A little sign to clarify a mystery.

As we indicated in our 3rd newsletter[5] , if Mozart's Freemason journey in the last seven years of his life is known to us, it is mainly thanks to the archives found in the Viennese lodges. Apart from the few musical opuses connected to Freemasonry (cantatas, his Masonic funeral music or The Magic Flute)[6] , testimonies from the musician or his family on his membership in the freemason organization are rare[7] .

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It should be remembered that if the Emperor Joseph II of Austria, enlightened despot and himself music lover[8]  authorized the performance of Nozze di Figaro taken from the play by Beaumarchais censored in France, the revolutionary ideas imported from France scared[9]  Joseph II, pushing him then Leopold II to place the Freemasons under police surveillance because he takes a dim view of these secret meetings calling into question his absolute power. We then understand why Mozart's private correspondence could have been purged of all allusions to his Masonic commitment which could become compromising; "Mozart did not die in the odor of holiness".

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This touching letter was not unknown to the composer's scholars and biographers[10], but it had "aroused a certain skepticism" and no one had learned all the lessons from its reading.

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"Mon très cher Père![11] 
I have just this moment heard news that leaves me very downcast … But now I hear that you are truly ill! It is surely not necessary to tell you with how much longing I look forward to comforting news direct from yourself; and this is also my firm hope … As death (strictly considered) is the true ultimate destination of our life, I have therefore, over the past few years, made myself so familiar with this true, best friend of man that its image not only no longer holds anything terrifying for me, but also a great deal that calms and comforts! And I thank my God that he has granted me the good fortune to create the opportunity |: you understand me to come to know it as the key to our true blessedness”.

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It is the passage in which Mozart evokes death that challenges exegetes. It must be said that these lines are amazing from a man who was then only 31 years old.

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According to Thierry Hillériteau "it had always been difficult to relate this letter with certainty to Masonic thought".

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Of course, Jean and Brigitte Massin recalled the place that the question of death held in the Masonic initiation: “The companion must, in order to become a Master, symbolically reproduce in his initiation death and spiritual resurrection of the builder of Solomon's Temple. Put to death by ignorance, fanaticism and ambition, he is called to life by knowledge, tolerance, and detachment ... "[12].

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Philippe Gault for Radio Classique also recalls that Mozart appreciated the reading of Moses Mendelssohn[13] and Gotthold Ephraïm Lessing[14] who developed thoughts on the positive image of death (to be compared with this idea of ​​death as the key to happiness).

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The rediscovery of this letter, never presented in any public collection, and its study by Ulrich Leisinger[15] (at the center on the photo) would confirm Mozart's attachment to Freemasonry thought.

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Looking at the original Ulrich Leisinger observes a detail that catches his attention: “Right next to the signature, after the abbreviation “manu propria”, we can decipher a small symbol which clearly resembles two interlocking triangles: one points upwards, the other downwards”. A Masonic hieroglyphic triangle found in rare documents related to Freemasonry, such as a letter that Léopold Mozart addressed on July 8, 1785 to his “esteemed friend and brother” the Freemason editor Pasquale Artaria, as well as a note by Mozart himself on March 30, 1787 in the guestbook of his lodge brother Johann Georg Kronauer "Patience and tranquility of mind contribute more to cure our distempers as the whole art of medicine".