Mozart Influence on Freemasonry and the Impact on Social Change - Essay Example

Mozart social change Mozart is well known for his compositions, especially the wedding of Figaro, which is quite popular and has had significant impact on in society, generally. With this in mind, going through the life and times of Mozart raises plenty of questions, which obviously require answers to identify and provide evidence as to how he influenced the society. This serves as the goal of this paper to research on how Mozart and his freemasonry beliefs and values affected and have affected society, as we know it. Mozart changed the society in that he strived hard to gain acceptance into the society he came from, especially by the aristocracy. In this aristocracy, he longed to serve an aristocratic society that heavily underappreciated and even failed, most of the time, to appreciate him for who he was. The only place that he appears to have made significant change in the course of his life was Prague, where the society seems to worship him to date, as he seemed to inspire a sense of understanding amongst the people of Prague, who had an intense liking for him and his works. In relation to his life in Prague and the status, he managed to achieve in life, as well as in death, has seen him change the society in that the society there appreciated him by gaining an understanding of him and his struggles throughout his career in Austria, as well as appreciating aristocracy. With this in mind, his background plays a crucial role in comprehending how his influence on society came into being, especially to the people of Prague who respected him and were transformed by him, by virtue of understanding him, his past, and his struggles. On his background, he was born as a child prodigy who was expected to carry forth the legend of his father, who repeatedly worked towards the success of his children. With this in mind, the people that understood him looked at him as a person under pressure to endure that he did not disappoint his father, in that he was even a born musical genius s and composer (“Let’s go Mozart” 4). This made his story heavily romanticized over time and to date has continued to shape society on its right by having people believe in his tragic. This is especially so I the concept of believing in oneself, where there are numerous analogies and legends, as well as myths that refer to the life of Mozart and aim at inspiring the society that one can make it in life (Gay, 1). In addition, scholars have even referred to the life of Mozart in relation to appreciation of music, by ensuring that certain societies that were known to be barbarians are recognized. With this on mind, Mozart is made by certain scholars, such as Abert, Jahn and Cairns to show the influence and how the spread and appreciation of music came into being. Mozart came to induce a liking for music in the most unlikely of people in that societies with no background in music, and that were not educated in music at all happened to have a distinct liking for Mozart’s music. This transformed how music was appreciated in then society by showing that only the educated could appreciate music, and that it could go beyond and reach others who lacked a technical understanding of music and that music was not only set apart for the elite. In addition, music ceased to become isolated for a given section of the society, and especially the aristocracy that he sought to impress, which also failed to pay attention to his skill. Throughthe application of his music to lower societies that were deemed unfit for musicbecame inclusive for all members of society regardless of one’s social status as it can be appreciated and listened to by anyone, provided you get the feel of it. His influence went beyond the educated and the enlightened to see to it that the people who were sidelined in the society, in terms of music, did not remain sidelined, but instead received the full richness of music as they saw Mozart for who he really was. As such, Mozart was recognized as the real musical genius that was not recognized by other members of society, which even served to change the society even further. In relation to the above relationship between Mozart and non-educated bohemians, in music, Mozart changed society in a way that cannot be credited to other musicians. With this in mind, the relationship between different European cities and Mozart saw changes spread throughout bohemian culture, as his influence was little outside Austria, which meant that there was not much he could do outside Austria (Rushton 2). This is because he mainly recomposed and performed music made originally by other people instead of making his own compositions, which may have led to his lack of appreciation by the local people and those beyond Austria. However, his influence only reflected that music was taken more seriously as an occupation as no one gave him work on a fulltime basis, but was rather employed on a part-time basis for being a virtuoso. Going back to his influence based on appreciation and talent, the society in Vienna faced a wind of change as Mozart took over the city as his place of residence. With this, he was talented in terms of composing and his speed at composing was impeccable meaning that with the changes that emperor Joseph II imposed over Vienna after he came into power, he had more audience (Baumol and Baumol173). This was especially with the appreciative needs of the imperial family that encouraged the arts, in order to promote a highly musical culture. Mozart’s music resonated well, with the imperial courts and the then emperor as he sought to educate the middle class into having a fully educated empire, and Mozart’s compositions did just that as he gained the support of some of the senior officers at the imperial court (Karakelle 23). Moreover, through his music that emperor Joseph II managed to achieve part of his vision of having an educated people; as Mozart composed music that only served to spread the emperor’s desire. In addition, his compositions took another educational turn with the influence of JS Bach who only served to inspire him further into applying mathematics and ethics into his compositions. Through this, the society saw change in music becoming a form of communication, where he applied social and educational principles into music for all to learn in an enjoyable form. Moreover, his influence on society did not end there, in modern times, there have been studies done in psychology, where it has been discovered that listening to classical musical has significant impact on one’s intelligence. As a result, of this, the study came up with the term “the Mozart effect” to refer to the improvement of one’s intelligence after listening to classical music, especially that which was composed by Mozart himself (Bangerta and Heath 609). Through this, his contributions to society continue