, square and trowel, and an hour-glass representing

82

the third. We shall return later to those parts of the text which are
specifically rooted in the ritual. 10

For years now the opera's Masonic meaning has been generally,
if not indisputably, accepted. Years after its creation, Friedridi
Daumer, writer and philosopher, was the first to see in it a
Masonic allegory. After becoming a Roman Catholic convert, he
cast scorn and suspicion on the Craft in the manner of Eduard
Emil Edkert, the well-known pamphleteer and enemy of Free-
masonry. In the fourth issue of his periodical, Aus *der Mansarde,
(from the attic), Daumer attacked the Masons, showing himself a
member of Eckert's bandwagon. But his investigations of the
activities of secret societies did lead him to see the connection
between Freemasonry and the Magic Flute which he presented
in his periodical. To him, Sarastro represented the spiritual light,
a secular priest or a worldly ruler; the Queen of the Night was
superstition, Monostatos was "a frightening and distorted carica-
ture of the old-fashioned Catholic clergy." The three ladies are
either the three religions (Christianity, Islam, and Judaism) or
the three branches of Christianity.

Another supporter of the Masonic interpretation was Moritz
Alexander Zille. A Freemason and preacher at the university
church in Leipzig, he became editor of the Allgememe Zeltung
fur Christentum und Kirch e in 1846. In his strictly Deistic views
he was a sincere Freemason. His conception of Christianity was
that of a warm, bright, optimistic religion, whose humaneness
exceeded mere tolerance. With this conviction, he founded a
society, Kir Mich er Verein fur die Religions-bekenntnisse (church
society for all religious faiths). When the representatives of the
German nation were assembled in Frankfurt in 1848, this group
petitioned them in behalf of separation of church and state, and
freedom of worship for all religions.

Among Zille's many writings, some of which were published in
the Freimaurerzeitung, whose editor he became in 1852, is an
interpretation of the Magic Flute. It appeared in 1866 with the
title Die Zauberflote, Texterlauterung fur die Mozart Verehrer.
His interpretation is summarized in two sentences by Bliimml. It
is based on Jahn's suggestions and fuses them into a systematic
theory. As an historian, he is struck by the fact that the opera was
composed at a time when Masons were being persecuted by Em-
peror Leopold who had succeeded Joseph II.

83

"Mozart and Schikaneder, in creating the Magic Flute, per-
formed a deed of valor, for in spite of the disapproval of the
higher-ups they defended their noble cause. It is, therefore, the
swan song of Masonry in Austria, an eloquent defense of those
who were innocently condemned, a farewell worthy of those who
were exiled, but also a magic means for Freemasonry to continue
spreading in spite of all prohibitions."

Zille attempted to identify the characters as leaders of Austrian
Masonry. In Sarastro he recognizes Ignaz von Born, famous Free-
mason and scholar, the hub of all intellectual life in Vienna, who
has been a central figure throughout this volume. The reader will
remember that when Theodor of Bavaria began his persecutions
of Masons, Born returned all of his Bavarian diplomas with a
letter stating his convictions on the subject. Evidently Masons felt
quite secure in Austria at that time, and the changes after Joseph's
death were a great blow. But Masonry again raised its head in the
Magic Flute.

The other characters also had historical counterparts. In the
Queen of the Night, Zille recognized Empress Maria Theresia,
who hated the Craft so much that she detailed soldiers to surround
the house in which her husband, Francis of Lorraine, was attend-
ing a Masonic meeting. Tamino is Joseph II, Pamina the Austrian
people, and Monostatos stands for popery and monasticism.

Several authors support Zille's interpretation; among them is
Dent, who differs only in respect to Monostatos, whom he be-
lieves to be Leopold Aloys Hoffmann, that traitor to the Craft
who, after the outbreak of the French Revolution, dedicated his
life to persecuting Freemasonry. But Hoffmann's anti-Masonic
writings did not begin appearing until 1792, somewhat too late
for him to find a place in the opera.

As the Masonic conception of the Magic Flute began to spread,
a reaction against it set in. Sdiurig sees in it a purely personal
statement of Mozart's beliefs, unrelated to Freemasonry, and
Blumml congratulates him for finally having freed himself from
the Masonic interpretation. He tries to prove his point by calling
the overture an adaptation of a sonata by Clementi, a vague and
irrelevant statement. Some bigoted Christian writers could not
orgive Mozart for being a Mason and including Masonic material
in the Magic Flute.

Josef Kreittnaier calls the Magic Flute libretto unimaginative

84

and prosaic, "a welcome piece of propaganda for Freemasons."
But he asserts that Mozart remained religious in spite of his
Masonic allegiance and the thought of opposing the Roman
Catholic church was contrary to his beliefs.

There were several writers, enemies of Masonry, who regarded
Mozart's lodge membership as discreditable. In a lecture, Mozart
und das Christ entum in der Musik (Mozart and Christianity in
music), given on December 13, 1891, Dr. Albert Wiesinger
says of the Funeral Music: "The Freemasons gave Mozart a ri-
diculous build-up, but they let him die hungry and poor." In
order to deliver a blow to Masonry, these people did not stop at
lying. A newspaper article reported the following as historical
fact: "When Mozart saw that the Austrian lodges were nothing
but ridiculous tomfoolery which also harbored some very danger-
ous doctrines, he tried to withdraw. He wrote about this intention
to several brethren and these letters are still in existence, but they
would not hear of it. At that point Mozart's suffering began. He
was abandoned by his former friends, died in bitter want, and
was buried without attention."

There are a great many tales about Mozart's bad treatment at
the hands of Masons, and it was even conjectured that they caused
his death. Such stories probably became established because
Masonric secrecy naturally intrigued simple-minded individuals.
And the enemies of Freemasonry repeat them as if they were
verified historical fact. We have already described the outpourings
of Mathilde Ludendorff, but General Ludendorff himself also
insisted in a polemic which appeared in 1926 on the anniversary
of the battle of Liittich that the Freemasons poisoned Mozart.
Quoting from the ritual of the Grand Lodge of Germany, he pro-
posed to annihilate Masonry by uncovering its secrets. He con-
cluded:

"The secret of Masonry is the Jew. Freemasonry has under-
taken to rob the German people of their Germanic pride, and to
turn them, unawares, into an instrument for bringing about the
glorious future of the Jewish people." He continued, "One gen-
erally assumes that the Magic Flute was written by Mozart in
order to glorify Freemasonry. But he threaded an anti-Masonic
legend into its web and that is the reason he was poisoned. In
order to divert suspicion, the lodge asked him to compose a can-
tata. Another act of brotherly love caused his hands and feet to

85

swell and caused vomiting. He died a few days later, in 1791, on
the Day of Jehovah. Mozart had often voiced the suspicion that
he was being poisoned, and when he was asked to compose the
Requiem, he knew that the verdict of the lodge was about to be

carried out"

Hermann Cohen takes a different view in his book, Die
dramatiscbe Idee in Mozarts Operntexten (Berlin, 1915). He is
convinced that Mozart was a sincere Mason and wished to create
a Masonic allegory. He summarizes his opinion: "The ethical
ideal, brotherhood of men, and real, political peace on earth, this
is the meaning of the Magic Flute. The Queen of the Night is
the embodiment of a mother s tragedy." Here the inversion of the
Masonic password concerning the incarnation of the son is relevant.
We point out that the conflict between mother and daughter
properly belongs to the "dark" side of the story, while Tamino's
initiation, the re-incorporation, the acceptance of the son Tamino
by the father Sarastro, belongs to the "light" side. As in the fairy
tale, the source of the opera, love, sublimated sexual love, is the
prize of victory and virtue, the consummation of the ethical ideal.
Hans Merian, in his book, Mozarts Meisteropern (Leipzig, 1900),
goes beyond the Masonic interpretation. "The basic motif is the
struggle between light and darkness, represented by Sarastro and
the Queen of the Night. From Freemasonry Mozart has taken only
the outward form of the ritual."

Arthur Schurig tries to reject all Masonic implications in his
biography of Mozart. While Komorzynski already had doubts
about a sudden change in the creation of the text, Schurig de-
scribes it as completely unified. According to him, the conflict be-
tween sacred and profane, as expressed in the opera, merely
represents Mozart's own character. As an artist, the composer was
well acquainted with heavenly spheres, but he also knew all-too-
well the depths of this world.

In spite of all these attempts to minimize the Masonic influences
in the Magic Flute, the most important scholars, such as Ludwig
Schiedetmair and Hermann Abert, were forced to admit that its
uniqueness and its greatness are the result of Mozart's Masonry.
Alfred Einstein intensively stressed the Masonic elements in the
opera.

I should point out that in Masonic circles the Masonic inter-
pretation has always been taken for granted. According to Grau-

86

PLATE 5.

Ignaz von Bora, the "model of Sarastro."

PLATE 6.
Emanuel Schikaneder, librettist of the "Magic Flute."

penstein's history of the St. John's lodge in Hamburg, Brother
Detenhoff gave a lecture, Zu-fallige Gedanken fiber das Drama
der Zauberflote (reflections on the drama of the Magic Flute) in
the lodge "Pelikan" at Altona in 1794. This lecture is a counter-
part of Batzko's allegory. For while Batzko did not fully realize
the importance of Freemasonry in the opera, Detenhoff's lecture
provides the first clear indication that it was completely understood
by Masons. It anticipates Sonnleithner's interpretation by half a
century. Detenhoff gives a rather detailed description of the text,
calling Sarastro the personification of the "greatest and purest
light," and the Queen of the Night, darkness which oppresses all
mankind. He is struck by the fact that Papageno is punished as
soon as he tells a lie. His punishment and reward, however, are
on a strictly material level, which is all he wants. It would be
impossible for such a gross person as Papageno to become a
Mason. Tamino, on the other hand, aspires to higher things and
finally gains admission to the temple.

87

THE MAGIC FLUTE: WORDS AND MUSIC

MANY PASSAGES in the Magic Flute have either been taken
directly from the Masonic ritual, or allude to it. For ex-
ample, the Sprecher (orator) holds an important office in con-
tinental European lodges. In some countries, especially France, the
orator occupies a high rank and is responsible for lodge discipline.
The word "speaker" may have been taken directly from the novel,
Sethos. The number three plays an important part in the Magic
Flute. There are the three ladies, the three genii, finally the 18
(six times three) priests, which have a model in Sethos.

Quite possibly Schikaneder had read some other books on Egyp-
tian Masonry too. C. W. Leadbeater discusses Egyptian Masonry
in the ninth chapter of his book, The Hidden Life in Freemasonry.
He describes a flaming star gleaming above the altar, and, indeed,
the flaming star is depicted with the Masonic emblems on the title
page of the original libretto. Also, according to Leadbeater, each
brother brought to the ceremony his own light, a torch of pitch-
blende. These also appear in Sethos, as do the helmets that protect
the warriors from the flames. Theatrical experts still refer to the
Armored Men as firemen. We are reminded of the three genii by
Leadbeater's description of two acolytes, a boy and a girl about
twelve years old, chosen for their beauty and sworn to strictest
secrecy. The hymn to Ra, the sun god, was important in the
Egyptian ritual. Music and antiphonal choirs were also used.

Now for a detailed comparison of the Masonic ritual and the
text of the libretto. In the first finale, upon entering the Masonic
sphere, the genii sing:

Such words are not for us to say

Be silent, patient, persevering,

A manly part thou hast to play

If this the goal thou wouldst be nearing,

tfae three commandments given the Petitioner. Tamino replies:

88

What words do I read there inscribed on the gateway?
'To nature, to reason, to wisdom these temples/

These are the three "Lesser Lights" of Freemasonry. In the next
scene, a dialogue between Tamino and the priest contains a refer-
ence to the exclusion of women:

A woman then has told thee this?
'Twas like a woman thus to talk
And like a boy to think it true.

In the 22nd scene, Tamino sings:

Oh endless night, hast thou no breaking?
When dawns the day mine eyes are seeking?

This refers to the symbolic journey which is made blindfolded.

The scenes in front of the great temple are largely taken from
Sethos. The stage setting is Egyptian. On each side there are nine
pyramids, the tallest one in the middle. Sarastro informs the
priests that Prince Tamino is waiting at the northern door for
admission, with a virtuous heart, yearning for a state which can
be attained only with great effort. Then Sarastro is asked three
questions by the priests: "Is he virtuous? Can he be silent? Does he
love his fellow-men?" These questions evidently refer to the part
of the initiation which precedes the entrance of the initiate, the
point at which his identity, reputation, etc., are asked. Sarastro's
asking the priests whether they consider Tamino worthy of admis-
sion, and their signalling assent with gestures, also has a parallel
with a portion of the Masonic initiation.

When the orator expresses doubt about Tamino's ability to stand
up to his tests because of his royal blood, we are again reminded
of Sethos, where the priests first receive the neophyte with doubt
and disapproval. Sarastro's reply, "Still more, he is human," must
have sounded quite revolutionary in the days of Emperor Leopold.

Then Tamino and his companion are led into the forecourt of
the temple and the orator ("whom the gods through us appointed
as defender of truth") is to teach them their duty to mankind.
The orator exits with two priests, corresponding in the ritual to the
exit of the Master, who then returns to the Petitioner.

In the third scene, the orator again asks the Prince whether he
is prepared to risk his life in seeking his goal: "There is still time

89

to turn back, but one more step and it will be too late." This
warning has a parallel in the initiation, in which the Master points
out to the initiate all the serious consequences of his entry into the
Craft, admonishing him to return to worldly living if he cannot
gather the strength. The warning to secrecy and silence is also
found in the Masonic initiation.

The duet between orator and priests again refers to the exclu-
sion of women:

Beware the wiles of women's weaving,
Would ye be worthy of this place.

Now follow the Prince's symbolic journey, the tests by fire and
water, which are found in Sethos as well as in the Masonic initia-
tion. And the final chorus of the priests again points to the three
"Lesser Lights" (Strength, Beauty and Wisdom) :

Thanks to the great Osiris, thanks, Isis, to thee

Through darkness and error they once sought their way,

Victorious we hail them in triumph today.

By nature directed, by reason protected,

TTie high place of wisdom they now have found.

Even the serpent is a symbol well-known to Masonry, though
not specifically part of its ritual. Abert guesses that it is a Masonic
symbol of evil, and that before the Masonic slant was introduced
it had been a fierce lion. But in Masonry, the serpent is related
to the chain, a symbol of brotherhood. It is possible to interpret
the serpent, which, after all, is killed by the "evil" three ladies,
as a symbol of Masonry which is at first misunderstood by the
uninitiated Tamino. In the earliest pictorial records of the Magic
Flute the serpent, once killed, appears divided into three parts.

It has often been said that at least some parts of the Magic Flute
were composed in a completely new style, so unique that it has
been called the Magic Flute-style. The question is whether the
deep humanitarian feeling gives the music its characteristic sound,
or whether it was the specifically Masonic spirit which penetrated
even the technical aspect of composition.

This style is present from the beginning of the opera on. The
overture begins with three detached chords in E flat major, the

90

key Mozart used to characterize solemnity. These chords represent
the three knocks on the door; when they reappear in the middle
of the overture they are a stylized version of the Entered Appren-
tice's knocking: m Throughout the opera we find dotted
rhythms. The three inversions of the triad have been combined
with the Masonic rhythm, and the number three plays an im-
portant part.

The overture, particularly, reflects Masonic thinking. Its fugato
theme, with pounding rhythms, has often been said to depict
working on "the rough stone/' To be sure, it is derived from a
piano sonata by dementi which Mozart had heard as a child at
the court of Vienna. The first part presumably describes the first
test. After enormous tension, caused by the peculiar, mysterious
three-fold crescendo, it is concluded with the ceremonial chords
of the winds. The development is a dark, unhappy sounding
section, dwelling in minor and subdominant, probably representa-
tive of the self-examination. Note also the dialogue between
winds and strings. Towards the end, the overture returns to the
energetic E flat major and, after a recapitulation, it concludes with
a ritual knocking signifying deliverance and redemption.

The march of the priests is genuine ritual music, with deceptive
cadences and parallel sixths. Again, the three-fold sequence of
eighth-note phrases. In order to properly appreciate the priests'
scenes one must remember the fundamentally responsorial charac-
ter of the ritual. In Sarastro's aria, "Oh hear us, Isis and Osiris/'
the atmosphere of mystery is achieved by the responses of the
priests, signifying secrecy and ceremony.

In the first finale, the point at which the opera begins diverging
from its original course, we at once feel the solemn atmosphere
as the trumpets underscore the three-fold admonition, "Be silent,
patient, persevering." But the Masonic mood has already been
evident in the first trio of the three ladies.

Alfred Heuss was the first to write about the concept of humani-
tarian music in his article, Die Humanitatsmelodien im Fidelio
(the humanitarian melodies in Fidelio), in Zeitschrift fur Musik,
vol. 91, no. 10. He characterizes it as having "a wonderful mild-
ness and purity, silently glowing with metaphysical warmth/' and
shows that Beethoven was already composing such melodies before
the Magic Flute. On the other hand, we find that these traits are
already present in parts of Konig Thames in the wonderfully sym-

91

metrical and solemn melodies which express man's harmonious
relationship to the world and to man. It shows the traits which
distinguished the classical man, severity with himself, tolerance
of his fellows, and the desire to mold his own fate, in other
words, a firm, integrated personality.

But the special quality of the Magic Flute is a sense of the
mysterious, which appears in the first finale and recurs whenever
the music expresses the mysteries of the initiates. For example,
Tamino's question, "When wilt thou break the bond of silence?"
and the orator's reply, "When friendship leads thee by the hand
to join the temple's holy band/ 1 In this passage, the basses are
parallel to the voices, while the strings pulsate softly, but the
effect cannot be explained by technical means alone. When
Tamino asks, later, "Oh, endless night, hast thou no breaking?
When dawns the day mine eyes are seeking?" and the voices
answer from within, "Soon, soon, or never!" we feel something of
the enormous mystical power which Freemasonry held over Mozart.

The priests' march, "All hail to Sarastro," is more conventional,
possibly because Papageno, the embodiment of worldliness, ap-
pears at that moment The priests' march at the beginning of the
second act, on the other hand, is strictly Masonic, The deceptive
cadences, and later, the mysterious ascending parallel sixths eventu-
ally develop into a typical humanitarian melody. The introduction
to the aria "Oh hear us, Isis and Osiris" again has these charac-
teristic parallel sixths. Sarastro's aria, with its wide bass intervals,
is also typical of Mozart's humanitarian melodies, expressing
"wisdom, beauty, and strength."

The descending parallel sixths also appear in the priests 1 chorus,
"Oh Isis and Osiris." Here they are probably indicative of the
impressions which Mozart received as a child when he heard
the Improperia by Palestrina or the fauxbourdon passages in Al-
legri's Miserere at St. Peter's Cathedral.

The most impressive part of the Magic Flute is, without doubt,
the trial by fire. The beating rhythms, the imitative treatment, the
sobbing of the violins, and the chromaticism elevate this section
afcove the rest of the opera. The Armored Men sing a chorale
which bears resemblance to a Protestant chorale, Ach Gott im
Himmel, siek darein, a resemblance with Masonic significance.

