Mozart - Masonic Funeral Music
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The Maurerische Trauermusik (Masonic Funeral Music) in C minor, K. 477 (K. 479a), is an orchestral work composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1785 in his capacity as a member of the Freemasons.
The autograph manuscript of the work is preserved in the Berlin State Library.
Mozart's own entry into his catalogue under the heading "July 1785" may be an error; he most likely forgot to enter a new heading for November. It was performed during a Masonic funeral service held on 17 November 1785 in memory of two of Mozart's Masonic brethren, Duke Georg August of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and Count Franz Esterházy von Galántha, members of the Viennese aristocracy.
The work uses the Gregorian chant psalm-tone, tonus peregrinus.[citation needed] The work is scored for 2 oboes, 1 clarinet, 3 basset horns, 1 contrabassoon, 2 horns and strings. The basset horn parts were written for fellow Freemasons Anton David and Vincent Springer.
On 20 November 2021 a new arrangement by Giulio Castronovo, created to match the orchestration of Mozart's Requiem in D minor, K. 626, (2 basset horns in F, 2 bassoons, 2 trumpets in D, 3 trombones, timpani and strings), was premiered in the Schlosskirche Bayreuth [de] by the baroque orchestra La Banda conducted by Sebastian Ruf as an introduction to a performance of the Requiem.
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For the last seven years of his life Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was a Mason. The Masonic order played an important role in his life and work.
Mozart was admitted as an Apprentice to the Viennese Masonic lodge called "Zur Wohltätigkeit" ("Beneficence") on 14 December 1784. He was promoted to Fellow on 7 January 1785, and became a Master Mason "shortly thereafter". Mozart also attended the meetings of another lodge, called "Zur wahren Eintracht" ("True Concord"). According to Otto Erich Deutsch, this lodge was "the largest and most aristocratic in Vienna. ... Mozart, as the best of the musical 'Brothers,' was welcome in all the lodges." It was headed by the naturalist Ignaz von Born.
Mozart's own lodge "Zur Wohltätigkeit" was consolidated with two others in December 1785, under the Imperial reform of Masonry (the Freimaurerpatent, "Masonic Decree") of 11 December 1785, and thus Mozart came to belong to the lodge called "Zur Neugekrönten Hoffnung" (New Crowned Hope).
At least as far as surviving Masonic documents can tell us, Mozart was well regarded by his fellow Masons. Many of his friends were Masons.
During his visit to Vienna in 1785, Mozart's father Leopold also became a Mason.
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