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Valley ofBuffaloFamily LifeStampClub
APS Chapter 1537
Meets informally at noon Tuesdays at the Masonic
Community Center, 2379 Union Rd., Cheektowaga
John L. Leszak, 2379 Union Rd., Cheektowaga , NY 14227-2234
coverconnection@aol.com, 716-668-2755
Mozart: A Prolific Composer for Masons
This year Vienna and all classical musicians are celebrating the 250th anniversary of the
birth of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who was 28 years old when he joined a Masonic
Lodge in the autumn of 1784. He remained a member until his death in 1791.
Mozart apparently was sponsored in his petition to join Masonry by the Baron Otto Freiherr
von Gemmingen-Hornberg, Master of Zur Wohltataigkeit (Charity) Lodge. Mozart had
met Gemmingen in Mannheim. His name was put before the Lodge on December 5, 1784,
and he appears to have received the Entered Apprentice Degree on December 14. On January
7, 1785, he received the Fellow Craft Degree at Zur wahren Eintracht (True Harmony)
Lodge at the request of his home Lodge. On April 22, he received the Master Mason Degree.
He wrote his opera, Le Nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro) the same year that he was
initiated. Mozart was greatly honored by his induction to the fraternal lodge. In 1785, he
composed his Maurerische Trauermusik (Masonic Funeral Music) for orchestra in C minor
and Opening and Closing Odes for Lodge Crowned Hope. One of his most beautiful Masonic
works, Gesellenreise (Fellow Craft’s Journey) was written for the initiation of his father,
Leopold Mozart, on April 16, 1785.
His last great opera, Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute), opened in Vienna on September 30,
1791 and is thought to contain many mystical and secret references to Masonic rituals. The
number three had a deep significance for the Masons, and it keeps occurring throughout Die
Zauberflöte: three ladies, three boys, three temples, etc. The opera’s home key of E flat was used
by Mozart for his Masonic compositions because the key signature contained three flats.
The Vatican, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Mali, Bosnia, Germany, Portugal, and numerous
other countries have released Mozart stamps in this anniversary year.
— By Heather Sweeting
60 Stamp Insider