But the Magic Flute also gives artistic expression to some
primordial elements in human culture. Initiation rites, such as

92

trials by fire and water, are common to primitive peoples. The
theme of death and resurrection is encountered in thousands of
different forms in many cultures. The puberty rites of primitives
were paralleled in higher civilizations by the association of men
of similar outlook which, ultimately, led to Freemasonry. Some
writers have interpreted this as a sign of the change from a
matriarchal to a patriarchal society, while others see in it a protest
by men against the rule of women (See Bliiher, Die Rclle der
Erotik in der mannlichen Gesellschap). Mastering the power over
fire was just as important an idea in the mind of primitive man as
birth from water. 1

It is evident, then, that the fairy tale, the Magic Flute, had such
an impact on some of the world's great minds because they real-
ized, perhaps in a nebulous way, that it deals with some of man's
oldest and deepest concepts. The libretto, in spite of its rather
clumsy verses, is a book of human wisdom, consummated as a
work of art by Mozart.

93

THE MAGIC FLUTE: SEQUELS

A; WE HAVE ALREADY STATED, it took considerable time for
the Magic Flute's relationships to Masonry to be generally
acknowledged, and even today some scholars remain unconvinced.
But the Masonic interpretation is strengthened by the fact that all
of the various sequels contain Masonic elements. Evidently the
Masonic significance of this opera was recognized from the very
beginning at least by Masons.

We owe Goethe's fragment, The Magic Flute, Part II, to a
performance of the opera in Weimar on January 16, 1794. Ko-
morzynski has pointed out that Schikaneder was scorned by his
contemporaries. We know that the literary classicists were hostile
to him. Accordingly, his text was not used in the Weimar per-
formance, but a new version was written by Christian August Vul-
pius, author of Einaldo and Goethe's brother-in-law. The Vulpius
version was published in Weimar and has appeared as a private
printing for the Gesellschaft der Bibliophilen. Goethe thought
very highly of Vulpius as a librettist, but in preferring his adapta-
tion to the original, the prince of poets can safely be accused of
having missed the boat If Schikaneder' s libretto is in places trivial,
Vulpius's is full of banality. He changed a number of words, tak-
ing no account of the music, and thus caused the musical stresses
to fall on the wrong words or syllables. He arbitrarily replaced
the serpent by a dragon. This incident does not cast a favorable
light on Goethe as a musician.

Let us show a few samples of the errors in accentuation which
resulted from Vulpius's word changes. Obviously, the quotations
must be in the original German. In the first scene, Tamino begins:

Zu Hulje, zu Hulfe, er wird mich verschlingen,
Wer hilp mir den gtftigen Drachen bezwingen?
Wie bin ich ermattet vom scbrecklichen Kampf,
O welch ein Qudm, o welch ein Damp f I

94

Vulpius substituted this fourth line for
Ach rettet mich, ach schutzet mich,

causing the word welch to be stressed by the music and thus violat-
ing the laws of German stress patterns. In the same number, the
three ladies sing, with correct accentuation,

So schoen als ich noch nie gesehen.
But Vulpius makes them sing, with wrong stresses,

Wo kann man einen schonern seben!
The substitution for

Wollt ich mem Herz der Uebe weih'n

dem schonen Jungling sollt es seyn,
sounds like a parody or satire.
There are other points of disturbance. Instead of singing

Vielleicbt, doss dieser schone Mann

die vor*ge R#h ihr geben kann,

the three ladies speak of a message,

auf die sie langst harrt, wie ihr wisst,
doss jetzt der Prinz gekommen ist.

Almost every line contains improper and disturbing changes of
this sort.

Apparently Goethe was not satisfied with Vulpius's adaptation.
He admits that "the well-known first part was full of improbabil-
ities and jokes which few might understand and appreciate. But
we have to admit that the author knew how to use contrasts to
produce great dramatic effects."

This statement indicates that Goethe recognized the Masonic
meaning of the Magic Plute. Indeed, he was a Mason himself and
belonged to the lodge "Amalia" in Weimar. But he did not par-
ticipate enthusiastically or fully. Nevertheless, Masonic thought
was dose to him, and the symbols of the Craft were his inspira-
tion. When he wanted a musical setting for his sequel, he turned
to a Masonic musician, Paul Wranitzky, whom we have met before.

The stage settings and costumes of the original Magic Flute
were to be used in Goethe's sequel, so that continuity would be
preserved. He already made some notes on the staging when he
saw Vulpius's production. In 1803, Goethe asked Zelter to com-
pose the music for this sequel, but it was not until 1814 that any-

95

thing was done about it. Anselm Weber was also going to set it
to music but completed only a few pieces.

This is the content of Goethe s sequel. Monostatos returns to
the Queen of the Night with a group of Negroes in order to
collect his reward for fulfilling a mission. He had been sent to
take their newborn child from Tamino and Pamina and to place
it in a golden coffin. "Have I been avenged/' asks the queen, and
the chorus replies, "Yes, Queen, you have." But the queen is not
satisfied. The child is not in her possession because, when Mono-
statos started to carry the coffin to her, it became heavier and
heavier, pulling its bearers to the ground. There it stayed and
could not be moved. "Surely this is Sarastro's magic." But Mono-
statos had quickly locked the coffin with the queen's seal so that
the child would remain imprisoned forever. The coffin is taken
to the "Brotherly Order" which "learns and teaches wisdom in
silent contemplation." But so great is the queen's power that, on
being cursed by her, Tamino and Pamina would become insane if
they were to see each other. If they laid eyes on their son, he would
die. In the next scene, a procession of women carry the child's
coffin. He is not allowed to rest so that he will not die. When they
see Tamino, they retreat before him so that he cannot see his son.
While Pamina and Tamino mourn their tragic loss, their misfor-
tune is paralleled by Papageno's, who is dissatisfied with Papa-
gena because she has not borne him any children. An invisible
choir promises them that their wish will soon be fulfilled.

In the next scene, the priests are assembled in the temple. The
orator says, "Before the northern door of our holy abode stands
our brother, who has returned from a year's pilgrimage and seeks
readmission." As a sign that he is still worthy of admission, the
pilgrim brings a crystal ball enclosed in a silver band. It is now
Sarastro's turn to wander for a year, and he does not hesitate to
fulfill this command of the gods. His address is patterned after
the aria in the Magic Flute, for he says, "Within these silent walls
man finds himself and his innermost soul." (In the Vulpius ver-
sion, he sang "Within these sacred walls.")

Of the following scenes, we have only sketches and rough
drafts, for Goeihe never completed them. Pamina wants to dedi-
cate the golden casket to the sun, but the altar disappears into the
ground before her eyes. On his wanderings Sarastro has encount-
ered Papageno and Papagena. They tell him that they have found

96

large, beautiful eggs in their hut and that they expect very beau-
tiful birds to emerge from them. Sarastro advises them to put these
eggs in a nest and cover them with flowers. Soon the eggs begin to
swell up, and when they finally burst open, three children emerge
from them, two boys and a girl ( "musical and poetic jests" ) . Papa-
geno now sings a song, Von alien schanen War en (of all beautiful
wares), which has been set to music by several composers. Among
them is the Prague composer, Tomaschek, who begins the song
with a fanfare-like introduction similar to the street-cries of old
Prague, to the way the antique dealers of his time advertised their
wares.

After the disappearance of the casket, Panama searches for her
husband, but when she $ets eyes on him, both fall into a deep
sleep. Thus the Queen of the Night has made good her threat.
Papageno comes to the court and manages to alleviate their pain
with his flute playing. Then some priests arrive with the news
that the child lies in a deep cave, surrounded by water and fire.

In the second act, the parents penetrate this cave in order to
save their child. Again, trials by water and fire. The Queen of the
Night appears, attempting to keep the parents away. Suddenly
the coffin opens and, while the guards throw their spears after it,
the child flies away.

Of the rest of the opera only the scenario survived. The course
of action is not clear, and Junk offers several theories. Presumably
Sarastro has something to do with Papageno's children as part of
his pilgrimage. Junk thinks that the children and Sarastro some-
how save Tamino's child and restore it to its parents, and this
concludes the high priest's function.

The role of Monostatos is also vague. It is likely that he tried
to prevent the reunion of the diUd and its parents, which only
Sarastro' s power could bring about. The child is now in the hands
of the Queen of the Night, and possibly Sarastro was to intervene
at this point. Perhaps the issue is decided by a great battle from
which Tamino emerges victorious. Curiously enough, the last
remark in the scenario is "the vanquished priests/* This would
seem to indicate a victory of the forces of darkness, but that is
impossible since the structure of the drama, and especially the
tests, aim toward a happy ending. But we shall never discover
with certainty what Goethe intended.

Again, I should like to discuss the Masonic features of Goethe's

97

fragment There are, above all, the trial scenes. In the first part,
Pamina and Tamino undergo these tests in order to become man
and wife, and in the second part, to be united with their child. But
while Schikaneder arranged them in the order of abstinence, trial
by fire, and trial by water, Goethe reverses them. In his fragment,
the fire and water trials are followed by the spiritual test, symbol-
ized by separation from the child. Junk points out that Goethe
chose the only logical order, namely, first the physical tests, then
the spiritual. But we must be aware that the trials by fire and
water are purely symbolic and that a distinction between spiritual
and physical tests is irrelevant

It is also possible that Goethe intentionally contradicted
Masonic symbolism, for he accepted the # Masonic ritual only with
reservations. 1 The priest's journey (Sarastro is chosen by lot), on
the other hand, may be a protest of Goethe against Masonic prac-
tices. He wants real pilgrimages, not only symbolic ones, deeds
in addition to words. In this respect Goethe's thinking places him
among modern Masons of the activist persuasion. When Sarastro
says, "Within these silent walls man finds himself and his inner-
most soul," he probably refers to the ceremony in the "dark
chamber."

It would be interesting to know whether Goethe's second part
of the Magic Flute was in any way influenced by Schikaneder's-
P. v. Winter's own sequel, Das Labyrinth oder der Kampf mit den
Elementen (the labyrinth or the fight with the elements), pub-
lished in 1792. The piano arrangement bears no date and shows a
tide different from that given by Komorzynski. The engraving on
the title page depicts three split columns in a landscape of woods
and lakes.

Schikaneder's characters from the Magic Flute have remained,
and some new ones have been added. Monostatos now has a com-
panion, the Negress Gura. Papageno has found parents and
siblings. Typheus and Sithos are new representatives of the realm
of darkness.

The overture begins with the three chords we know so well from
the Magic Flute, but in C major and without change of inversion.
It is written in the conventional, rather playful style of Singspiel,
but there is an attempt to portray the forces of darkness in the
introduction by sequences of seventh chords and slurs in the
double basses.

In the prologue, we first see the Queen of the Night and her
three female attendants, whose speech is similar in style to that
of the Magic Flute. The three ladies offer Tamino and Pamina
a poisonous drink. They are foiled by Sarastro's warning voice,
which joins in the ensemble. In a finale, the couple are proclaimed
king and queen. The Queen of the Night sings a recitative aria
modeled on Mozart's revenge aria, announcing the arrival of the
great Typheus who has come to avenge her: Bald nabt sich die
Stunde zu verderben diese Brut (the hour is near for destroying
this rabble) , Papageno's scenes are in the Neapolitan style with a
popular Viennese flavor. Typheus and Sithos now appear and, in
the name of the Queen of the Night, demand Pamina. The
priests prepare for battle while a chorus of the forces of darkness
challenges them and threatens their annihilation.

The lovers must now undergo yet another test, the walk
through a labyrinth. Sarastro's aria, Nun wandelt ruhig eure
Strasse ("Now walk your path with confidence") is again reminis-
cent of Mozart's style. Tamino is given the flute, while Pamina
is to wear a veil, a sign of her virtue, which she must always
protect. During the journey she is seized by four Negroes and
taken into the realm of darkness. Papageno, also parted from his
wife, captures Monostatos in a woods and the three ladies, who
try to flatter him into giving them his glockenspiel, are made to
dance until they drop.

Finally, Papageno rescues Pamina and takes her to the initiates.
Leaping through the air, she joins Tamino and hand in hand,
accompanied by flutes and the march rhythms of kettledrums, they
successfully undergo their trial. The forces of darkness take up
pursuit and a pitched battle follows. Finally, Typheus is pushed
over a precipice into a raging fire, Monostatos is chained to a rock,
and the power of the Queen of the Night is broken forever. The
final chorus assures us:

To eternal punishment, eternal damnation

Isis has condemned the powers of darkness.

Fettered in eternal chains by virtue,

The Queen of the Night will harm us no more.

Virtue has finally trodden her in dust,

Has freed herself from the burden of sin.

It is difficult to decide to what extent Goethe's sequel is re-

99

lated to Schikaneder's. There are a great number of similarities,
such as the children of Papageno, the role of Monostatos, the
repetition of the tests; all these point to some kind of relationship.

In any case, the Masonic influences in Schikaneder' s second
part are very much less noticeable than in the Magic Flute. Free-
masonry was not a timely subject in Austria after the death of
Joseph II. Moreover, Schikaneder had been suspended from the
Craft with dishonor, and the composer, Winter, was not a Mason.
Even so, the music has some Masonic elements, the knocking
rhythmic effects and three-fold repetitions, for example.

And so we see that the Magic Flute cast its influence about in
many ways. It is noteworthy that two men of greatly differing
caliber, Goethe and Schikaneder, occupied themselves with the
same problem. But while for Goethe the material was too rich,
Schikaneder was able to whip up yet another opera with the great-
est of ease.

The impact of the Magic Flute on Goethe can be seen from
its traces in his "Tale/ ' We find it not only in the renunciation motif,
but also in a scene in a subterranean temple. Quite clearly these
are patterned after scenes in the Magic Flute, which had just been
performed at Weimar. The old man proclaims, "There are three
things which rule here on earth: wisdom, beauty, and strength."
Goethe imposed a fourth power above these, love.

A series of sequels to the Magic Flute also appeared during the
19th century. In connection with Goethe's fragment, I should like
to mention one by Wilhelm Rintel, the son of Zelter's daughter,
Adelheid, and Dr, Ludwig Wilhelm Rintel. A musician without
stasture, this composer of the Magic Flute, Part II died in Berlin
in 1899. In his memoirs he wrote that he had intended to realize
a plan close to his grandfather's heart. From the exact contents
of this opera, compiled by Georg Richard Kruse, we see that very
little of Goethe's fragment actually survived in it.

Yet another sequel comes from the pen of Heinridi August
Schube, whose libretto, Nitokris, der Zauberflote 2. Teil, Oper in
drei Akten im Anschluss an Schikaneder-Mozart, und mit An-
lehnung an Goethes Fragment von Dr. Martin Schulze ("Nitokris,
part II of tiie Magic Flute, in three acts, being a sequel to die
opeta by Schikaneder-Mozart, and based on the fragment by
Goethe, by Dr. Martin Schulze") was published in Darmstadt in
1886. The libretto was written by the composer's son. I conclude

100

this list by mentioning Zarastro by Gopfert, which typifies the
poor quality of all these sequels and completions of Goethe's
fragment. For as the satellites revolve around their sun, only to
disintegrate, these various imitations of the Magic Flute have
sunk into oblivion. Only Mozart's masterpiece is truly immortal
and symbolic of humanity. A chapter devoted to it can properly
be closed with the lines of Hermann Hesse, who has expressed in
poetry what I, and many before me, have tried to say in prose.

Then I shall hear you once again today,

Beloved music, and shall be a guest

In light's great temple, with its choirs of priests,

And listen to the sounds of flutes divine.

So many times, throughout these passing years

Have I looked forward to this wondrous play

And each time did renew the ancient vow

Which joins me to you in the chain of men

United in the journey to the sun;

Each time I marveled that this brotherhood

Which has no home, no land to call its own,

Continues to command a million souls

Desiring labor in its secret ranks.

But this reunion strikes a hidden fear.

Tamino, will my old and tired ear,

My weary heart and mind, will they again

Be worthy of the greatness of your sounds,

Or will they fail to grasp your message now?

Eternal youth is yours, you blessed spirits.

Oblivious to the ups and downs of nations

You will remain our brothers, leaders, masters,

Until from our dead hands the torch must tumble.

But when some day your hour has struck, and men

Will fail to recognize your brotherhood,

New signs will rise upon the firmament

To take the place of yours, for all mankind

Has need of inspiration such as this.

101

MOZART'S LIFE

How IMPORTANT was Freemasonry in Mozart's life? This is
the question we now turn to. The comparatively short time
(1784-1791) during which he belonged to the Craft was one of
great productivity. To these years belong his most important com-
positions: The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, Cosi fan tutte,
his greatest symphonies and chamber music. An examination of
Mozart's whole life, with reference to Masonry, may show the im-
portance of the Craft in a new light.

Born in Salzburg in 1756, Mozart was a child prodigy. His
musical talent was soon universally recognized and in 1761, when
he was only five and a half, he gave his first public performance
in the Aula of the university. One year later, his performances
were of such caliber that the proud father took Wolfgang and his
eleven-year-old sister on a tour to Munich and Vienna. Soon they
weo!t to Paris, stopping at various courts in Bavaria, Wiirttemberg,
and the Palatinate. At seven, Mozart gave a concert in Frankfurt,
an event which Goethe remembered years later. Concerts followed
in Coblenz, Trier, and Aachen, before the stern Princess Amalia
of Prussia, the sister of Frederick the Great. After stopping in
Brussels, the family reached Paris on Nov. 18, 1763. They found
a sponsor in Baron Melchior Grimm, who is famous for his pro-
tests against the artificiality of French opera. They performed for
Madame Pompadour, before the king and queen, and, with royal
permission, gave two public concerts. Mozart's first two published
compositions appeared in Paris.

From Paris they went to London, performing before the royal
family and Johann Christian Bach, the queen's conductor. From
London to tibe Hague, but in Lille, Wolfgang and his sister be-
came critically ill. Then the journey continued to Paris, Dijon,
Bern, Zurich, Donaueschingen, Ulm, and Munich. They returned
to Salaburg in 1766, after an absence of three years.

Now Mozart wrote his first oratorio, Die Schuldigkeit des

102

ersten Gebotes. After barely one year of serious study, the family
again took the road to Vienna. Driven to Olmiitz by an epidemic
of smallpox, they returned to Vienna as soon as they had recovered.
There they performed before Joseph II, who commissioned the
opera La Finta Semplice. The producer Afflisio accepted it but
various intrigues prevented its performance. But Bastien et
Bastienne fared better, and Mozart, then twelve years old, con-
ducted the premiere, together with a mass for the consecration of
the Waisenhauskircbe.

The following year, Mozart was made concert master to the
Archbishop of Salzburg and immediately went to Italy with his
father. According to Leopold's reports, this journey turned into
a triumphal procession. The churches and theaters where he per-
formed were filled to overflowing. He acquitted himself bril-
liantly in the difficult examinations given him by Sammartini in
Milan and Padre Martini in Bologna. The court at Naples was
delighted with him, and in Rome he was made a Cavalier of the
Order of the Golden Spur. In Bologna he was appointed a mem-
ber of the Accademia filarmonica. At Milan, then, the Mozarts
stopped for a longer period; the opera Mitridate had its first per-
formance at Christmas, 1770, and was successfully given twenty
times. Father and son returned to Salzburg in the Spring of 1771,
but by Fall they were back in Milan.

All these journeys were made possible by the benevolence of
Archbishop Sdirattenbach, who evidently recognized Wolfgang's
genius and did not object to these projects. But his successor,
Hieronymus von Colloredo, was a dull and basically unartistic
individual who did not approve. At Christmas, 1772, Mozart was
again in Milan for the performance of his opera Lucio Silla. He
composed, conducted, and gave concerts in many places, always
with outstanding success, but he still had no regular suitable
employment. His father was planning another concert tour, but
the archbishop refused him leave and Mozart felt obliged to
resign in order to try his luck elsewhere.

