MUSIC AND WORSHIP

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART
1756-1791
“God is ever before my eyes. I realize his omnipotence and I fear His anger; but I also recognize His love, His compassion, and His tenderness towards His creatures.”
Upon hearing a beloved Miserrere for the first time by the Papal Choir during a Holy Week, a young boy visiting the Vatican leans forward listening intently to a composition protected by Papal decree. By law, this work could not be performed elsewhere and the only manuscript of the music was closely guarded by the Vatican. Anyone attempting to copy it would be punished immediately by excommuni- cation. But following the performance, the young Mozart was able to write out from memory the entire composition he had just heard. The boy’s punishment? Instead of excommunication, he was given the coveted Cross of the Order of the Golden Spur by the Pope.

We are examining the spiritual lives of well known composers from a book written by Patrick Kavannaugh. These have included George Frideric Handel, Johann Sebastian Bach, Franz Joseph Haydn, and now Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Our study is limited but at least it is an overview in discovering the strong faith many composers possessed.

“Child prodigy” seems to bear a special affinity for Johann Chrysostom Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart born in Salzburg, Austria in 1756. At age three he amused himself at the keyboard. At four his formal training began, and within a year he was improvising minuets. When he turned six his loving but ambitious father arranged the first of many concert tours for the delight of the courts and nobility of Europe. Mozart remained childlike throughout his short life. Carefree and confident, he loved games, dancing and masquerade balls.

For the most part, Mozart’s life reflects a moral reputation and a steadfast faith in God. Mozart’s parents were pious Catholics and their son developed a sincere, personal relationship to Christ. Mozart’s faith stayed even when he came under attack by corrupt churchmen. The most notorious example of this was the Archbishop of Salzburg who belittled Mozart, impaired his career, and one day had the musician physically tossed out of his cathedral.

Toward the end of his life, Mozart joined a Freemason lodge in Vienna. It should be noted that modern Masonic institutions have evolved considerably from those social gatherings of the eighteenth century which included such members as Samuel Wesley and George Washington. Albert Einstein, the musicologist suggested that Mozart was attracted to Masonry primarily for social reasons. His true faith was based on a private relationship between himself and Christ. At age 31, Mozart may already have had premonitions about the brevity of his own life. Just four years later, he died. His health, which had always been frail, failed him while he worked in poverty on his last great masterpiece, the Requiem. His biographer, Otto Jaun has summarized the consensus of history when he calls this work Mozart’s Requiem.
Dennis Bucher