Posted on 01/27/2006 9:41:55 PM PST by Coleus
When Mozart Stunned Rome; God at the Pub
Wolfgang's Memory Caught a Pope's Attention
ROME, JAN. 26, 2006 (Zenit.org).- As any good music aficionado knows, 2006 marks the 350th anniversary of the birth of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Opera houses worldwide are featuring "Don Giovanni" and "Figaro," while Mozart biographies and boxed sets of concertos and sonatas proliferate in music stores.
Even Rome was enchanted by this great composer and, indeed, the child prodigy from Salzburg was warmly received in the Eternal City during his brief sojourn here in 1770.
Mozart is often associated with the Freemasons -- he joined the Masons of Vienna in 1784 -- and "The Magic Flute" is held by many scholars to be a Masonic opera. The most important moments of his life, however, took place in the Catholic Church.
Mozart was born on Jan. 26, 1756, and baptized Catholic with the name Johann Chrysostom Wolfgang Theophilus. "Theophilus," which means "lover of God," was soon transformed into the more celebrated moniker "Amadeus." He married Costanza Weber in the Cathedral of Vienna, his children were baptized Catholic and he was given last rites by a Catholic priest.
In this light, the visit to Rome must have held great meaning for the 14-year-old Catholic Mozart. Immediately upon entering the city through the splendid Piazza del Popolo, the young Mozart and his father Leopold made their way to St. Peter's Basilica. Thanks to Wolfgang's fine clothes and Leopold's clever strategies, the two were allowed through the Vatican gates.
It was Holy Week in Rome -- Holy Tuesday to be exact. Pope Clement XIV was busy serving meals to the poor gathered in the Vatican, shortly before celebrating Mass in the Sistine Chapel. The two Austrian musicians managed to find their way into the papal presence and then accompanied the court into the chapel.
It was custom during Holy Week in the Sistine Chapel to sing the exceptionally beautiful piece of music known as the "Miserere," written a century earlier by Giorgio Allegri. The work, performed by two choirs of nine voices, was exclusive to the Sistine Chapel and could not be published, but was handed down from choirmaster to choirmaster.
The remarkable prodigy Wolfgang stunned everyone by returning to his lodgings and transcribing the music he had memorized during the liturgy. His proud father wrote to Wolfgang's mother Anna, "Perhaps you have heard of the famous 'Miserere,' whose publication is prohibited under pain of excommunication. Well, we have it. Wolfgang wrote it from memory."
Word spread fast throughout Rome of the child who could memorize music after hearing it once. The news eventually reached the ears of the Pope. Far from excommunicating the boy, Pope Clement received Wolfgang several times in audience, conferring medals and titles on him.
The Mozarts visited Santa Maria Maggiore and the Quirinal Palace in the Pope's company. Like good pilgrims, they acquired relics, including a piece of the Holy Cross. And, although perhaps not as salubrious for the soul, during that July in Rome, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart learned how to play bocce ball.
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Dear rustbucket,
Thanks for the ping! I thought I'd pinged this before, but I guess I just thought I did. LOL! My memory slips as I age...
Classical Music Ping List ping!
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sitetest
The York Rite is strictly Christian, and Christ is mentioned throughout.
I am not Scottish Rite, but I have seen the supposed "secret" 33 degree ceremony (it's public in reality), and there was no smashing of anything. There was the pledge of allegence to the US and Texas flags, a prayer to the God of Abraham, in the name of the Lion of Judah (that's Christ, BTW), and a speech about how the recepient had done so much for his community flying chidlren to Dallas for cancer treatment and other treatments.
Then he was given a Golden Trowel, which was to remind him to spread the cement of brotherly love to among all men.
We then ate fried fish and had some beer. Our wives took picutres.
Terrible stuff.
As for the other nonsense you spout (without actual knowledge), there are lots of people who call themselves freemasons who are not, just like those two RC nuns who took oaths and now call themselves priests and that nut who shows up at funerals and calls himself a Baptist minsiter.
If you think Paul Revere, George Washington, Ben Franklin and all the rest are such bad people with bad ideas, perhaps you should leave the country.
Well, I guess the Salvation Army, the Boy Scouts, the US Marines, and Baylor Baptist University were all founded by Satanists, not to mention the old hard-ass ArchBishop of Canterberry before the current weak-kneed loser.
In seriousness, the source of all those slanders can be traced to a Frenchman who got kicked out and published a memoir. He later recanted.
The Nazis were deathly afraid of the Masons and republished his tracts becasue the Masons were virulently anti-Nazi and active in helping Jews flee the country.
The people who spread the nonsense like the website you linked to continue the Nazi's slander.
It does the Devil's work to mindlessly slander a good organization parroting this old nonsense.
Go to any long list of masons and look at the good men and good works they have done --- Paul Revere, George Washington, Ben Franklin, about half the Medal of Honor recepients, etc.
Then look at who has hated masons: Nazis, Hamas, Osama Bin Landen just went on a rant against masons, etc.
Pick your side.
Well, Mary Hardin Baylor was rescued by a relative of John Wesley Hardin (the guy who who shot a man for snorring.)
Delightful post and excellent epilogue. Thank you.
In case any FReepers are unfamiliar, the Miserere is a pretty straightforward piece of music to copy from memory if you are a genius like Mozart.
It consists of two 4-voice SATB choirs, each of which repeats its 1 minute section about 8 times note-for-note, with only the lyrics changing. Between each choir's part there is a chant segue. Then there is an ending movement, about 1 minute long.
Assuming he was able to get the lyrics elsewhere, I find the story fairly easy to believe.
I've seen The Magic Flute performed quite a number of times. I have reservations about the Masons, but I can't see any great problems with the Opera.
There are distinct signs that Mozart changed his opinion about what The Queen of the Night represents--good or evil--during the course of the opera, but who cares? There's so much wonderful music, and also comic music in it.
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