This time Wolfgang traveled with his mother. They went to
Munich, Augsburg, and Mannheim, where Mozart fell in love
with the singer Aloisia Weber, and finally to Paris. His mother's
death in 1778 was a great loss. Famous without really having
achieved anything, he returned to Salzburg and again entered the
archbishop's service. In 1779 he was made court organist. Ida-

103

meneo, the transition to his great classical works, was written for

Munich.

Meanwhile Mozart's relations to the archbishop had become
increasingly strained, until he finally left Salzburg and settled in
Vienna. But there he also found no regular employment, though
the emperor commissioned Die Entjuhrung aus dem Serail. In
1782 he married Constanze Weber, but his marriage brought him
only more financial difficulties. In 1786, Figaro was performed,
and, in 1787, that opera of operas, Don Giovanni. In 1789, urged
and accompanied by Prince Karl Lidmowsky, he went to Berlin,
giving concerts in Dresden, Leipzig, and before Frederick William
II in Potsdam. Cosi fan tutte appeared the next year and, in the
last year of his life, La Clemenza di Tito, composed for the coro-
nation of Leopold II in Prague, and his swansong, the Magic
Flute. The Requiem, surrounded by legends, was his last work.

Ld: us contemplate this life of Mozart's, with its unrest, its
constant pursuit of success under the tyranny of his father; its
incredible wealth of acquaintances, its numerous successes and
failures, its strains and its times of depression; this kaleidoscope
of an artist's life of adventure, beginning in its early days under
the strict and single-minded guidance of the father who wanted
nothing so much as his son's success. And with all this, the over-
whelming desire to create, the wealth of musical visions which
never allowed him a moment's rest, and which must be committed
to paper.

Let us also consider the musical environment in which Mozart
was placed: Salzburg, a stuffy provincial town dominated by the
ardiepiscopal court with its narrow conception of art; in contrast,
the infinite variety of impressions on his long journeys. In the
large towns of Germany he heard Italian opera, which greatly
impressed him when he was still a child. In London he became
acquainted with the music of Christian Bach, ift Paris with French
opera and instrumental music in the ferment of predassical
"storm and stress." From Bohemia and Mannheim came a new,
affected style of symphonic music. Later, in Vienna^ again a differ-
ent, conservative mode of musical thinking, juxtaposed to Gluck's
operatic reforms. Then, in Italy, Wolfgang assimilated the essen-
tiak of Italian opera to such a degree that he almost became the
maestro italianissimo. The impressions gained from Italian cham-
ber music were almost as strong as the later ones from Haydn. In

104

Salzburg and Vienna, the fashionable German Singspiel consti-
tuted yet another influence on his style. There is not enough space
to enumerate the manifold musical impressions Mozart must have
received in the course of his life.

It would appear that Mozart's decision finally to settle in Vienna
was the artistic synthesis of all these musical styles and influences.
His many trials and privations, human and artistic, led to the in-
tegration of his character and music. It is noteworthy that in this
period of integration, 1782-1785, he showed great interest in
the older style of Handel and Bach, a style also reflected in his
Masonic compositions. Of the utmost importance was his rejection
of the affected "storm and stress" style, because, instead, he created
the new classical style. All this is concentrated in the period im-
mediately preceding his initiation into Freemasonry. Neither
orthodox Catholicism nor the new rationalism succeeded in satis-
fying him. What led him to Masonry was the reflection and self-
contemplation which followed his extensive wandering, and this
also brought about the creation of his unique style. This is the
meaning of Mozart's entry into the Craft It is the coronation of
the master, and we are safe in saying that the part of Freemasonry
in his life was so decisive that the degree of its contribution to
art has been grossly underestimated.

105

MOZART THE MAN

IT is A TRUISM that only a good man can be a good Mason. If
Mozart had never joined a lodge, we still might think of him
as a Mason without insignia. Nature had given him a high sense
of ethics, and the excellent education which he received was
equally designed to prepare him for his musical career and to
make of him a man of refinement and culture and moral integrity.
His father, Leopold Mozart, was of Swabian stock, and the Swabs
are reputed to combine in their character the opposites of stub-
bornness and sensibility, of reticence and cordiality, of sober
thought and dreamy brooding. Indeed, Leopold's character en-
compasses all these polar pairs. In him the highest artistic en-
deavor alternates with practical sobriety, rationalism with a pro-
found sense of religion, Catholic dogma with Masonic ideals. His
perseverance in the pursuit of a goal once set is a trait which Leo-
pold handed down to his son, and the same holds true for his
inflexible sense of duty and his painstaking conscientiousness.
Leopold Mozart like Goethe and Byron belongs to that numer-
ous dan of major and minor adventurous souls whose "storming
and stressful" romantic impulse induced them to look for salva-
tion or for success in distant lands on distant shores, at the courts
of great nations, or in the palaces of the mighty. Wolfgang's
innate imagination received the richest nourishment during the
trips of his very early childhood. Yet these same trips and this
we must say, though it may well be construed as a reproach leveled
at Leopold contributed doubtless through the physical hardship
they involved to the undermining of Mozart's health and hence to
his early death. Leopold Mozart was a wonderful manager of his
son's education, and yet, the rationalist in him cannot be spared
the reproach that in exploiting his precious possession of a child
prodigy he was not free from selfish motives. Leopold was recog-
nized by his family as an unchallenged authority. "Right after
God comes Papa." The decrees of this authority Wolfgang heeded

106

up to the point where he felt that he had to make his way through
life by himself, without regard for the laws of his father, in full
subservience to no master but his inner self and his genius. This
came to pass about the year 1781 when he turned his back on
Archbishop Colloredo, left the stuffy atmosphere of his native
Salzburg, and settled for good in Vienna. This, then, was the time
when he resisted his father's will with both energy and success
and made Konstan2e Weber his wife, incurring thereby Leopold's
greatest displeasure. In these matters Mozart was a representative
of modern times, both as a man and as an artist. And it is char-
acteristic of him and of the spirit of his times that his years at
Vienna, when he suffered the misery and the heartache of a mis-
understood genius, were in creative terms the richest years of his
life.

Mozart's mother hailed from a family that can be traced in the
region of Salzburg to her grandfather Bartholomaus Pertl, iden-
tified as an ardiepiscopal coachman. She was born on Christmas
day 1720 at St. Gilgen near Salzburg where the Pflegerhaus
i.e. the residence of the county prefect on the lovely shores of
Lake Wolfgang is still to be seen in our days. She was given the
Christian names of Anna Maria. About the year 1770, the painter
Pietro Antonio Lorenzoni made a portrait of her: A beautiful and
portly woman with an expression of charm and dignity who evi-
dently deserved her share in the contemporary verdict that the
Mozarts Leopold and his wife were Salzburg's most handsome
married couple. Many traits in her son's character were inherited
from her. Her role in the family was not an easy one, for time
and again she had to mediate between the hard-headed stubborn-
ness of her husband and the playful abandon of her children who
did not always mind if one of their father-decreed duties re-
mained unattended to. She was a paragon of tact and kindness
and literally sacrificed her life for her son when in the summer of
1778 in Paris, far away from her loved ones, she succumbed to a
treacherous illness. -If she had not insisted on accompanying her
son on his second trip west, she doubtless would have been saved
to act for a long time to come her part of the family's warden of
mediation. There can be no doubt that she would have succeeded
in forestalling the conflict between Leopold and Wolfgang.

It would be wrong to assume that the discord between father
and son was solely due to Wolfgang's marriage. The trouble had

107

been smoldering since the summer of 1778, that is, since the
tragic hours of Anna Maria s death at Paris. We need not go so
far as to suppose that Leopold held his son responsible for the
death of his deeply beloved wife, although it is true that many
of his letters to his son express the bitterness of his feelings in the
face of so dreadful a loss. The true reason for the split lies deeper.
It has its roots in the very nature of Wolfgang. Leopold had been
an excellent drillmaster of the boy prodigy, and now he could not
and would not understand that his son a divinely inspired genius
had to follow the law of his own personality. When Wolfgang
matured into the ranks of the masters, Leopold stood by helpless
and uncomprehending. He could not get, nor get over it, that his
son the very son whose every step had been of his planning
should go and should have to go his own way. This lack of under-
standing on the part of Leopold is strikingly apparent from the
exchange of letters between father and son at the time when Wolf-
gang severed the ties of his employment at Salzburg. On May 9,
1781, Wolfgang wrote: "I am still full of gall, and you, my best
and dearest father, are doubtless so with me. My patience has been
tried for so long. But finally it foundered anyway. I am no longer
so unhappy as to be in the employ of Salzburg. . . . Beyond all
this, I beg you to take heart, for now my luck begins, and I hope
my luck will be yours too." The point at issue was the humiliating
treatment which had been meted put to Mozart by Archbishop
Colloredo and his major-domo, Count Arco, who actually had
kicked him with his booted foot. Indeed, one is tempted to observe
that in these happenings a symbol may be seen of the transition in
the artist's social standing from the Baroque to modern times.

In the world of the Baroque, the musician is the servant of his
master. He serves a prince, or he serves some other authority. His
every product serves a specific purpose, and that purpose is dic-
tated from without. Bach wrote his Cantatas and his Passions for
ffee full cycle of the Christian year. This was his duty as stipulated
in his contract of employment. It sounds paradoxical to us but it
is true that such a genius as the Cantor of the Thomasschule at
Leipzig had to indenture his creative powers to the demands of the
times or the whims of an authority. His creative will is not free:
when Christmas or Easter approaches, he must subject the flight
of his fancy to the spirit and the mood of the occasion. He writes
a cantata for the Epiphany, another for the Feast of the Ref orma-

108

tion. His instrumental works are done at the behest of whoever
happens to be his master at the time. They are written for the
occasion, for this particular day. They are not written for eternity
and do not spring from the deepest creative urge of the composer.
The man of the Baroque does not live from within. He conceives
of himself as an element in a pattern ordained by God. With
modern man all this is radically different. He creates his own world
in accordance with the autonomous decrees of his personality and
often enough gathers his strength for a heroic struggle against
fate. Beethoven is the classical example of this type of man: "We
need to plant a fist onto the jaws of fate." ("Man muss dem
Schicksal in den Rachen greifen.") Indeed, it is hard to think of a
more striking exemplification of the artist's autonomy than Bee-
thoven whose gigantic determination enabled him to take on ill-
ness, loss of hearing, and all the vicissitudes of his destiny and to
create works of art that shall not perish from this earth in centuries
untold. It seems impossible to picture Beethoven in a red musi-
cian's livery waiting servilely on Prince Lichnowsky or Prince Lob-
kowitz. When in 1806 Lichnowsky had Beethoven as his guest at
his castle of Gratz near Troppau, he meant to entertain a group of
French officers that were billeted on him by having the great
musician play for them. Beethoven exploded. He told the prince
in no uncertain terms what he thought of him, got himself what-
ever transportation happened to be available in those parts, and
drove straight back to Vienna. Rumor has it that back in Vienna
he smashed the prince's statue.

Yet the selfsame prince, years later, would stealthily tiptoe
through Beethoven's rooms intent upon the blissful experience of
watching the genius at work, while Beethoven would not deign to
take note of his presence. Lobkowitz, we are told, did not fare
much better when once he dared to make a critical remark about
the performance of one of Beethoven's symphonies. When on his
way home the composer passed the Lobkowitz residence, he
shouted through the open door, "Lobkowitz, you are an ass!"

These two anecdotes are eminently suited to point up the change
that had taken place in the sociology of art. No baroque composer
would have dared harbor such revolutionary thoughts, let alone
express them. Joseph Haydn occupies in these matters an inter-
mediate position. He, too, was obliged to wear a red musician's
livery when waiting upon his master, Count Morzin at Lufcawetz,

109

and later on. Prince Esterhazy at Eisenstadt. He too was obliged
to produce compositions at the rate of about one a week. But in
his case there was a "patriarchal" element in the relation of master
and servant. Haydn's innate good nature and his healthy and, as
it were, spontaneous servility made it easy for him to maintain the
baroque combination of artist and servant. His removal to Vienna
and his visits to democratic Britain, where the successes of his art
accrued to a heretofore unheard-of triumph for him as a person,
would seem to put him on a par, at least to a certain extent, with
the composers of subsequent ages.

In Mozart's life the break with the baroque past was a more
painful and violent process. To understand this we need but read
the letter he wrote his father on March 17, 1781, from Vienna.
The way he was being treated in Archbishop CoUoredo's house-
hold the Archbishop was at the time in Vienna and had his
Salzburg entourage join him contrasts sharply with the honors
which the young musician had been accorded on the occasion of
the performance of Idomeneo at Munich: "At 12 o'clock noon,
unfortunately a little early for me, we sit down and eat. The table
is set for the 2 gentlemen and heart-and-soul chamber valets, the
Honorable Comptroller [E. M. Kolnberger], Mr. Zetti [the
Chamber Furrier], 2 cooks, Signor Cecharelli and Signor Brunetti,
and little me. N.B. The 2 Privy Chamber Valets sit at the head
of the table. I have at least the honor of being seated ahead of the
cooks. The conversation at table consists of silly and rather coarse
stories." It is not hard to understand that this Salzburg version of
a treatment in the style of the ancien regime could not satisfy the
young master who knew his worth and had become accustomed
during his concert tours to being pampered by nobility and clergy.
The height of his annoyance and the final break with the Arch-
bishop are reflected in the famous passage of a letter he wrote in
May, 1781. The Archbishop keeps pestering Mozart with the
question as to when he is going to get back to Salzburg: " 'Well,
fellow, when are you going to go?' I replied: 1 meant to go to-
nigfrt, but all fhe seats were taken.' Then he kept going in the
same vein telling me I was the most dissolute person he knew and
none of his people served him as badly as I; he advised me to leave
this very day, otherwise he will write home that they should
withhold my pay it was impossible to squeeze in a word, it kept
going like a brush fire. I listened calmly; he lied to my face I

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was getting 500 fL pay, called me a good-for-nothing, a louse, a
fop, I don't like to write it all down. Finally, when I was getting
hot under the skin, I said: Your Princely Grace, are you not satis-
fied with me, Sir? What? Are you trying to threaten me? Oh, you
fop. There is the door! Look, I won't have anything to do with
such a miserable wretch. Finally I said: Neither I with you.
Then go, and I: while on my way out. Let us keep it that way.
Tomorrow you will get it in writing/ 1

Mozart's break with the Archbishop is most intimately con-
nected with his alienation from his father and in part also from
his sister and with his increasing dislike of the whole stuffy at-
mosphere of Salzburg. In this break and this alienation we should
see nothing less than the tangible expression of the ultimate liber-
ation of Mozart's genius from the burden of duty and routine and
from his years of bondage within and without. The child prodigy
turns into a talent, and the talent in turn accomplishes the break-
through to the unique status of a genius. We can imagine that all
these vexations and all this disgust with Sabburg and its Arch-
bishop contributed not a little to his decision toward the end of the
year 1784 to accept Baron von Gemmingen's invitation to join the
lodge "Zur Wohltatigkeit" ("Charity"). For there he found
true friends: Noblemen, scientists, artists and writers, and other
respected and respectable citizens who took him as a human being
and treated him as a brother and who honored and appreciated
him and his talent. He also met Haydn, his revered master, to
whom he dedicated his six great quartets at just about this time.
The text of the dedication was written in Italian. We reproduce
it here in translation. It reads as follows: "When a father decides
to let his children go out into the world, he thinks it wise to en-
trust their protection and guidance to a man of fame and thinks
himself lucky when that man has been his best friend. So then,
you famous man who are my dearest friend, take these six children
of mine. They are the fruits of long and arduous work. Yet the
hope, fostered by some friends, that I may see these labors re-
warded at least in part, gives me courage and I indulge the flatter-
ing thought that these results of my creation will some day repay
me with equal solace. You yourself, dear friend, have told me of
your satisfaction at the time of your last sojourn in this capital.
This applause from you is the prime stimulus which makes me
entrust my children into your hands; it is the justification of my

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hope that they will not prove unworthy of your good graces. May
you deign to accept them and be their procreator's guide and
friend. From this moment I relinquish into your hands my rights
in them but beg you to be lenient toward their flaws which the
prejudice of paternal vision may have concealed from me and to
preserve, with or without them, your friendship for him who
thinks of them so highly. With all my heart, dear friend, I am
your sincere friend W. A. Mozart." In this context it is essential
to underline the personal relationship between Mozart and Haydn,
for there is no doubt that the friendship of these two in the realm
of music received a mighty boost through the community of their
masonic experiences.

If we attempt to describe the man Mozart, we cannot help be-
ing struck by his physical appearance. His stature is by no means of
a kind one would be apt to call imposing. He is often mistaken
for some underling until the embarrassing discovery is made that
this indifferent little man is the great master Mozart. One famous
person once mistakes him for a journeyman artisan. At times
Mozart accepts situations of this kind in good humor, but we must
note that in regard to his external appearance he does have a kind
of inferiority complex. An expression of this concern is his en-
deavor to dress well. Indeed, he goes rather too far in this and
does not seem to mind making himself conspicuous at times. He
certainly is vain, and he takes particular pride in 'the beauty of his
hands. He is fond of lace and jewelry and reminds us in this
respect of Richard Wagner whose transvestism is well known.
Mozart's standard attire is a blue coat with tails and gold buttons,
knee breeches, and shoes with silver buckles. When he has to
conduct an orchestra, Konstanze must have his red tail coat ready
which is the typical musician's uniform at Mozart's time as it had
been at the time of Bach. Mozart's entire body is a bundle of
nerves. His hands are always playing, as though all things in this
world were pianos. His nervousness is an effect of the restless life
he had to lead during his childhood when the stage coach was his
home and the highways of Europe his country. His facial expres-
sion has nothing out of the ordinary. There is no trace of his
genius in his physiognomy and nothing demoniac as in the case
of Beethoven or E. T. A. Hoffmann or Paganini. But all this
changes when he sits down at the piano and begins to improvise.
Then, to use fee expression coined by his biographer Niemetsdiek,

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"his eyes reposed grave and collected." A symbol of concentration!

One of Mozart's most striking characteristics is his keen observa-
tion of human nature. His letters offer classical examples of psy-
chological insight a power which his artistic genius exploited in
another realm in the form of his inspired dramatic characteriza-
tions. He is full of humor and wit and occasionally not adverse to
crude pleasantries. The obscenities which occur in many of his
letters (especially those addressed to the famous Basle) and in
his canons, must be understood as part of the Salzburg atmos-
phere. In the Mozart household earthy stories and earthy words
were not considered out of place, in keeping with the principle,
"naturalia non sunt turpia." The "mot de Cambronne" which
occurs so often in the canons was standard usage. Even the upper
classes, the nobility and the princes, attributed no extraordinary
importance to such matters, as may be seen in the letters of Eliza-
beth Charlotte, the Palatine princess who married the brother of
Louis XIV. In Mozart's case these scurrilities have the additional
psychological explanation that they afforded the master a kind of
relaxation after his taxing work. Puns often with scarcely ambigu-
ous implications were not beneath Beethoven either.

Mozart was not endowed with a settled character of purpose
and determination as was Beethoven. His life was made harder
by his good nature, an occasional lade of energy, a frequently
recurring inclination to take it easy, and a baseless optimism. The
keen observer of human nature, Baron Melchior de Grimm
the very same who had presented to the astonished Parisians and
to the world the child prodigy as a miracle of nature but who
apparently appreciated the mature artist less than the earlier
mirade wrote to Leopold from Paris under a dateline of 1778:
"Wolfgang is too good-hearted, too weak, too gullible, and too
inexperienced in the ways of success. If he had only half his talent
but twice his skill, I would not worry about him." And Leopold
adds the note: "AU that is well taken." In two letters of Leo-
pold's we find the same criticism in a more paternally direct word-
ing: "There are two reasons that prevent you from using your
intelligence as you should. Study yourself! Get to know yourself!

You are too conceited, and you are too egotistical. And then

that you are always so chummy right from the start and you open
your heart to everybody." And yet, it is wrong to say, as Schurig
did in his classical biography (II, 314), that Wolfgang was no

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maa of action, no determined, tenacious, and relentless fighter but
a dreamer and on most occasions a fatalist. The exact opposite is
nearer the truth. He was a mighty worker, and what he accom-
plished during the last years of his life is a unique performance
in the history of human endeavor. For just as Beethoven wrote
his greatest works while fighting fate, while struggling against
deafness and disease, so Mozart wrote his greatest works The
Abduction, Figaro, Don Giovanni, The Magic Flute, the Requiem,
his great symphonies and his great chamber music during the
last ten years of great financial straits, when no one helped him,
when his creditors pressed him and petty critics pestered him,
when he was neglected and scorned and had to be a witness to
fate's preferring innumerable nitwits and bunglers to him who
was the greatest genius of his age. And indeed, these last ten
years of Mozart's life, this long series of disappointments and
insults with but a rare ray of light to relieve the cruel monotony
of hardship, show him as the great fighter who consciously takes
on the powers of destiny, even though his everyday demeanor may
at times show him in a rather different light. That cannot be
changed and will always remain a fact, even if a Nissen, his earli-
est biographer, reduces the great productivity of his final years
to the simple explanation that he seemed to be so much busier
because he wrote down more. For one thing is certain: Mozart's
whole life was music. And writing down and working over his
musical fantasies was precisely the work he had to carry through.
The genius of Mozart was never inactive for as long as a second
throughout his entire life. Even while bowling and at billiards the
musical thoughts came flowing to him in unheard-of abundance,
and we are told that he often managed to be at work on several
compositions at once, exactly as this was the case with Beethoven.
This is the place to speak of Mozart's attitude toward the
Church and religion as a faith and a dogma. It is but natural that
the Mozart children were brought up in the faith of the Catholic
atmosphere of the Court at Salzburg. It is also but natural that
they felt themselves to be good Catholics. Leopold was of course
a true son of the Church, although his religious ideas were
strongly affected by the rationalistic trends of the age. Rationalism
had managed to get a f oothold even at the University of Salzburg.
A critical observer like Leopold was bound to catch on to some
heretical notions while watching the hypocrisies that were rampant

114

at Salzburg. And some such notions he may well have passed on
to his son. It goes without saying that Mozart's mother was Catho-
lic in a less complicated and hence more thoroughgoing sense. It
seems evident that so intricate a matter as the principle of the credo
quia absurdum never as much as entered her head. In Wolfgang's
case it is the psychology of his character that makes us understand
that no faith could be as dear to him as the Catholic Faith. Only
the Catholic form of worship with the breath-taking splendor of
its festivities, its sensuous impressiveness, the Corpus Christi pro-
cession, the parish f airs and country-wakes, the May time services,
Christmas creches, and Easter festivities could meet the demands
of his imagination. How could Mozart's glowing vision have
endured the quiet and almost abstract atmosphere of Lutheranism
or the puritanical dryness of the Calvinists? It may be objected
that Bach's music was rooted in the Lutheran faith, but is it not
true that his cantatas and masses and Passions sprang from the
imaginative inspiration of the Bible, and did not his works draw
richer nourishment from the Pietists' mystical broodings than from
the orthodox principles of the dogma? What Mozart's thoughts
were in his younger years can be inferred from the words he wrote
on October 25, 1777: "I always see God before me. I recognize
His omnipotence. I live in awe of His wrath. But I also know His
love, His mercy, and His compassion. He will never abandon His
servants. If His will is done, mine too is done, and nothing can
go wrong." When we analyze this passage a little more carefully
we are struck to see that he identifies his will with the will of God.
That brings to mind the tenets of pantheism or again the thinking
of Johannes Scheffler's Cherubinic Pilgrim, who said that he can-
not live without God as God cannot live without him. We may
call Mozart's religious feeling at this time a combination of Deism,
Mysticism, and Pantheism which nonetheless had no trouble mani-
festing itself in the garb of Catholic appearances. In his letters to
Leopold religious references grow ever rarer as time goes on. From
time to time there are mordant remarks about the clergy, even
before his masonic initiation. More and more frequently Leopold
feels the need to inquire about his son's fasts, confession, and com-
munion. As late as 1791, a few months before his death, Mozart
informs his wife that he has taken part, candle in hand, in a
Corpus Christi procession. But we must not overlook the fact that
this report appears in a letter which Mozart signed with his fool's

115

name, Snai. Considerable importance may attach to this point.
Numerous works of Church music of Mozart's middle years bear
witness to the profound mysticism of their creator. This impres-
sion is especially inescapable in those passages in the Masses which
are concerned with Incarnation, Resurrection, and Redemption,
such as "Tollis peccata mundi" and "Et incarnatus" and "Resur-
rexit." We may assume that the idea of resurrection with which
later on he became familiar in the different form of the Hiram
legend had occupied him from the time of his earliest youth.
This is quite evident in a passage written in Paris and referring to
the death of his mother: "Under those mournful circumstances I
found solace in three ways, namely through my complete and
implicit trust in God's will, then through the present memory of
her unsuffering and beautiful death, by imagining how now in
one moment she is to be happy how much more happy she now is
than we are, so that I might have wished to be traveling with her
at this time. And this desire and this urge gave rise to a third
solace, namely, that she is not lost forever, that we shall see her
again and dwell together, more mirthfully and more happily than
on this earth." And again in a letter to his father of April 4, 1787,
on the occasion of the death of his friend, August von Hatzf eld,
Mozart wrote: "He was just 31, like myself. I do not pity him
but me, and from the depth of my heart. . . ."

Mozart was ailing throughout most of his life. His pale com-
plexion, underlined by his blond hair, and his pointed nose signi-
fied that the body in which this powerful spirit had found an
abode was doomed. Mozart had known about his illness for a long
time. His condition, doubtless ascribable to overexertion, was fatal:
"Excretory pyelitis with pyonephritis, latent focal lesions of the
kidneys, tending inescapably toward eventual total nephritic in-
sufficiency (Schenk)/' Presentiments of death accompanied his
creative endeavor, and when a mysterious messenger from Count
von Walsegg arrived to commission a Requiem for an unknown
person in the name of an unidentified patron, the master fell
victim to the most profound pessimism and came to harbor the
notion that power on high had ordered this song of death for him.
A letter presumably in answer to DaPonte's invitation to join
him in London shows Mozart aware of the imminent end and
ready to accept it though he cannot feel that his life has run its
full course. Hie phrase, 'The hour strikes,'* is doubtless an allu-

116

sion to the Magic Flute and seems influenced by masonic thought.

"My very dear Sir: I would fain follow your advice, but how
shall I do so. My head is numb, I have trouble to make myself
think, but the likeness of the Unknown leaves not my vision. I see
him before me ever; he implores me, he urges me; he asks im-
patiently for the Work. I go on with it because composing is less
tiring than idling. Elsewhere I have naught to fear. My condition
tells me the hour strikes. I am about to expire my life. The end
has come ere I could prove my talent. Yet life was beautiful. My
career set out under prosperous signs. But we cannot change our
destiny. We cannot count our days and must be resigned. The will
of Providence be done. I close. The song of my death lies before
me. I must not leave it unfinished. Vienna, September 1791.
Mozart."

Readers who are masons will be interested to learn about Mo-
zart's intellectual culture. Niemetsdiek, the above-mentioned first
biographer of Mozart, felt it regrettable that this rare artist was
not also great in other phases of life. This observation reflects the
high-brow philistinism of dawning Romanticism whose repre-
sentatives, not unlike many of our contemporaries, found it diffi-
cult to understand that a great man need not be a paragon of
every possible human virtue. In any event, we must and may think
of Mozart as an educated man, a man of culture. In addition to
German he felt at home in French, English, and Italian. He had
read a great deal, and what he had read he had also taken in. It
goes without saying, that his numerous tours had left no room for
systematic attendance at a university. His educational level must
not be compared with that of Bach or Handel or Telemann, Kuh-
nau, Philip Emanuel Bach. The Austrian musician had always been
more of a music maker, while the North-German musician tended
to be more of a musicologist. Indeed, in this matter Austria and
Northern Germany are like color and line, like sensuousness and
abstraction. Music flourishes in sensuousness; abstraction imposes
limits upon it Haydn too was hardly a person fit to satisfy the
standards of individual culture of let us say Goethe and the
romantics. All that Mozart had to offer was natural; nothing was
the product of learning. He could have written his great works
quite as well without the influence of contemporary and anteced-
ent literature. As his training was not systematic but rather the
product of fortuitous events, so we are not surprised to find that

117

the library he left behind was a salmagundi of fiction, poetry,
history, aesthetics, travel guides, juveniles, school texts, and al-
manacs. He had in his library the poetic works of Blumauer,
Salomon Gessner, Ewald von Kleist, Christian Felix Weisse, and
Wieland. Libretti and the dramatic genre were represented by
Beaumarchais' Figaro, the Metastasio edition of 1781, and
Moliere's works. There were philosophical works of which we
may mention Mendelssohn's Pbaedon. The histories included the
works of Frederick II and Mascow's Introduction to the History
of the Roman-German Empire. Here we may also list the collected
works of Sonnenfels. Mozart knew Gellert and Klopstock, but it is
certain that he disliked the turgid output of the bards that was at
least in part the result of the influence exerted by the poet of the
Messias. This is evident from the fact that Mozart could not finish
the musical setting he had begun of the turgid poem Gibraltar by
Denis. It had nothing to offer that could have appealed to his
sensitive ear. Did Mozart know the works of Lessing, Schiller,
and Goethe? The texts of his German lieder are generally inferior
concoctions, and he set but one poem of Goethe's to music. That
is The Violet. But it is not even certain that he knew who had
written the famous little poem from the ballad opera Erwin and
Elmire, for it is possible that he found it in the collection brought
out by the Austrian composer J. A. Steffan who ascribed it to
Gleim. We cannot gainsay the regrettable inadequacy of Mozart's
knowledge of literature. But this is a foible he shared with Haydn
whose German lieder are similarly smitten with second- and
third-rate texts. If it is true that Mozart was not widely read in
poetry and fiction, he certainly was a passionate theater-goer. What
else could we expect from the creator of Idomeneo, the Abduction,
Figaro, Don Giovanni, and the Magic Flute? The numerous stock
companies Bohm's, Sdiikaneder's, etc. that came to Salzburg,
acquainted him with the works of the French classicists, the plays
of Shakespeare, and Lessing's "Minna" and "Emilia Galotti." In
Mannheim and later on in Vienna, Mozart conceived the idea that
he might promote a national German Singspiel (or ballad opera),
an endeavor which in a sense was ultimately fulfilled in the Magic
Flute. In Paris he doubtless came in touch with the works of the
Enqrdopedists. Whether he actually read Voltaire, as has been
inferred from his letter of July 3, 1778, is not certain. In any
he regarded Voltaire as France's godless rationalism incar-

118

PLATE 7.

Masonic scene from the "Magic Flute" (1791) with Masonic
emblems (Vienna, Alberti 1791).

nate, and a passage like the following, from a letter of Mozart's to
his father, is not easily reconciled with our knowledge that its
writer came to be the creator of Figaro. "That the godless arch
scoundrel Voltaire," he wrote, "dropped off like a dog, like a
head of cattle that is what he had coming." But we may assume
that these biting remarks about Voltaire have to do with Mozart's
bitter feelings toward Paris and above all with his falling out with
his former friend, the Encyclopedist Melchior de Grimm. There
are no allusions to Rousseau's death, which occurred at about the
same time, although we can be quite certain that Mozart knew
Rousseau's works, for in his little opera, Bastien und Basttenne,
he used Mme. Favart's Les Amours de Bastien et Bastienne, which
was a parody of Rousseau's Devin du Village. Mozart knew
Grimm's Correspondence Litteraire and the little opera brochure
by this same former patron of his, Le Petit Prophete de Boehmisch-
Broda. Mozart did not own a regular musical library. His nomadic
existence and countless changes of residence may explain why he
never managed to accumulate a systematic collection of musical
literature. Beethoven's case was not much different. In Mozart's
records of personal effects there are listed but few works of music.
Of the composers represented I may mention Michael Haydn,
Gluck, Gassmann, Albrechtsberger, and Hofmeister. Mozart had
not much use for theoretical works. His innermost personal in-
spiration was so abundant and rich a source that he could dispense
with instruction from without, especially in his later years. From
time to time he was obliged to listen to an opera by some other
composer. As a rule, he was thoroughly bored on such occasions.
Some observations on Mozart's attitude toward nature may not
be out of place. This covers his interest in landscapes and foreign
lands, in which respect he is anything rather than a romanticist.
We must remember that our modern feeling for nature has its
roots in romantic conceptions. The powerful beauty of the Alps
or the ocean is a thing which the average citizen of the eighteenth
century could not grasp. In Haller's The Alps and in Goethe's
Italian Journey we do find colorful descriptions of Alpine settings.
But we must remember that both the elder and the younger Mo-
zart could not but think of the Alps as a perfectly normal every-
day phenomenon. A person who has spent his life within sight
of the Untersberg and the Bavarian and Austrian Alpine ranges,
may be excused for not being particularly impressed by a trip

119

through the central Alps, especially if we bear in mind what
physical hardships such ventures involved in Mozart's time. Mo-
zart, unlike Goethe, was not a man of three-dimensional sensu-
ousness. He lived in the realm of sound. Time and again he
complains about the discomforts of crossing the Alps. There is
a lot of snow and a great deal of dirt. Bolzano is a "dirty hole/ 1
and the wild scenery can at best inspire him with a feeling of
horror. The Italian landscape appeals to him through its graceful
and gardenlike lines. He notes the fertility of the Italian soil
and sees greater significance in this fact than in any temple of
Jupiter. He passes by Mt. Vesuvius without any unusual display
of interest, but he is fascinated by curios and relics of history. The
Italian Baedeker of the eighteenth century (which Leopold had
along like any other traveler) was Keyssler's description of his
journeys with its pedestrian enumeration of historical sights and
statistical deadweight. Mozart's feeling for nature is reflected in
his music. Musical descriptions are comparatively rare, as for
instance in Idomeneo. His representations of nature are more
concerned with idyllic and graceful scenes, less with sublime and
majestic effects, as is the case in Beethoven.

A Freemason like Mozart had to have a deep-rooted sense of
friendship. He was sociable by nature and came to be a passionate
bowler and billiard player. He also was an excellent dancer and
loved trips to Vienna's Prater and the countryside nearby. He was
always ready to participate in dancing parties and often helped
out as choreographer and let himself be put in charge of other
arrangements. "He danced the minuet with passionate devotion;
at the ridottos he often wore character masks and excelled as
Harlequin and Pierrot" (Nissen) A typical item is his letter of
January 22, 1783, addressed to his father: "Last week I gave a
ball at my home; of course, the stags paid two florins a piece; we
started at 6 in the evening and stopped at 7. How is that again?
Just one hour? Oh no, at 7 in the morning." In the same letter he
asks his father for a harlequin's costume, and on March 12 of
the same year he reports to his father on the production of a
pantomime to which he had contributed both the conception and
the music while the doggerel of the text was the work of the actor
M3Ikr. The numerous dances, minuets, allemandes, contradanses,
and slow waltzes which Mozart wrote for the Viennese carnival
balls reflect dearly his interest in Terpsichore's art, in which, as

120

one source tells us, he was a past master if ever there was one.
At darts, bowling, and billiards he had no peer. Like Beethoven,
Mozart too was interested in horseback riding, but we should
rather picture him as a leisurely Sunday afternoon horseman and
not as a reckless jockey. In his earthy naturalness Mozart was fond
of good food and liked a glass of wine with his meals. When there
is no money, coffee and bread will do. But when cash comes in,
it often gets invested in opulent parties. Yet Mozart was never a
man of excesses. A person endowed with such social qualities had
to develop a strong sense of friendship, and this of course was
essential for him as a Freemason. His attachment to Haydn has
already been mentioned. His letters to Gottfried Jacquin the
son of the Austrian botanist Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin (1727-
1817) show him as a true friend, witness his unselfish readiness
to let Gottfried take over compositions of his, completely re-
linquishing his rights of authorship. His relation to Count Hatz-
feld was previously mentioned. Quite important, too, are his
"table jesters," i.e., people that exploited him in a shameful way
and ate their fill at his expense. Tlie hornist Ignaz Leutgdb is an
example. He played the horn for a living but also ran a cheese
shop. Mozart dedicated to him a series of concertos for the horn.
This good Salzburger was a bit of a simpleton, and Mozart made
sure that he got at least a good laugh out of his dealings with him.
To pay for one of his horn concertos, Leutgeb had to get down on
all fours and gather together (and put in order) all the parts of
Mozart's symphonies and concerts that were lying about the room
in glorious disorder. Another horn concerto (K. 417) bears the
inscription, "Wolfgang Amade Mozart has taken pity on Leutgeb,
the ass, ox, and fool, Vienna, May 27, 1783." Another one of
those table jesters was Sussmayer, the man who later on completed
the Requiem. And the clarinettist Stadler. As a friend Mozart was
always ready to help. He often went beyond the limits of his own
resource to help others out of a tight spot. So he made loans to
his friend Franz von Gilowsky and also to Stadler. Like his sense
of friendship was his love of animals. His dog Pimperl has come
to share his immortality. At times Mozart kept such order in his
papers that he did not forget to jot down the smallest item of
expenditure. On May 1, 1784, he bought 2 May flowers for 1
kreuzer and on May 27, 1784, a starling bird for 34 kreuzers.
Thereupon he wrote a melody with the notation: "That was beau-

121

tiful." It was apparently the tune which the bird sang. He used it
as the rondo theme in his concerto in G-major (K. 453) . Now we
are left with the question whether the bird got it from Mozart
or Mozart from the bird.

The Eternal Feminine played an important part in Mozart's
life. There is hardly another composer who found such ardent
tones to speak of love of woman. Can anyone suppose that a
genius who created the characters of Donna Anna, Countess Alma-
viva, Susan, and Zerlina, did not himself empty the cup of love
to the last drop it could yield? Can anyone suppose that the man
who created Don Giovanni and Cherubino, who painted in luxuri-
ant colors the feelings of Don Giovanni, the Eternal Wanderer of
Love, and the covetousness of Monostatos, can anyone suppose that
that great man in early and more mature years escaped the spell of
the demon the Greeks called Eros? It would be wrong to represent
Mozart as a sort of Casanova and to call him a Don Giovanni. But
there is something about him of a Cherubino who fluttered in
tender love from one flower to the next. It is this fleeting indul-
gence for which his wife Konstanze coined the term "servant
girleries." But it is true, at a later time Mozart admitted that he
would be married a hundred times over if he had had to marry
every girl with whom he had "given dalliance too much the rein."
One such "dalliance" involved his cousin, the famous Basle
Maria Anna Thekla, the daughter of Leopold's brother Franz
Aloys. Wolfgang's letters to her seem to allude to all sorts of little
adventures. They certainly are no reading matter for blushing
girls. The Basle was no vestal virgin, as the birth out of wedlock
of her daughter Maria Viktoria suffices to prove. But that was in
1793. Much more serious than Mozart's affair with Maria Anna
was his love for Aloysia Weber in Mannheim in 1777. This 16-
year-old beauty, endowed with a magnificent voice and a wonder-
ful sense of music, enchanted the young genius to such an extent
that he could think of nothing but of the urgent need to tie her to
himself forever. Yet Luise (as she was called) was a real flirt
who granted poor Mozart only such favors as her mother thought
suitable, and when Prince Elector Charles Theodore accorded her
in 1778 at Munich a high leading lady's income, she cut Mozart
dead. Later on she married the actor and painter Joseph Lange,
though after a while she grew tired of him and ran away. As
everybody knows, Mozart married in the end Aloysia's sister Kon-

122

stanze. She was in his life a good friend and a good companion,
though perhaps in matters of conjugal fidelity she was not always
a model of meticulousness. In any case, Mozart was happy with
her. It is certain that her utter lack of talent in matters economic
caused the master many a bitter day and forced him to push his
musical productivity to the breaking point She did contribute to
the master's all too early demise. Konstanze never made him for-
get his truly great love, Aloysia. As late as May 16, 1781, he
wrote about her: "I loved her . . . and I feel that she still means
something to me. It is lucky that her husband is a jealous fool and
does not allow her to go anywhere so that I get to see her only
rarely." As sentimental as Mozart was in regard to Luise, so real-
istic were his sensations in regard to his cousin Anna Maria. In
one of his letters to her he paraphrases a sentimental ode by Klop-
stock in these terms:

Thy sweet likeness, o cousin,

Hovers before my mind's eye.

I see thee when the lights

Of day fall. When the moon

Shines for me, I see thee and weep

For it is not thy self . . .

Finis coronat opus!

S.V.P.T.
Knight of Boarstail.

During Mozart's life and shortly after his death much was said
about his libertinism. Certain escapades and servant girleries may
have happened. But nothing has been demonstrated for certain.
Even in the matter of the ill-famed scandal about Frau Hofdemel
Kapellmeister Pokorny's daughter Magdalene Mozart's inno-
cence has been completely vindicated. Franz Hofdemel, the former
secretary of a certain Count Seilern, was to be initiated into the
lodge "Newly Crowned Hope" ("Zur neugekronten Hoffnung").
At this time Mozart had approached him once again for a loan, as
we know from the letter of April, 1789, in which Mozart alluded
to the forthcoming initiation. Five days after Mozart's death, Hof-
demel tried to kill his wife and then committed suicide. The case
was linked to an affair which Mozart was supposed to have had
with Frau HofdemeL Mozart's innocence was established, but

123

rumors continued to proliferate. Much later Beethoven refused to
play in the presence of Frau Hofdemel because "she had that
mixup with Mozart." Much more serious were Mozart's feelings
for Anna Selina Storace (Nancy) . And if we may lend credence
to the sounds of the soprano aria, "Ch'io mi scordi di te" (K.
505) Mozart wrote in the thematic catalogue, "For Demoiselle
Storace and myself* then his feelings for her must have amount-
ed to glowing veneration. "It is a duet of voice and piano with
accompaniment, an avowal of love in sounds, the sublimation of
a relationship that could not be consummated." (Einstein)

Political views are often taken as an essential criterion in the
judgment passed on a Freemason. That Mozart referred to himself
occasionally as an arch-Englishman has been mentioned before.
He actually fell victim to a sort of anglomania, and as late as
1787 when he quietly considered the possibility of making Brit-
ain his permanent home- he took up the study of the English
language. Kronauer's masonic guest book with an English quota-
tion in Mozart's own hand tells us much about his anglophile
attitude. His views on France were much less friendly, for his
appreciation of French music was rather cool. In the correspond-
ence of father and son we find numerous political comments, and
some of these make us smile through their naive ingenuousness. It
seems that Leopold was an anti-militarist, as may be judged by
a letter of his written from Wiirttemberg on July 11, 1763 : "You
can hardly spit without spitting into an officer's pocket or a
soldier's cartridge pouch. You hear all the time in the streets:
'Halt! March! Wheel! 1 And nothing is to be seen but arms, drums,
equipment." And Wolfgang wrote on December 18, 1778 from
Kaisersheim: "The most ridiculous thing, to my mind, is all that
military humbug. I wish I knew what it is good for. At night I
always hear, 'Who is there?' And I always answer, 'So what?' "
On the whole it seems that the Mozarts were interested in
small political gossip and much less in great historical happen-
ings. Discussions like those which Beethoven had with Grillparzer
on iflie question of political freedom in the United States were
hardly to be met with in Mozart's circle.

We also must dear Mozart of the suspicion of antisemitism.
This point has its antecedents in a letter which Wolfgang wrote
on September 11, 1782, to Leopold. In it he mentions the sensa-
tional espionage case of Eleonore Eskeles. She was the daughter of

124

a rabbi and was unjustly accused of having obtained political
secrets from the officer Johann Valentin Giinther, a freemason,
ministerial secretary, and representative of the Emperor, and of
having turned .these secrets over to Prussian spies. In his letter
Mozart called the girl a "capital sow," but this is a remark we
need not take too seriously. In truth, Mozart had excellent rela-
tions with the Jewish Baron Raimund Wetzlar, the builder of the
Seitenstatt Temple in Vienna. Wetzlar was partly responsible for
Mozart's connection with DaPonte. In London the Mozarts were
fairly close to the Jewish cellist Sipontini whom Leopold actually
tried to convert to Catholicism. That there was no racial anti-
semitism at the time is obvious. Otherwise Mozart could never
have worked with DaPonte whose real name was Emanuele
Conegliano (Corduan Gerber) while his mother was Chela Pin-
cherle and hailed from the ghetto of Ceneda. If Mozart's times had
known the sickness of racial antisemitism, we would not have
Don Giovanni, Figaro, and Cost fan tutte and would be the
poorer for it.

Much has been made of Mozart's nationalism and patriotism.
It is true, he had the ideal of creating a German opera, and the
well-known letter to Anton von Klein in Mannheim (which Frau
Ludendorff interpreted so creatively as proof of Mozart's having
been poisoned by the freemasons) was concerned with the estab-
lishment and maintenance of a German opera in Vienna. It is
possible that Mozart felt instinctively that the pinnacle of his
dramatic endeavor could only be reached in a German opera. That
it turned out to be simultaneously a German and a masonic opera
is one of the most remarkable phenomena of history.

125

MASONIC MUSIC AFTER MOZART

MUSIC of the classical period has been called the art of
JL liberalism and idealism. Mozart expressed the same ideals
of universal brotherhood, humanism, and deism in his great
symphonies, in the Magic Flute, and, above all, in his Masonic
compositions. In Beethoven's middle period these principles
reached their high-water mark. For while Mozart had to accom-
modate the Salzburg archbishop and knew real freedom only
during the last few years of his life, Beethoven felt himself a free
artist throughout his career. In contrast to Mozart, Beethoven was
a revolutionary who wanted to change the ways of the world and,
like Goethe and Schiller in their period of "storm and stress,"
presented a front of defiance to the gods and his fate. Although
he lost his hearing as a young man, Beethoven not only continued
with his art but climbed the highest peaks of musical creation.
"It is strength which sets man above all other creatures," or "one
must grasp fate by the horns." Not only did he live in accordance
with these sayings, he also composed by them. For they bring to
a victorious conclusion the battle with human fate as well as with
the demon in one's own breast. This optimism can be felt in the
last movements of his great symphonies, the Eroica, the fifth and
the ninth. The victory of humanity and universal brotherhood are
his Leitmotifs. Works like Egmont, Fidelia, and the ninth sym-
phony are the musical expression of German idealism as preached
by Kant and Fidite.

For Beethoven, the creator of the universe was not the biblical
God, but a great and incomprehensible being which he called,
characteristically, "the deity" (Gottheit), even in letters to the
Cardinal Archbishop, Archduke Rudolf, for whose enthronement
he composed the Missa Solemnis. "There is nothing greater in
life," he wrote to this pupil and patron in 1823, "than to get
nearer the deity than other mortals, and to diffuse its light among
men." In 1820, he wrote in his notebook, in large letters: "The

126

moral law within us and the starry heaven above us Kant! ! !"
Kant's Categorical Imperative was his motto throughout his life.
He was the incarnation of Masonic ethics and philosophy, a
"Mason without badge." Characteristically, his setting of Schiller's
Ode to Joy, perhaps his greatest work, had been planned for many
years and was finally used at the end of the ninth symphony. Like
a titan with clenched fists, he massed and formed the sounds of
jubilation for all mankind to share.

We have no way of knowing whether Beethoven was a Mason.
Thayer, Deiters, and Riemann took it for granted and assumed
that he discontinued his lodge visits only when he lost his hearing.
Herriot, former French Premier and mayor of Lyons, is also cer-
tain of it. In his book about the composer, he calls attention to a
letter written by Beethoven concerning the death of his brother
Karl, a letter which mentions the acacia, a Masonic symbol (at
Masonic funerals acacia branches are thrown into the grave) . In
a letter to Wegeler, written May 2, 1810, Beethoven mentions a
Masonic song, asking his friend to send it to him. He vaguely
remembered having composed such a song in Bonn. Wegeler, in
his Biographische Notizen, says that Beethoven was mistaken, that
it was a sacrificial song by Matthisson on which a Masonic text had
been superimposed. Wegeler himself did this with Beethoven's
song, Wer 1st em freier Mann, and both of these texts are printed
in the appendix of Biographiscbe Notizen and are still occasionally
sung at lodge meetings. It is equally uncertain whether Schindler,
Beethoven's friend and biographer, was a member of the Craft.
Beethoven sometimes referred to him as a "Samothracian," that is,
a member of the Samothracian Order. At Schindler's first visit
to Beethoven they exchanged a hand-shake which may have been
a Masonic sign, and Schindler wrote, "a handshake explained die
rest." It is possible that Beethoven in his youth had belonged to
a lodge in the Rhineland. But in Vienna, where the lodges had
ceased to function after the death of Joseph II, he would have had
no opportunity to attend meetings and presumably he forgot his
Masonic past. He may have been introduced into the lodge by his
teacher, Neef e.

There were many Masons among later German musicians: Abt,
Damrosch, Lindpaintner, Litolff, Lowe, Lorteing, Reissiger,
Speyer, and Spohr. Lowe was a member of the lodge "Zu den
drei Zirkeln" (three compasses) in Stettin, into which he was

127

initiated in 1829, and for which he composed several Masonic
quartets. His most popular song, Die Uhr (the clock) was first
performed at a lodge meeting. Lortzing joined the lodge "Zur
Bestandigkeit und Eintracht" (constancy and harmony) in Aachen
in 1826, and, in 1834, became affiliated with the lodge "Balduin
zur Linde." For the 100th anniversary of the lodge "Minerva zu
den drei Palmen" in Leipzig, in 1841, he composed a jubilee
cantata.

In more recent years, German musicians who belonged to the
Craft included Gerhard von Keussler, Alexander Zemlinsky, and
Theodor Veidl. Keussler and Veidl made musical contributions to
Masonry. Hugo Riemann was a member of the lodge "Phonix" in
Leipzig, where, as Entered Apprentice or Master, he gave a lec-
ture, Warum ist die Musik eine so hocbgeschatzte Gehilfin der
koniglichen Kunst? (why is music so valuable an aid to Masonry?)
See Latomia, 1897, p. 209.

Richard Wagner's connection with the Craft is of considerable
interest. Apparently he had been introduced to Masonry by Liszt,
who had been initiated into the lodge "Zur Einigkeit" (unity)
in Frankfurt in 1841 under the sponsorship of Speyer. Liszt had
attained the second and third degrees in the lodge "Zur Ein-
tracht" in Berlin. But Wagner's interest was aroused even more
by his brother-in-law, the husband of his sister Rosalie, Dr.
Oswald Marbach, member of the Leipzig lodge "Balduin zur
Linde" and editor of a Masonic periodical, Am Reissbrett (at the
drawing-board) . In Bayreuth, the banker Friedrich Feustel, a
member of the lodge "Aloysius zur Verschwiegenheit" ( Aloysius,
to silence) and master of the Grand lodge "Zur Sonne" (sun) in
Bayreuth, played a decisive part in the creation of the Festival
Theater and also encouraged Wagner's interest in Freemasonry.

Documents of the Bayreuth lodge indicate that Wagner in-
tended to join, but was prevented by considerations of private
matters, sodi as his relationship to Hans von Billow and a dis-
inclination to offend Bavarian Catholic circles. Nevertheless, some
Masonic terms and ideas appear in Parsifal, for example, the
expression "high noon" and the responsorial organization of the
Grail scene.

Among the Masonic musicians in Italy we find Sarti, Scalabrini,
Mingdtti, Puccini, Boito; in Norway, Ole Bull; in Poland, Eisner;
in Czechoslovakia, Kocian and Nedbal; in the United States, Cad-

128

man, Sousa, Whiteman, Irving Berlin, and Marshal Kernochan;
and the list could continue. Jean Sibelius is also a Freemason, hav-
ing joined the Grand Lodge of Finland in Helsinki in 1923, a
lodge which, until 1933, operated under the patronage of the
Grand Lodge of New York. When the Finnish lodge gained its
independence it presented the New York lodge with the manu-
script score of Sibelius's Masonic Music, with words in Swedish
and Finnish. In an English translation by Marshal Kernochan,
this work was published by the Grand Lodge of New York. It
contains three pieces for male quartet, pieces for tenor with piano
accompaniment, and a funeral march for meetings of the third
degree. One of these was performed by a New York choir of
500 voices under Hugh Ross in New York on May 1, 1938, with
a secular text entitled "Onward, ye Peoples." The work was a
great success and is now in the repertory of most American choirs.
It is composed in Sibelius's personal style, but it also contains
some elements of Mozart's humanitarian style.

Research into the history of Freemasonry continues in the lodges
of Europe, carried out by professional and amateur scholars. In
England it is cultivated by the Quatuor Coronati lodge, and in the
United States by the American Lodge of Research.

129

FOOTNOTES

MOZART AND THE CRAFT

. Mozart, Freimaurer und llluminaten.
*Quellenlexikon.

'This is disputed by O. E. Deutsch.
*Geschichte der Freimaurerei in Osterreich-Ungarn.

This whole matter can be easily explained by the irreverent rationalism
of the period.

Karl Friedrich Hensler, masonic writer, whose play, Handeln macht den
Mann oder Die Freimaurer (deeds make the man, or the Freemasons)
appeared in 1784, and whose Singspiel, Das Sonnenfest der Brahminen
(the sun festival of the Brahmins) was set to music by Wenzel Miiller.

T The complete funeral oration, with allusions to the third degree, was
first reprinted by O. E. Deutsch in Sckweizerische Musikzeitung, Feb.,
1956, and again in Nettl, Mozart als Freimaurer und Mensch (Ham-
burg, 1956).

"Note the similarity to the close of Sarastro's "Aria of Revenge."

MASONIC MUSIC BEFORE MOZART

4 Johann Christopher Pepusch (1667-1752), born in Berlin, composer of
the famous Beggar's Opera which cleaned up the opera seria of Handel
and Bononcini in England.

'For a more complete list of English and American Masonic song books,
see L. B. Blakemore, Masonic Lodge Methods (Chicago, 1953). The
chapter on music in this book does not mention the name of Mozart.

MASONIC MUSICIANS AROUND MOZART

*The portion of the speech directed specifically to Haydn: "It is super-
fluous to describe to you, our new Brother Apprentice, the charms of
that heavenly being, harmony. You already know so well her great
power in one of the most beautiful brandies of human knowledge.
This lovable goddess seems to have given you part of her sweet, magical

130

powers with which to calm the turbulent soul, to lull to sleep pain and
sorrow, to shorten the melancholy hours and lift up the spirit to great
and noble heights. I shall be content if I have succeeded, through my
brotherly advice, in persuading you to remain faithful to your dear
friend, even in this new domain. I shall be even happier and shall feel
that I have achieved my purpose if I have convinced my Brothers how
indispensable is this fundamental virtue of Masons. May they continue
to attentively follow every sign given them by this gracious goddess."

THE MAGIC FLUTE: BACKGROUND
*Story of the opera: Act I.

Pursued by a monstrous serpent, Tamino hurries down from the rocks
and faints. His cries for help were heard by three ladies dressed in black,
who enter and kill the serpent with their spears. They reluctantly leave
the beautiful youth. When Tamino regains consciousness, he sees dancing
toward him an extraordinary figure, dressed completely in feathers and
carrying an enormous bird cage. It is Papageno, the bird-catcher, who
informs Tamino that he is now in the realm of the Queen of the Night
He also tells Tamino that it was he, Papageno, who killed the monster.
He is immediately punished for this lie by the three ladies, who reappear
and fasten a padlock to his mouth. To Tamino they give a small picture
of a girl with whose beauty he immediately falls in love. Now the Queen
of the Night herself appears to him and tells him that the picture repre-
sents her daughter, Pamina, who has been abducted by the wicked sorcerer
Sar astro. Tamino has been chosen to rescue her, and her hand shall be
his reward. The Queen disappears and the three ladies return, remove the
padlock from Papageno's mouth, and present him with a magic glocken-
spiel. To Tamino they give a magic flute which is to help him overcome
the dangers of their journey, on which they will be accompanied by the
three genii.

In the second scene we see a richly furnished room in Sarastro's palace.
The ugly Negro, Monostatos, is trying to make love to Pamina, but Papa-
geno's appearance frightens him away. The bird-catcher recognizes Pa-
mina and tells her that her rescue is near. In the third scene, the three
genii have conducted Tamino into a grove in which there are three tem-
ples. When he approaches the first two, a loud voice commands him to
stand back. A priest steps from the third temple and tells him that
Sarastro is not a wicked sorcerer but noble and fuU of wisdom. Tamino,
he says, will understand the truth only when "friendship leads him by
the hand to join the Temple's sacred band." Tamino is pondering all this,
strangely moved, when he hears Papageno's glockenspiel In answer to
Tamino's flute, Papageno and Pamina appear but begin to run away.
They are intercepted by Monostatos and several slaves, but Papageno's
glockenspiel charms them and compels them to dance. Sarastro's approach
is now heralded by trumpets. Pamina sinks down at his feet and tells Mm
that the Negro's love-making has driven her to flight Just then Mooo-

131

states drags in Tamino, but, instead of being rewarded, the Negro is
sentenced to a beating. Tamino and Pamina are taken to one of the
temples; they are to show whether they are worthy of the great happi-
ness in store for them.

Act II.

In a palm grove Sarastro tells the priests his plans. The gods have
destined Tamino and Pamina for each other. But as Tamino was yet to
be tested, Sarastro had removed Pamina from her mother, the Queen of
the Night, the patroness of darkness and superstition. Tamino and
Pamina have to withstand several difficult tests before they are worthy of
entering the Temple of Light. These fabulous tests, which Tamino passes
by his own virtue, with the aid of the magic flute, and finally with the
help of Pamina, follow. Papageno fails and does not gain admission, but
is given Papagena for a wife. Darkness has been conquered. The young
couple enter the Temple of the Sun.

'Richard Englander, Job. Gottlieb Naumann. Leipzig 1922.
'See also Viktor Junk, Goetbes Fortsetzung der Zauberflote.
*Setbos, I, page 37.

The dress is very reminiscent of the Masonic costume, especially the
chain around the neck, the so-called "Bijou," which ordinarily contains
a Masonic emblem, the figure of truth.

*The actual initiates.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, II, p. 765.
Reprinted in Mozarteums-Mitteilungen, 1919.
*Cf. the above-mentioned letter of Seyfried.

*On October 7, 1791, Mozart wrote to his wife: "What pleases me most
is their quiet approval." Alfred Meissner asserts that his grandfather,
G. A. Meissner, member of the lodge "Zur Wahrheit und Einigkeit"
in Prague, had met the composer on his last visit there, and had re-
ported that Mozart on that occasion had promised his brothers a great
Masonic composition.

THE MAGIC FLUTE: WORDS AND MUSIC

According to Winterstein, Ursprung der Tragodie, early Greek tragedy
was probably simply a cult of rebirth, and this may also be true of the
Egyptian initiation rites.

THE MAGIC FLUTE: SEQUELS
1 See also the role of the coffin in the Osiris myth.

132

NOTES

See Leaning, Allgem. Handbucb der Freimaurerei (Leipzig, 1901);
Eugen LennhoflF and Oskar Posner, Internationales Freimaurer Lexikon
(Vienna, 1932). (p. 5)

Gregor Schwartz-Bostunitsch, Die Freimaurerei (Weimar: Alexander
Duncker Verlag, 1928) . About the relationships of Ludendorff and his wife
to Freemasonry, see the appropriate article in LennhofF and Posner. (p. 6)

Franz Xaver von Bader (or Baader), 1785-1841, theosophist and Mas-
ter of the Illuminati lodge in Munich, (p. 9ff)

Adam Weisshaupt, born 1748 in Ingolstadt, died 1830. Adolf, Freiherr
von Knigge, 1752-1796, the famous author of Ueler den Umgang mit
Menscben, adopted strict observance and corresponded witih its leaders
and the Rosicrucians. See Ferd. Josef Schneider, Die Freimaurerei und ibr
Einfluss auf die gehtige Kultur in Deutscbland am Ende des 18. Jabr-
bunderts (Prague, 1909).

Carl Theodor, Elector of the Palatinate and Bavaria, 1724-1799, at
whose courts in Mannheim and Munich Mozart was repeatedly active
without, however, attaining the position for which he strove.

Friedrich Franz Joseph Spaur, 1756-1841, canon at Salzburg, a position
which he also held at Brixen and Passau, and finally Domdechant at
Salzburg. See the references given by Wurzbach, Biograpbiscbes Lexikon
des Kaiserthums Oesterreich. He was the oldest son of the Imperial judge
Franz Joseph at Innsbruck as well as nephew of the Bishop of Brixen,
Joseph Philipp, and the former Bishop, Ignaz Joseph (1729-1779), with
whom the Mozarts had some contact Beginning in 1763 he was co-
adjutor of his uncle Leopold Joseph (1696-1778) in Brixen. For Ignaz,
Mozart composed one of his most beautiful masses, the so-called Credo
Mass or Spaur Mass (see Schenk, W. A. Mozart, p. 267). (p. lOff)

Wolfegg, Count Anton Willibald (1729-1820), president of the Hof-
kammer and humanist, from 1762 on canon at Salzburg, but not or-
dained until 1778. One of the greatest philanthropists of his time, he
died in poverty of his own free will. In 1777 he was among the admirers
of Mozart's Klavier playing at Augsburg, having already heard the master
in 1768 at the home of Prince Galitzin in Vienna. In 1778 he participated
as a cellist in the amateur orchestra founded in Salzburg by Count Czernin
(see Wurzbach). (p. 11)

Schelie, Augustin, learned Benedictine (1742-1805), professor of ethics*
natural law, history, and oriental languages at the university, later direc-
tor of the university library and rector of the university (see

133

Johann Nepomuk, Count Spaur (1724-1793), prefect and Burggraf of
Tyrol (see Wurzbach).

Gilowsky, Joseph Anton Ernst (1739-1787), the older cousin of Maria
Anna Katharina Gilowsky (1750-1802), who appears frequently in Mo-
zart's correspondence. She was the daughter of the Ante earner a-Kam-
merdiener Wenzel Andreas Gilowsky of Urazowa (1716-1799). Franz
Wenzel (1757-1816) was the brother of "Katherl." (p. 11)

Hiibner, Lorenz (1753-1807), a former Jesuit, from 1784 on editor of
the Oberteutscbe Staatszeitung f in connection with which appeared the
Salzburger Intettigenzblatt, monthly scholarly contributions to the litera-
ture of Upper Austria. The Staatszeitung was suppressed by Elector Carl
Theodor because of its liberal tone. Hiibner, an exponent of Salzburg
rationalism, appears repeatedly in the correspondence between Leopold
Mozart and his daughter (see Wurzbach).

Concerning Amann: Deutsch (Leop. Mozarts Briefe an seine Tochter)
also mentions the Salzburg captain Dominicus von Amann (died March
3, 1791), whose father presumably was the councillor of the exchequer
Franz Anton von Amann.

The letter of Leopold to his daughter was first published in my book
Mozart und die konigliche Kunst (1932) and again by Otto Erich Deutsch
and Bernhard Paumgartner in Leopold Mozarts Briefe an seine Tochter.
(p. 12)

Clam-Gallas, Count Christian Phillip, died 1805, patron of the Prague
singer Josepha Duschek, for whom Wolfgang composed the Soprano
Arias K. 272 and K. 528, in whose Villa Bertramka Don Giovanni was
completed, and for whom Beethoven wrote the concert aria A Perfido.
Dr. Johann Hutterer (or Hutter), University notary and H of rats ad-
vokat. His arrest occurred during a conflict between the Archbishop and
the Salzburg peasantry, whom Hutterer was representing. Note the
reserve with which Leopold Mozart refers to Masonry.

For the following, c. Ludwig Abafi, Geschichte der Freimaurerei in
Qesterreich-Ungarn (Budapest, 1893). (p. 12)

The author of Josephinische Curiosa is Franz Graffer (1785-1852).
See Graffer, Kleine Wiener Memoir en und Wiener Dosenstiicke, edited
by Schlossar and Gugitz (Munich, 1918). (p. 13)

The quotation of Pezzl is taken from Dr. Adolf Deutsch, Sammlung
von Wiener Schattenrissen aus dem Jahre 1784 (Vienna, 1928).

For the history of the Viennese lodges in their relationship to Mozart,
see Otto Erich Deutsch, Mozart und die Wiener Logen (Vienna, 1932).
Ignaz von Born, geologist and mineralogist (1742-1791). He was born
in Karlsbur& Transylvania, became an advisor to the Munz-und Berg-
meisteramt in Prague in 1770, and made scientific expeditions within the
country. From 1779 on he was Hofrat of the Hofkammer in coinage and
mining matters.

See Johann Pezzl, Lebensbeschreibung Montecucculis, W. Uchtensteins
und Barns (Vienna, 1792) and the references given by Wurzbach. About
Born, see also Edwin Zellweker, Das Urbild des Sar astro (Vienna, 1953).
Among the intellectual members mentioned, Michael Denis, custodian of

134

the court library (1729-1800) was the poet of "Calpe" (Gibraltar), which
Mozart intended to set to music, a plan which was not carried through
because of the bombastic and Ossiamc character of the poem. After 1783,
Born edited a scholarly masonic journal, Pbysikalische Arbeiten der
eintrachtigen Freunde in Wien. Each of the scientists contributed writings
in his specialty; for example, Born wrote on mineralogy, zoology, and
related fields, Denis on botany and entomology, Pacassi on mathematics,
etc. See articles on these scholars by Wurzbach. Another periodical, in-
cited by a member of "Zur wahren Eintracht," Joseph von Sonnenfels,
a man of Jewish descent who was one of the main representatives of
Austrian enlightenment, and edited by the poet Aloys Blumauer, was the
Journal fur Freymaurer, published 1784-1786 as a manuscript without
censorship in twelve volumes quarto. The contribution of greatest interest
to us is Bern's essay on the mysteries of the ancient Egyptians. Other
prominent members of the "Eintracht" lodge were Joseph Barth, anatomist
and physician of Joseph II; Johann Nepomuk Hunczowsky, staff surgeon,
teacher of surgery, later Imperial surgeon, and for a time the physician of
Mozart and Beethoven (see Nettl, "Zu einem Puchberg-Brief," Acta
Mozartiana II, 1955); Joseph Marter, scientist, who spent the years 1784
and 1785 in America; the physicist Franz Jager; Generalmajor and Feld-
marschall-Leutnant Cornelius von Ayrenhoff, a dramatist and writer who
edited an anonymous piece, Ueber die tbeatralischen Tanze in 1794;
Anton and Bartolomaus von Tinti whom we also know from Mozart's
biography; Johann Ferdinand Deurer, Protestant preacher; the famous
physician and professor Johann Peter Frank; Councillor Franz von
Greiner, father of Caroline Pichler; the writer Johann Friedrich Schink.
By no means does this exhaust the large list of the Viennese intellectual
leaders who assembled in Bern's lodge. Nevertheless we cannot deny that
a part of the scientific discussions held under Born's leadership were de-
voted to alchemy, especially to the artificial manufacture of gold. The fact
that Born withdrew from the Craft in August of 1786 does not exclude
the possibility that he was Schikaneder's model for Sarastro.

About the Josephinische Freimaurerpatent and the "masonic revolu-
tion" connected with it, see Abafi, vol. Ill, p. 143. (p. 14)

Gemmingen, Otto, Baron of Hornberg and Treschklingen, born in Heil-
bronn, came to Mannheim as Electoral treasurer, edited Mannkeimische
Dramaturge for the year 1779. Mozart had the Quartet K. 80, the Quin-
tet K. 174, and the Fischer-Variations K. 179 copied for him and received
3 louis d'ors and a recommendation for them (see Schenk, W. A. Mozart,
. p. 412). Gemmingen joined the lodge "Zur gekronten Hoffnung" in 1782,
but left it, along with seven other brothers, on Jan. 15, 1783, and founded
the lodge "Zur Wohltatigkeit" on Feb. 2. He is represented in the Kron-
auer album.

Leopold Aloys Hoffmann (1748-1806), son of a German-Bohemian
tailor, and at first sponsored by Michael Denis. Gemmingen intro-
duced him into the circle of Freemasons and lUuminati. He enjoyed
the favor of van Swieten who obtained for him a professorship of German
language at the University of Pest There Hoffmann stayed until

135

when he returned to Vienna to become professor and Rat at the univer-
sity. In 1786 he published a brochure entitled Kaiser Josephs Reformation
der Freimaurer, referring to an expression used by the Emperor and mock-
ing some of the customs of his former brothers. After the death of Joseph
he changed sides and became a professional spy and informer. The belief
that Freemasonry was identical with Jacobinism is largely due to the
publications of Hoffmann. His criminal activities ended in 1792, with the
death of Emperor Leopold. Hoffmann himself died, scorned by the world,
in Wiener Neustadt (see Wurzbach and Nagl-Zeidler, Deutsch-oester-
r eicbische Liter aturgeschkkte [Vienna, 1914}). (p. 15)

Announcement of the lodge "Zur Wohltatigkeit" to the sister-lodges in
Vienna:

Proposed: Conductor Mozart Our former Secretary Brother Hoffmann
forgot to notify the worthy sister lodges of this proposal, the Petitioner
has been announced at the honorable district lodge for four weeks, and
we wish to proceed with his initiation next week if the worthy sister
lodges have no objection.
57 5 g4 Schwanckhardt: Secretary

xn

In another entry into the minutes of the lodge "Eintracht" on April
22, 1785, the names of Leopold and Wolfgang Mozart appear as visiting
brothers; Leopold's name is crossed out, presumably because he, as a
Fellow Craft, could not attend a meeting of third degree masons. We can
assume that the intimacy between Haydn and Mozart is due to their
common masonic experience. Cf. the Italian dedication to Haydn in the
third edition of the Kochel catalogue, p. 506. (cf. p. Ill)

We should point out that the lack of correspondence between father
and son from the time after 1785 may have reasons unrelated to masonry.
Perhaps Konstanze destroyed some letters of Leopold's, critical of Wolf-
gang's marriage, together with the replies, (p. 18)

Anton David and Vincent Springer were outstanding clarinettists who
specialized on the basset-horn, an alto clarinet in F. Theodor Lotz, violist
and first clarinettist with Batthyany in Bratislava, improved the basset-horn.
He may have been the contrabassoonist in the invitation. Springer played
a Concertante for two basset-horns with Dworzack at a benefit for Haydn,
in London on May 16, 1791, and his colleague David played another duet
for these instruments with Signer Pachierotti.

Joseph Paul Weinbrenner (1728-1807), Vienna industrialist and fur
dealer, was also prominent in textiles and printing. He was responsible for
the opening of the first normal school in Austria, in 1771. His home was
a gathering-place of the most important scholars and artists of Vienna.

Besides Born, the names of other famous Masons are included: Sonnen-
fels, Greiner, Ployer, Puthon, Weinbrenner, Engestrom (Acad. Subscribers).
(P- 19)

A further masonic associate of Mozart's was the Justizkanzlist Franz
Hofdemd in Vienna, who loaned the composer 100 Gulden. A letter

136

written in the beginning of April, 1789, includes the following passage:
"Soon we shall be able to call each other by a more beautiful name! Your
affair is near its conclusion." This indicates that Hofdemel was a Peti-
tioner, presumably of the lodge "Zur Neugekronten Hoffnung." Never-
theless, Hofdemel had Mozart issue a promissory note. Hofdemel is the
subject of a story published in the sensational newspaper Heimlicher
Botschafter. Shortly after Mozart's death a family tragedy took place in
Hofdemel's house. Hofdemel wounded his pregnant wife and then killed
himself. The reason given was that Mozart, who had again borrowed
money from Hofdemel, had been on intimate terms with the latter's wife.
Indeed, the child was named Johann Wolfgang Amadeus Franz, the first
names of both Mozart and Hofdemel. Beethoven was aware of this
affair, (cf. p. 123) (p. 20)

Canal, Joseph Emanuel, Count of Malabaila (1745-1826), officer and
humanist. He was partially responsible for the founding of the St. John's
orphanage in Prague, and built one of the most famous botanical
gardens of Europe. He had his private musical organization (See Wurz-
bach, and Nettl, Mozart in Bohmen).

Ungar, Karl Raphael (1743-1807), born in Saaz, originally Karl
Unger. In 1780, he became director of the university library, in 1788 a
secular priest, and later imperial councillor. He was one of the most
important promoters of the university library in Prague. The negotia-
tions concerning the founding of the lodge "Zur Wahrheit und Einigkeit,"
which were undertaken by Born, took place in 1783. He could not have
encountered Mozart through Masonry at that time (see Schenk, p. 668).

The poem was reprinted for the first time by Gustav Brabbee in the
Wiener Fr eimaur erzeitung. (p. 23)

This is the last known letter written by Mozart to his father. However,
since Leopold, in a letter of May 10 to Nannerl gives a new address of
Wolfgang's, Landstrasse 244, and since Leopold frequently wrote to his
daughter, we can assume that several letters have disappeared. Leopold
died on May 28, 1787, at the age of 68, of consumption, and was buried
at the St. Sebastian cemetery in Salzburg, (p. 23)

The album was also published in facsimile by the firm JaflFe in Vienna
(now New York). Since only a few copies were printed the facsimile is
also very rare. Among the members of the lodge "Zur gekronten Hoff-
nung," the following are worth mentioning: August or Rudolf Graffer,
both book dealers and publishers, the latter associated with the poet
Blumauer; Otto Baron Gemmingen; the painter Ignaz Unterberger, mem-
ber of the Academy of Arts; Count Franz Esterhazy, for whom Mozart
composed the Masonic funeral Music (K. 477); Alexander, Baron of
Proney (1760-1839), later general inspector of the Lutheran church in
Hungary and a well-known writer; Pasquale Artaria, art dealer and
music publisher (1755-1785); Wenzel Tobias Epstein; Tobias Philipp
von Gebler, commander of the order of St. Stephen (1726-1786) for
whose drama Konig Tbamos (K. 345) Mozart composed the chomses;
the musicians Joseph Bartha, Vittorio Colombazzcv and Berdiaaud

137

Schleiss; Joseph Pasqualati (1733-1799), whose sons were acquainted
with Beethoven; the actor and tenor Valentin Adamberger; the dancing-
master Karl Prandstetter; the Bohemian secular priest and poet Franz
Petran. (p. 24)

Among the Viennese court ballet masters, the most important was the
choreographer Franz Hilverding van Wewen (1710-1786), member of
the Vienna lodge "Zu den drei Kanonen." Frank Bernhart of London,
who possesses a facsimile of the album, points out that Born's name does
not appear in Kronauer's index, and that the letters "L.B." indicate that
the name was added later. Bernhart also asserts that Alxinger's entry
Rara esf concordta fratrum is to be translated in its 18th century sense,
namely, with the word rara meaning "noble." But in this connection we
should mention the disagreements among the Viennese lodges of the time.
Furthermore, Leopold Mozart had participated in a Jesuit play, Rara
jratrum concordta, in Augsburg at the age of nine.

The pinnacle of Miiller's career was the commission in 1776 to travel
through Germany in order to secure competent personnel for the newly
founded N ' ationalbuhne (see the autobiography of Joseph Lange, Mozart's
brother-in-law, published in Vienna in 1808, which described Miiller's de-
parture from the theater). The masonic associations of Miiller to Mozart are
proved in a letter of Leopold to his daughter, written from Vienna on
Feb. 21, 1785. Since Leopold was being considered for initiation into the
lodge "Wohltatigkeit" at that time, Muller's invitation of the Mozart
family can easily be explained. The Mozarts took part in a meal for 21
persons, (p. 26)

Lorenz von Engstrom or Engestrom, Swedish ambassador at the court.

(p. 27)

Joseph Martin Kraus (1756-1792). His autobiography in Swedish ap-
peared in Stockholm, in 1833. In 1778 he worked at the Stockholm thea-
ter, and from 1781 he was conductor there. In 1782 he embarked on a
journey of several years to Vienna, Italy, Paris, and London, and returned
to Stockholm on Jan. 1, 1787. In 1788 he was Swedish court conductor
(see Eitner, Quellenlexzkon} .

Joseph Zistler, "a truly soulful violinist, whose rich tone and intensive
interpretation was overwhelmingly loved by Haydn." (Gassner, Unfaer-
sallexikon, in which he is erroneously given as Zisler). Zistler, in the
service of Count Erdody, played at the Academy in 1772, in the theater
next to the castle, and three times in the Academy of the Tonkunstler
Sozietat; 1778-1786 he was concert master to Prince Batthyany in Bratis-
lava, and is then mentioned as music director to Prince Grassalkovitz. He
also participated in a concert of the singers Elisabeth and Franziska
Disder. Schonfeld's Jahrbuch der Tonkunst in Wten und Prag calls
Demuth and Eppinger excellent pupils of the late outstanding Zistler.
According to the obituary, Zistler died on March 18, 1794, at the age
of fifty (see Pohl, Joseph Haydn II, p. 101). Zistler played a part in the
lodge "Zur Sicherheit," concerning which see Abafi V, p. 172. Besides
Zistler, we find the following represented: Franz Edler von Hauslab, the
Master of the lodge, the Deputy Master Udvarnovsky, the book dealer

138

Simon Peter Weber, orator of the lodge, and Georg Karl Zillagh. Zistler's
entry reads as follows:

Der Temp el ist in dir

den musst du selbsten weihen,
wennst glucklich sein willst hier f

Und ewigkeitens R.eihen. (?)

One of the most interesting entries is the Greek quotation written by
Lorenz Leopold Haschka (1749-1827), who belonged to the St. Joseph
lodge. The entry dates from Nov. 10, 1784, roughly the time of Mozart's
initiation. Similarly to Hoffmann, Haschka was a spy and informer in the
Craft. Rumor has it that he invested a sum presented him by Alxinger in
the slave trade. In his dictionary, Gerber mentions a piano trio which
appeared under Haschka's authorship. He is best known as the poet of
the Austrian national anthem, Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser. Whether
Stephan Andreas Haslinger, whose entry is dated October 9, 1784, is
related to the family of musicians and publishers, is unknown to me. (p. 28)

About the English masonic musicians cf. the appropriate articles in
Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, (p. 31)

Geminiani, Francesco Saverio, born 1679 or 1680, died 1762 in Dublin,
famous as composer of concertos and sonatas, author of one of the first
violin instruction books, The art of playing on the violin, which ap-
peared anonymously in 1730. See the article on Geminiani by Franz
Gigling in Blume, Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart.

Concerning the Anacreontic Society, see Nettl, National Anthems
(New York, 1952).

Lenz, Hofrat in Altenburg, 1717-1780, initiated into the lodge "Archi-
medes zu den drei Reissbrettern" in 1742. He edited his song book for
that lodge and published a second, smaller collection in 1775. (p, 34)

Johann Gottlieb Corner (1697-1778). See Schering, Johann Seb. Bach
und das Musikleben Leipzigs im 18. Jahrhundert (Leipzig, 1941).

Johann Valentin Gorner (1702-1762), music director at the Hamburg
cathedral. Reprint of his odes in vol. 57 of Denkmaler deutscber Ton-
kunst. See Friedlander, Das deutsche lied im 18. Jahrhundert (Stuttgart,
1902) and Kretzschmar, Geschichte des neuen deutschen Uedes (1911).
(P- 33)

Irmgard Leux, Christian Gottlob Neefe (Leipzig, 1925). (p. 37)

C. G. Telonius, an amateur in Hamburg who published several song
collections and whose name appears in several Masonic song books (see
Friedlander, L, p. 241). (p. 38)

Naumann was a member of the lodge "Zum goldenen ApfeT under
whose auspices the songs of 1782 appeared. This refers to 36 songs com-
posed by Weinlig, Seydelmann, Naumann, Schuster, Homilius (all from
Dresden), and Tag. The preface indicates that the proceeds of the col-
lection were to be used to alleviate suffering. The melodies, it says, had
never been printed, and only some of the composers were masoos. The
lofty style of some of the songs, which is similar to Mozart's humanitarian
style, shows that the composers, even the non-masons, had masonry Q

139

mind. Thus, the "Fellow Craft's Song" by Schuster with its energetic uni-
son eighths is appropriate to the Fellow Craft's initiation; Bestimmung
des Maurers by Weinlig and Wenn einst vom Staube hsgerissen by Tag
are suited to the solemn atmosphere of the third degree. Naumann him-
self published Vierzig Freymaurerlieder under his own name in the same
year. He designates them "for the use of German and French lodge
dinners/ 1 The collection is dedicated to Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of
Prussia. It does not show the strong side of Naumann. In 1780, J. F.
Reichardt published an appendix, Freymaurer-Lieder. (p. 38)

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) became a mason in 1731 and in 1732
G. Warden of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania. In 1790 he appeared in
England as a Mason, and in Paris he joined the famous scholarly lodge
"Les 9 soeurs." He was Master of this lodge from 1779 to 1782; the 84
year old Voltaire entered the temple of this lodge supported by Frank-
lin's arm. Franklin was the inventor of the glass harmonica, occupied
himself with music and is supposed to have composed. It is by no means
impossible for Franklin to have been the composer of the two masonic
songs (see Nettl, in Musical Quarterly, 1930). (p. 40 Cf. Plate 4)

As a curiosity of cultural history we give a report of the masonic
"horse comedy" reprinted by Abafi. It was directed by Brother Hyam,
who had just arrived from London, in 1784: (p. 44)

"An opportunity was offered by the royal circus, opened in April 1784
by Brother Hyam, who had just arrived from London. The performances
of the competent equestrians were appreciated by the aristocracy, and
especially by the Hungarian and Galician guards. Especially applauded
were the ladies, particularly the youthful second wife of the aging direc-
tor, whose protector and sponsor was the Prince Dietrichstein. Among
the art-loving ladies of Vienna, the son of Hyam's first marriage, 22 year
aid Charles Hyam, became most popular; he was not only an excellent
equestrian, but also an Adonis and a Hercules. About this time, Prince
Dietrichstein was confirmed as Landes-Grossmeister and the sale of his
property, Proskau, to King Frederick II of Prussia was settled. For these
two reasons the Prince arranged a festival dinner in his palace at the
beginning of May, to which director Hyam and his beautiful wife were
invited. Unfortunately the lady, who drank like a dragoon, became un-
well and wished to go home, to which her husband did not agree. The
Prince was gallant enough to take her home in his carriage. After two
hours he re-appeared among his guests. Director Hyam, meanwhile, had
incited the idea that some kind of masonic surprise should be prepared
for the Prince on his name-day, as a token of thanks for the party. He
was asked to prepare something which could be performed in his circus.
Hyam agreed, under the condition that those brothers who rode horse-
back would participate. This they did. The plans were made, the roles
rehearsed, the prospects for the performance were good. And the great
day (June 24) arrived. The masonic pantomime, Adonirams Tod, com-
posed and conducted by Brother Hyam and performed by several brothers,
was staged.

"The characters and actors in the pantomime follow: King Solomon:

140

Hyam; Adoniram, architect of the temple: Johann, Count Esterhazy; the
Queen of Sheba: Pottyondy, lieutenant and Hungarian guard; the three
murderers: Danczkay, Doloviczenyi, and Bacskady, lieutenants and Hun-
garian guards; finally, the retinue of King Solomon and the Queen of
Sheba, priests of Baal, journeymen and apprentices in the construction of
the temple, represented by: Baroczy and Sooky, both riding masters and
2nd sergeants of the guard in the Hungarian Guards; Wiesen, Bohuss,
riding masters; Bourgeois, riding master and auditor of the Galician
guards; Kauri, adjutant of the Toscana-infantry; Veghely, Bacsak,
Majthe*nyi, and Vass, lieutenants and Hungarian guards. All performers
and spectators were masons, and the latter had to give the pass-word
when entering. It is noteworthy that the entire pantomime was given on
horseback, as a St. John's celebration by the lodge "Zur gekronten HofT-
nung." But all other Viennese lodges were also represented. The guests
of honor sat on a special stage: Prince Dietrichstein, the provincial pre-
fects Counts Stampa, Palffy, and Banffy; the district prefects Barons
Kressl and Gebler. Of the lodge "Zur gekronten Hoffnung," the follow-
ing were present: Masters Paar and Matolay, the Second Steward Epstein,
Treasurer Count Stockhammer, further First Lieutenant Szekely, book
dealer Graffer, banker Gontard, art dealer Artaria, Dr. Ferro, court
actor Adamberger, Lieutenant-Field Marshal Clerfait, the Counts Ernst
and Dom. Kaunitz-Rietberg, J. Ried, cook to Count Esterhazy, and Sar-
dagna, treasurer of the Cardinal- Archbishop of Vienna. Among the other
guests there were various aristocrats, high government officials and offi-
cers, as well as notables of Viennese scholarship and art, including the
famous Sonnenfels.

"The 'horse comedy* as a contemporary rightly designates this silly
pantomime lasting from 7 to 8:30 P.M., pleased the Prince so much that
he visited the Hyams after the performance, thanked them, and agreed to
grant them a wish. Thereupon the couple pleaded with him to make their
son, Charles Hyam, a mason, and to be his sponsor. At first the Prince
declined, but finally he undertook the preparations. Count Paar went to
the lodge in order to fetch the necessary equipment. Meanwhile, the circus
was arranged as a lodge as well as was possible in the rush. Thereupon,
the meeting was held on horseback. Charles Hyam was initiated on
horseback and dismounted only for taking the symbolic steps.

"As fr ere terrible they used the Swiss giant Hans Klaus, against whose
participation in the pantomime the brothers had at first protested; they
were placated when Hyam proved, with a certificate, that the giant had
served in a Swiss lodge. Brother Klaus was a real giant, his forefinger
was four inches thick, and 'he could carry as much as two mules/ He
sat on Hyam's strongest stallion, but was able to reach the floor with
his toes. In the initiation he had to thunder with a large piece of tin and
to 'make lightning* with rosin, which caused the stallion to shy and
almost to throw him."

Cf. Brabble, "Eine Loge zu Pferd," Latomia XXVH, pp. 277-288.

Rollig, regular visitor of the lodge "Zur Bestandigkeit," famous virtu-
oso on the glass harmonica which had been perfected by Benjamin

141

Franklin in 1763. From 1764 to 1769, Rollig was music director of Ack-
ermann's theatrical troupe in Hamburg and worked on improvements of
the glass harmonica, the piano, and the piano-violin. After 1797 he
worked at the Vienna Court Library until his death in 1804. G. Brabbee,
in the article "Der Harmonikavirtuose Rollig," Latomta XXVII, pp.
257-267, tells the following phantastic tale: (p. 43)

"With his favorite instrument, the glass harmonica, he began making
concert tours through Germany and France, and made his Vienna debut
in 1781 with great success. Soon he was popular in Vienna and, in 1782,
he joined a Masonic lodge. Then he was called to Paris, played at court,
and became acquainted with Mesmer, in whose magnetic productions he
participated. But he lost his appeal and had to travel in the smaller
French towns. In one of these, probably Lyons, he fell seriously ill and
was cured within two days by CagHostro. After spending some time in
Berlin and other German towns he returned to Vienna in 1785 and began
to participate vigorously in Masonic activities. Without joining a lodge,
he served all. At the St. John's feast, at initiations, memorial meetings,
and dinners, he was always ready to entertain the brothers with his art.
But his music affected his nerves, and, growing sickly, he eventually had
to give up his art. Again he sought the help of CagHostro, who was living
in a house in Wahring. But Rollig had lost confidence in CagKostro's
medicine, showed some of it to the Emperor's physician Stork, who,
throwing the potion to the floor, himself undertook to cure Rollig. He
was unsuccessful. The patient improved somewhat, but could not return
to his art.

"He was obliged to find a new occupation. In his plight he turned to
his brothers and, through Born, received an appointment as an official of
the court library, which he held until his death in. 1804. Rollig did not
serve only the masons with his glass harmonica; magicians and other
oddities made use of its fascinating sounds. Thus a certain Nefzer in
Vienna asked him to come to his country house and to play for a few
minutes at a given signal. Rollig agreed. They rode to the estate whose
park, surrounded by a wall, Rollig found very beautiful. Temples, grottos,
waterfalls, labyrinths, subterranean chambers, offered great variety. Left
alone for a time, he was summoned by a servant who asked him to
follow, but who hurried on, leaving Rollig to satisfy his curiosity.

"On the way he heard, coming from a basement, the muffled sound of
trombones. Rollig hurried down the stairs and saw a vault in which a
corpse was being placed into a coffin, to the accompaniment of funeral
music. To one side was a man dressed in white, covered with blood,
whose arm was being bandaged. Except for the helpers, all present were
dressed in long, black cloaks and armed with swords. Skeletons, thrown
in a heap, lay in the entrance of the vault, which was illuminated by the
weird lights of oil flames. Frightened, he hurried back and was now
led by the servant into the garden, which was lighted in green and
looked like a fairyland.

"Rollig was posted behind an arbor whose inside was painted sky blue.
Immediately an unconscious man was brought in, presumably the one

142

whose arm had been bandaged; his companions were now splendidly
dressed so that Rollig could not recognize them any more. At the signal,
Rollig began to play, and the unconscious one, after a few minutes,
awoke and asked 'where am I?' and 'whose voice am I hearing?' Loud
jubilations and happy music were the answer. All took their swords and
hurried with the unconscious one into the garden, leaving the musician to
his own reflections. Rollig thought he had experienced a tale from the
Arabian Nights"

This story fits in with the notions about the fabulous effects of the
glass harmonica which were current in that period. Goethe thought he
heard in it the "heart's blood of the world." Rollig himself, in a frag-
ment written in Berlin in 1787, says that the effect of the instrument was
close to supernatural. If it were lost again, the legends about it would
approach those of Orpheus's lyre (see Bruno Hoffmann in Musik in
Geschichte und Gegenwart).

Joseph Bauernjopel was Hofkanzlist at the book censorship commission
and was active in literature. He was Master of the lodge "Bestandigkeit,"
among whose members were the composer Joseph Blaske, evidently the
violinist Joseph Blaschek who was a member of the orchestra of Count
Esterhazy from 1769 to 1772; further, Ludwig Fischer, the basso who
sang Osmin's role in the first performance of Mozart's Entfuhrung in
Mannheim. For this excellent singer, Mozart wrote the aria Aspri fimorsi
atroci (K. 432). Perhaps Fischer, like Lange and Adamberger, worked for
Mozart's initiation into the lodge. Abafi also names Franz Adam Mitscha
among the members, but this man, a composer, cannot be the same as
Franz Mitscha, music director to Count Questenberg in Jaromeritz, who
had already died in 1745. (p. 44)

Tobias Phillip von Gebler (1726-1786), served the cause of culture and
economics in the Habsburg empire. He was a member of the lodge "Zur
wahren Eintracht." (p. 56)

Schikaneder was accepted into the lodge "Die Wachsende zu den 3
Schliisseln." (p. 61)

Concerning Giesecke, see Otto Rommel, Die altwiener Volkskomodie
(Vienna, 1952). (p. 63)

According to Lennhoff, Giesecke was initiated on St. John's day. Ac-
cording to Rommel, Giesecke was proud of his masonic membership, dis-
played his emblems frequently, used the sign below his signature, and
owed his success partly to his masonic associations.

About the confused history of the sources for the Magic Flute, see
also Komorzynski, Der Vater der Zauberfiote (Vienna, 1948), and "Die
Zauberflote und Dschinnistan," Mozart-] ahrbuch, 1954.

Wieland, Christoph Martin (1733-1813) had long been interested in
Freemasonry. But his opinion fluctuated between recognition and rejec-
tion. At the age of 76 he applied for initiation to the lodge "Amalia,"
whose secretary was Archduke Karl August of Weimar, and whose
master was Friedrich Justin Bertuch. In consideration of his age, he
was initiated at a restricted meeting attended by Goethe. At Wieland's
funeral, Goethe delivered a masonic address, (p. 69)

143

Mozart did not take the chorale Ash Gott, vom Htmmel sieb darem
from a Protestant song book, but from Johann Philipp Kirnberger s D/
Kunst des remen Satzes (1774-1779). The second nwtif. with the
chromatic sigh, is from the same work. As Wilhelm Fischer indicates m
an essay ("Der, welcher wandelt diese Strasse voll Beschwerden, Mo-
zart-labrbucb, 1950) this counter-motif is taken from a Kyne of the
Miss* S. Henrici by Heinrich Biber. In a manner similar to Bach, this
pacing bass line symbolizes the road, while the sighs represent the woes
and hardships of this road. (p. 92) .

"Sisters" according to masonic terminology, are the wives ot those
who, after initiation, are presented with a pair of white gloves by their

SP lTthe original libretto of 1791 a passage, stricken in later editions
seems to refer to the incipient persecution of masons: "Let prejudice find
fault with us initiates. It affects wisdom and reason like a spider-web
attacking a column. But malicious prejudice must go; and it will go as
soon as Tamino himself grasps the greatness of our art."

Goethe's fragment appeared as the second part of the Taschenbucfo
of the year 1802 in Bremen, published by Friedrich Wilmans. The re-
print of Vulpius' version of the Magic Flute appeared in 1908 with an
introduction by Dr. Hans Lowenfeld. Its title page reads: "The Magic
Flute, an opera in three acts. New arrangement. The Music is by Mozart.
Weimar, printed with Gliising's writings, 1794." It is likely that Vulpius
(1762^1827) author of Rinaldo Kinaldi, was a mason. In his journal,
Curiositaten, he repeatedly deals with the Knights Templar and the
Rosicrucians. See also Nettl, Goethe und Mozart (Esslingen, 1949) . (p. 94)
About Goethe and Freemasonry, see Dr. Hugo Wernekke, Goethe
und die komgltcbe Kunst, and the article in Lennhoff which cites nine
definitely masonic poems. There are masonic allusions in Wzlbelm Mets-
ter, in Marchen, and in the fragment Geheimnisse; the aberrations of
Freemasonry are criticized in Grosskopbta. Goethe was initiated into the
"Amalia" lodge on June 23, 1780. A year later he was made Fellow
Craft, and on March 2, 1782, he was raised to the third degree.

Bernhard Anselm Weber (1766-1821), an imitator of Gluck, who was
also heard as a traveling virtuoso on the glass harmonica. His relation-
ship to Rollig indicates his interest in the esoteric, (p. 96)

In Vulpius* version, the first verse of Sarastro's aria begins In diesen
betltgen Mauern, the second, In dtesen betligen Hallen.

Concerning Goethe's continuation of the Magic Flute, see Victor Junk,
Goetbes,FortsetzungderMozarfscbenZauberflote (Berlin, 1900). (p. 100)

144

INDEX

Abafi, Ludwig, 42, 130

Abert, Hermann, 14, 60, 86, 90

Abt, Franz, 127

Adamberger, Valentin and Toni, 42,

49, 50, 52, 54, 138, 141, 143
Adlerbeth, G. G., 70
Adonirams Tod, Pantomime, 44, 140
AfHisio, Giuseppe, 102, 103
Alberti, Ignaz, Publisher, 22
Allegri, Gregorio, 92
Alxinger, Johann Baptist, 13, 25, 138
Amalia of Prussia, 102
Amann, Family, 11, 134
Ambrosch, Joseph Karl, 58
Anacreontic Society, 31, 32
Anschiitz, Heinrich, Actor, 39
Arco, Karl Joseph Maria Felix,

Count, 108
Artaria, Pasquale, Publisher, 14, 49,

137

Attwood, Thomas, 32
d'Ayala, Sebastian, Count, 14
AyrenhofF, Cornelius von, 135

Bach, Johann Christian, 102, 104

Bach, Joh. Seb., 33, 34, 108, 112

Bader, Franz Xaver, 9, 10

Ballad Opera, 33, 135

Bartha, Joseph, 137

Bartsch, C. D., 40

Basle (Maria Anna Thekla Mozart),

122

Batzko, Ludwig von, 82, 87
Bauernjopel, Joseph Anton von, 26,

44, 143

Baumker, Wilhelm, 37
Beaumarchais, P. E., 5
Beethoven, Ludwig van, 32, 43, 59, 91,

109, 113, 114, 127, 138
Benda, Georg, 44
Bernhart, Frank, 138
Bertuch, Friedrich Justin, 143
"Bestandigkeit," (Lodge), 13, 28, 44,

143

Beyer, Bernhard, 61
Biber, Heinrich Franz, 144
Birkhead, Matthew, 32
Blakemore, L, B., 130
Blaschek, Joseph, 143
Blavet, Michel, Flutist, 40
Bluher, Hans, 93
Blumauer, Alois, 13, 18, 25, 44,

118, 135

Blumml, E. K., 80 iff.
Bode, Christoph, 10
Boheitn, Joseph Michael, 58
Boieldieu, F. A., 41

Boito, A., 128

Born, Ignaz von, 10, 13, 18, 19, 25, 49,

50, 52, 72, 73, 78, 84, 134
Brabbee (Masonic Family), 137, 141
Brindl, Musician, 11
Bucher, Karl, 30
Burger, G. A., 5

Cadman, C. W., 129

Cagliostro, Alexander, Count (Joseph

Balsamo), 13,43, 142
Calzabigi, Raniero, 39
Campi, Cbuple of singers, 66
Canal, Count Joseph, 20, 137
Canarisi, Marquis, 15
Carey, Henry, 34
Carl August von Weimar, 5, 10
Cannabich, Christian, 11, 12
Carl Theodor, Elector, 9, 10, 50, 84,

122, 133

Casadesus, Henri, 41
Catholicism, Il4ff.
Chamisso, Adalbert von, 5
Charlotte, Palatine Princess, 113
Cherubini, Luigi, 41
Chetwood, William Rufus, 33
Chodowiecki, Engraver, 55
Clam-Gallas, Count C. P., 134
Claudius, Matthias> 5, 26, 72, 75
dementi, Muzio, 84, 91
Clerambault, L, N., 41
Cohen, Hermann, 86
Colloredo, Hieronymus, 14, 49, 103,

107 108, 110 ff.
Colombazzo, yittorio, 42, 137
Cook, Benjamin, 32
Cornet, Juilius, 63 ff.
Corrette, Michel, 40
Costa, Michael, 32
Cotte, Roger, 40

Damrosch, Leopold, 127

DaPonte, Lorenzo, 61, 116, 125

Daumer, Georg Friedrich, 83

David, Anton, 18

Denis, Michael, 13, 118, 134, 135

Dent, Edward, 63, 64, 65, 84

Detenhoff, Br., 87

Deurer, Johann Ferdinand, 135

Deutsch, Adolph, 134

Deutsch, O. E., 14, 18, 48, 58, 130,

134

Dibdin, Charles, 32, 34
Diodorus Siculus, 72, 78
"Drei Adler," (Lodge), 13, 18, 19,

42, 57
"Drei Feuer," (Lodge), 13, 44, 47

145

"Drei gekronte Saulen," (Lodge),

13,45

"DreiKanonen," (Lodge), Vienna, 138
"Drei Schlussel," (Lodge), Regens-

burg, 55

"Droit Humain," Le, mixed order, 79
Duller, Eduard, 71
Duschek, Josephine, 12, 45, 71, 134
Dworzack, Clarinetist, 136

"Eastern Star/* Women's Order, 79,

144

Ebers, Carl Friedrich, 39, 40
Eckert, Eduard Emil, 83
Ehrenstein, Dr., Physician, 28
Einstein, Alfred, 48, 49, 57, 58, 86
Eitner, Robert, Bibliographer, 11, 36
Eclectic Lodge, 9, 10
Eisner, J. X., 128
Engestrom (Engstrom), Lorenz von,

27, 136, 138
Engl>J.E.,48

Englander, Richard, 38, 70, 132
Epstein, Wenzel Tobias, 27, 51, 137,

141

Ernst von Gotha, 10
Eskeles, Eleonore, 124
Esterhazy, Franz, 48, 57, 137
Esterhazy, Johann Count, 42, 140

Feustel, Friedrich, 128
Fichte, Johann Gottlieb, 3, 5, 126
Fischer, Ludwig, 143
Fischer, Wilhelrn, 144
Forster, Georg, 14

Frank, Johann Peter, Ex-Jesuit, Physi-
cian, 9, 10, 135, 141
Franklin, Benjamin, 40, 51
Franz I., Emperor, 5
Franz II, Emperor, 43
Frederick the Great, 3, 5
Friedlander, Max, 36, 38
Friedrich Wilhelm II., 7, 38

Gallus-Mederitsch, Johann, 66

Gartner, Korbinian, 11

Gastein, 18, 25

Gebler, Tobias Philipp von, 56, 137,

141, 143
"Gekronte Hoffnung" (Lodge), 13, 14,

18, 21, 22, 24, 27, 28, 42, 47, 49, 50
Geminiani, F. X., 31, 139
Gemmingen, Otto Freiherr von, 14, 15,

17, 25, 111, 135, 137
Gerl, Taddaus, 65
Gesellenreise, 26, 46, 48
Giesecke, Job. Georg Karl (Metzler),

63, 64, 65, 143
Gigling, Franz, 139

Gilowsky, Ernst and Franz, 11, 121,
134

Gluck,CW.,39,67, 104

Corner, Joh. Gottlieb and Joh, Valen-
tin, 35, 36, 139

Goethe, J. W., 3, 5, 6, 10, 60, 79, 94,
95 ff., 102, 106, 135, 136

Grabner, Christian, 34

Graffer, Family, 46, 51, 81, 134, 137

Greiner, Franz von and Caroline,
married Pichler, 135, 136

Gottsched, Luise Adelgunde, 25

Grassalkowitz, Anton von, 27, 138

"Griffin," Lodge, 31

Grimm, Melchior, 102, 113, 119

Gruber, Tobias, Hydrographer, 13

Guardasoni, Domenico, 66

Hacker, Benedikt, 11

Hagedorn, Friedrich von, 35

Hale, Thomas, 32

Hallberg, Baron, 15

Haller, Albrecht von, 119

Hammerschmidt, 62

Handel, Georg Friedrich, 31, 105, 117

Hanslick, Eduard, 35, 42

Haschka, Lorenz Leopold, 28, 139

Haselbock, Prompter, 64, 65

Hauslab, Franz von, 138

Haslinger, Stephan Andreas, 139

Hatzfeld, August von, 116

Haydn, Joseph, 15, 16, 17, 43, 58, 104,

110, 111, 130, 136, 138 ff.
Haydn, Michael, 53, 119
Hayes, William, 31, 32
"Heiliger Joseph" (Lodge), 13, 25,

28, 47, 50
Heliodprus, 72
Helvetius, Madame, 79
Hensler, Karl Friedrich, 22, 67, 69,

130

Herder, Joh. Gottfried, 5, 10, 79
Heuss, Alfred, 59, 60, 91
Hilverding, Franz von, 138
Hiramic legend, 5, 74, 116
Hloschek, Franz and Anton, 44
Hofdemel, Franz, 123, 136, 137
Hoffmann, E. T. A., 112
Hoffmann, Leopold Aloys, 15, 26, 27,

84, 135, 136

Hoffmannsthal, Hugo, 57
Holzer, Johann, 43, 44, 46
Holzmeister, Br.; 16, 43
Homilius, G. A., 139
Hornstein, Joseph, 17
Horsley, Ch. E., 32
Hraschansky, Joseph, 53
Hiibner, Lorenz, 11, 134
Humanitarian Style, 56, 59, 90 ff.

146

Hunczowsky, Johann Nepomuk,

Physician, 135
Hurka, Friedrich, 58
Hutterer, Johann, 12, 134
Hyam, dressage rider, 44, 140

Idelsohn,A.Z.,57
Illuminati, 3, 6, 9, 11, 38

Jacquin, Gottfried and Joseph, 121
Jaffe, Publisher, 137

Tiineling, Johann, 50

Junk, Viktor, 97, 98, 132, 144

Kant, Emanuel, 60, 126, 27
"Karoline zu den drei Pfauen, Lodge,

Bonn, 38

Keiser, Reinhard, 33
Kelly, Michael, 25
Kernochan, Marshal, 129
Keussler, Gerhard von, 128
Keyssler, Joh. Georg, 120
Khevenhuller-Metsch, 57
King, Charles, 31
"King's Arms, 1 Lodge, 31
Kirnberger, Johann Philipp, 144
Kleine Freimaurerkantate, 52, 53, 56
Kleist, Heinrich and Ewald von, 5, 118
Klopstock, Friedr, Gottlieb, 5
Knigge, Adolph Freiherr, 10
Koch, Richard, 10, 11, 21
Kocian, J., 128

Kochel, Ludwig von, 48, 56, 136
Komorzynski, Egon, 61, 64, 69, o,

94,99

Kozeluch, Leopold, 43
Kraus, Joseph Martin, 27, 138
Krause, K. C. F., Philosopher, 5
Kreitmaier, Josef, 84
Kretzschmar, Hermann, 36
Kronauer, Georg, 24-28, 124, 138
Kruse, Georg Richard, 100
Kulka, Br., 14, 15

Lachnit, Wenzel Ludwig, 41

Lang, Br. of "Gekronte Hoffnung, 28

Lange, Joseph, actor, 138, 143

Laurence, J. L., 72

"Lautenkranz," Lodge, Gotha, 27

Leadbeater,CW.,88

Leber, Ferdinand Joseph, 14

St. Leger, Arthur, 79

Lennhoflf, Eugen, 133, 143

Lenning (Bookdealer, Hesse), 30, 133

Lenz, Ludwig Friedrich, 34

Leon, Gottlieb, 13, 43, 48

Lenoir, Marie Alexander, 72

Leopold II., 14, 83, 89, 104

Lessing,G.E.,3,4,5,6, 118

Leutgeb, Ignaz, 121

Leux, Irmgard, 37, 139

Lichnowslgr, Karl, 109

Lindpaintner, P. J. von, 127

Litolff, H. C, 127

Lorenzoni, Pietro Antonio, painter, 107

Lortzing, Albert, 127

Lotz, Theodor, Violist, 18, 136

Lowe, Carl, 127

Lowen, H. T., painter, 27

Lowendahl, Chancellor, 9

Lucius Apuleius, 72

Ludendorff, Mathilde and Erich, 4,

85, 125

Ludlamshohle, 21
Luther, Martin, 4
Liitzow, Count Johann Nepomuk, 12

Magic Flute, 8, 21, 29, 33, 37, 39, 42,

47, 50, 53, 56, 58, 60 ff.
Marbach, Oswald, 128
Marchand, Heinr., Munich Impresario,

12

Maria-Theresia, Empress, 37, 50, 84
Marie-Antoinette, 41
Marinelli, Karl von, 69
Marmontel, Jean Francois, 70
Marter, Joseph, 13, 135
Martini, G. B., 103
Masonic Album, 24-28
Masonic Funeral Music, 8, 29, 57, 60,

77, 137
Matolay, 49

Matthisson, Friedrich, 127
"Maurerfreude," Cantata, 18, 20, 43,

49, 50, 52, 56
Mayer, Joh. and Joseph, 13
Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Duke Georg

Meissner/Gottlieb August and Alfred,

20, 43, 49, 132
Menz, F., 13
Merian, Hans, 86
Metastasio, Pietro, 118
Meyerbeer, Giacomo, 41
Michaeler, Carl Joseph, 13, 27
Mingotti, Pietro, 128
Mitscha, Franz Adam, 143
"Mopsorden," 79
Morales, C., 10
Morenz, Siegfried, 73
Mozart, Constanze, 17, 22, 45, 104,

, 10, 11, 13, ,16, 23,

, , , , ,

25,46,49,57,58,106,124
Mozart, Maria Anna, married
Sonnenburg, 15, 137

147

Mozart, Wolfg. Amadeus, (son) , and

Karl, 19
Miiller, Johann Heinrich, actor, 13, 26,

120, 138

Mullet, Wenzel, 68
Miinter, Friedrich, 27

Nader, Nannerl, 11

Napoleon Bonaparte, 72

Naudot, Jean Jaques, 40

Naumann, J. G., 30, 36, 37, 43, 58, 61,

70 ff., 132, 139
Nedbal, Oskar, 128
Neefe, Christian Gottlob, 37, 38, 139
"Neuf Soeurs," Lodge Paris, 13
"Neugekr5nte Hoffnung," Lodge, 14,

22, 46, 47, 48, 50, 52, 63, 123, 137
Neumann, Johann Leopold, 70, 71
Niemetschek, Franz Xaver, 55, 112, 117
Nissen, Nikolaus, 114, 120

d'Ordonez, Carlo, 42

Paar (Baar) Count, 12, 141
Pacassi, Johann Freiherr, Court

Architect, 13, 135
Pachierotti, Clarinetist, 136
Paganini, Nicolo, 112
Palestrina, G. P., 10, 92
Palm, Count, 42

"Palmbaum" (Lodge), 13, 18, 19
Pappenheim, Count, 9
Pasqualati, Joseph, 138
Pepusch, Joh. Christopher, 31, 130
Perinet, Joachim Johann, 65, 67, 68,

82

Pertl, Anna Maria (Mozart), 107, 108
Pestalozzi, Heinrich, 10
Petit, J. A., 41

Petran, Franz, 43, 49, 50, 138
Pezzl, Johann, 13, 134
Pichler, Caroline, 135
Pleyel, Ignaz, 41
Ployer, F. K., 13, 136
Plutarch, 72
Pokorny, Gottfried, 123
Poll, Librarian, 11
Pompadour, Marquise de, 102
Pope, Alexander, 5
Prandstetter, Carl, 43, 138
Proney, Alexander Baron; 137
Pruvost, Prudent, 41
Puccini, Giacomo, 128
Puchberg, Michael, 19, 21, 58, 135

"Queen's Head/' Lodge, 31
Questenberg, Count, 143

Rameau, Jean Philippe, 41

Rambach, Fr. E., 80
Ramm, Friedrich, 11, 12
Ratschky, Joseph Franz, 13, 25, 26,

44,46

Reghellini, de Schio, 72
Reinhold, Karl Leonhard, 14
Reissiger, C G., 127
Retzer, Joseph Friedrich von, 13
Rieder, "Profos," 12
Riedheim, Baron, 28
Riemann, Hugo, 128
Rintel, Wilhelm, 100
Rollig, Carl Leopold, 43, 141, 142
Rommel, Otto, 63 F., 143
Rosicrucians, 3, 5, 6, 133
Rousseau, Jean Jacques, 32, 119
Rudolf, Archduke, 126
Ruprecht, Johann Baptist, 13

Salieri, Anton, 22

Sammartini, G. B., 103

Sarti, Giuseppe, 44, 128

Sauter, Ferdinand, 14

Scalabrini, Paolo, 128

Scarlatti, A., 10

Scheffler, Joh. (Angelus Silesius), 115

Scheibe, Johann, Ad., 34, 35, 36, 58

Schelle, Augustin, 11, 133

Schenk, Erich, 116

Schiedermair, Ludwig, 19, 20, 86

Schikaneder, Emanuel, 52, 54, 60 ff.,

94, 100, 143

Schiller, Friedrich von, 4, 118
Schink, Johann Friedrich, 135
Schittlersberg, A. V. von, 46
Schlaffenberg, Irene, 43
Schleiss, Ferdinand, 43, 138
Schmutzer, Jacob, Engraver, 14
Schneider, Ferdinand Joseph, 6, 80,

133

Schonborn, Countess, 12
Schrattenbach, Sigismund, 103
Schultze, Martin and Heinrich

August, 100
Schurig, Arthur, 86
Schuster, Joseph, 139
Schwartz-Bostunitsch, Gregor, 4, 133
Shaw, George Bernard, 81
Shaw, O., 33
Shore, John, 31
Seyfried, Ignaz von, 63, 64, 65, 67,

132

Sibelius, Jean, 129
"Sicherheit," Lodge Pressburg, 27, 28,

138

Silverstolpe, 55
Smart, George, 32
Smith, John Stafford, 31, 32
Snow, Valentine, 31
Soliman, Angelo, 14

148

Sonnenfels, Joseph von, 10, 46, 118,

135, 136, 141

Sonnleithner, Leopold, 82, 87
Sousa, J. P., 129
Spaur Count Friedrich and Family,

10/11, 12, 133, 134 m
Sperontes (Johann Sigismund

Scholze),33, 34
Speyer, Wilhelm, 127
Spitta, Philipp, 34
Spohr, Ludwig, 127
Springer, Vinzent, 18
Stadler, Anton, 18, 21
Star-Spangled Banner, 31
Steenstrupp, K. J. V., 63
Steflfan, J. A., 118
Stollberg, Count, 10
Storace, Steven and Nancy, 25, 124
Siissmayr, Franz Xaver, 22, 121
Summer, Wenzel, Chaplain, 15
Swift, Jonathan, 5
Symbolism, 6, 88 ff.

Taskin, Henri Josephe, 40
Telonius, C. G., 38, 139
Terrasson, Jean, Abb6, 69 ff ., 88
Thackeray, W. M., 79
Tinti, Bartholomaus and Anton von,

17, 135

Tomaschek, Wenzel, 97
Trattner, Theresia von, 25
Treitschke, Georg Friedrich, 66, 67

Ungar, Raphael, 20, 137
Unterberger, Ignaz, 13, 49, 51, 137
Udvarnoky, Br., 138

van Swieten, Gottfried, 22, 135
Veidl, Theodor, 128
Vignet, de, Physician, 45
Vignoles, de, 32
Viotti, Jean Battiste, 41
Vitzthum, Ignaz, 32
Voltaire, F. M. A., 118, 119

Vulpius, Christian August, 94, 95, 144

Wagner, Richard, 35, 112, 128
"Wahre Eintracht," (Lodge), 13, 14,

15, 16, 17, 25, 28, 43, 46, 50, 53, 135
"Wahrheit," (Lodge), 16
"Wahrheit und Einheit," (Lodge),

Prag, 20, 49, 137
Wappler, Christian Friedrich, 50
Washington, George, 5
Weber, Aloysia, 103, 122, 123
Weber, B. A., 144, 58
Weber, Simon Peter, 139
Webbe, Samuel, 32
Weber, Br. ("Wahre Eintracht"), 139
Wegeler, Franz Gerhard, 127
Weinbrenner, Joseph von, 18, 19, 136
Weisse, Felix Christian, 118
Weissegger, Prof., 28

Weisshaupt, Adam, 9, 10, 133

Wernekke, Hugo, 144

Wesley, Samuel, 31

Wetzlar, Raimund, 125

Whiteman, Paul, 129

Wieland, Ch. M., 3, 5, 14, 65, 67 ff,
78, 118, 143

Wiesinger, Albert, 85

Winter, Peter von, 66, 98, 100

Winterstein, Alfred, 132

"Wohltatigkeit," Lodge, 14, 15, 17, 26,
47,49,54,111,135

Wolfegg, Count Anton, 11, 133

Wranitzsky, Paul, 18, 42, 43, 49, 68, 95

Wyzewa and St. Foix, 48

Zauner, Franz, 14

Zellweker, Edwin, 134

Zelter, Karl Friedrich and Adelheid, 95

Ziegenhagen, Franz Heinrich, 55

Ziegler, Marianne, 25

Zillagh, Georg Karl, 139

Zille, Moritz Alexander, 83

Zistler, Joseph, 26, 138, 139

Zohrer, Franz, 42

"Zorobabel," Lodge, Copenhagen, 36

149

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

4 am indebted to the -following persons who were helpful with
translations and editorial work: Mrs. Robert Gold, London, who
made the first English draft, Dr. Alexander von Code, Mr. Charles
Shapiro and my son, Dr. Bruno Nettl, Detroit, who is responsible
-for the final version. I am most grateful to Mr. Siegfried Mame-
row and Dr. Dagobert Runes, who made the publication of this
book possible. I also have to express my deep appreciation
to my wife, Margaret von Gutfeld-Nettl for her perma-
nent assistance. Finally, Mr. Thomas Atcherson was
helpful in reading the proofs.

P.N.

150