as he continues to affect levels of intelligence and inspiring, as well as provoking thought within individuals to improve themselves. Through this, Mozart changed society in an unwitty way such that individuals can improve their cognitive capabilities by just listening to music, where it is believed to have most of the elements of education as was seen earlier. This is especially after the inspiration of JS Bach to include philosophical, ethical and mathematical concepts into music, which then affects how thought occurs and how relationships are conducted in society, especially withethics (Bourdon 2). This can be perceived as a gift that Mozart passed onto society, without knowing that he had;however, it has become of much use to those that would like to improve their being, as well as, those that reflect on his life based on romanticizing his life as a tragedy that one can relate to his or her own life. As such, the society has changed arbitrarily depending on the wishes of the individuals in each society and their perception of Mozart. In addition, art was used as a means of passing time and relieving one’s stress, which Mozart was a part of as an artist, in that he offered works of art that, were used for this purpose of stress relief (Goodkin 2). This is especially amongst the imperials and aristocracy that valued his works, as is the case with the imperial courts of Emperor Joseph II.He turned music into a liberal art in which all people could engage ranging from those that were locked down on in society to those that were of high status. This redirects to the issue of Mozart being the first to engage society in liberal arts in terms of music to be inclusive and go against the grain in terms of conventional music composition and content that was expected to be included in music. This can further be inferred through the inspiration of JS Bach to have all inclusive music that beat composition rules and saw Vienna turn into a new place that had an all mew music culture, which Mozart was a part of, and that he contributed to existence. This means that all became liberated to have music as they pleased and though he failed at liberation, he laid the ground for future liberationists who brought about the much-desired liberal change in art and music as a whole. This acted as the first all-inclusive contribution by Mozart to have the gift of music imparted on all people and that it was not lost on them. The changes brought about by Mozart and his music were the result of his involvement in freemasonry, in which he was a believer in his final years of life. It was because of his involvement with the freemasons that he was widely misunderstood and underappreciated, especially among the musically elite or those that understood his music and it background. The society in which he live was predominantly catholic and he being once a believer of Catholicism, saw him meet some of resistance against his music (Fuchs 2). This is because freemason was the result of enlightenment, where Mozart was utterly enlightened and was then converted into freemasons. To a significant extent, freemason beliefs contradicted those of conventional society, as well as the conventions of society, as compared to catholic beliefs. Going back to his interaction with the Vienna founded by Emperor Joseph II, it is evident that he was music was different from that of the rest of the musicians, and that it was distinct in a number ways. These differences set it apart and saw it have profound impact in society, as it incorporated certain aspects that were only found in freemason beliefs or among those that were enlightened. Putting this into perspective means that Mozart only sought to carry out the and spread the beliefs of freemasonry beyond their confines during those times in that due to the contradiction of social norms, it served only to go influence both society and freemasonry as a whole. One such way in which Mozart influence freemasonry and society at large was through inspiring the values of freemasonry, where all persons were believed to be equal and that the people should be treated as of equal status and not as of different status. This is because they were only born, not as aristocrats, but as poor or lacking people, but their souls cold be on the same level or even on a higher level than those of people of a noble or aristocratic status (Richard 11). In his compositions, this was brought out to push for equal treatment of people in terms of the enlightenment he had received under freemasonry since there are a good number of compositions that show the purity of the sold despite the background of the possessor of the soul. This is such that some of his operas inspired acceptance of the poor and those that did not come from imperial or aristocratic background, which can be regarded to be a form of revolt against the same society that gave him fame later in life. By going against the aristocratic part of the society, he brought about change based on the freemasonry society in that the opera “marriage of Figaro” proved his influence on fee masonry and his way of integrating all persons into a single united society that did not have to look at each other’s status in order to accept. Instead, it showed a substantial amount of acceptance into the freemasonry by liberating those that were oppressed and despised due to their status. Instead of having to go through this, freemasonry advocated for individual acceptance by looking at the soul of the person in question as no one chose to be born to a poor or aristocratic society. With this in mind, the marriage of Figaro as an opera called for acceptance and accommodation of people based on his experiences and outlook towards life as a freemason. Then opera depicts with clarity the hypocrisy found among the aristocrats, and captures it such that it proves how people can be wealthy and be filthy in their souls while others can be poor and pure at heart (Mendel and Broder 429). In addition, Mozart influenced freemasonry and society based on a number of other concepts that were embedded in freemasonry practices and beliefs, where his compositions included certain parts of freemason customs. This can be seen especially in the music that was used in initiation into freemasonry in that it contained a distinct three-knock sound, which was then adopted by Mozart in his compositions, especially after he left the virtuoso composition of his early days. Consequently, this saw the overt adoption of certain freemason practices in everyday life as Mozart did it himself to the extent of having his father convertto freemasonry while he was on a visit to Vienna. This showed how much freemasonry Mozart influenced in relation to the extent of incorporating the life of a secret society to daily life as was the case by recruiting his father. Masonic Mozart also influenced the society based on his musical integration of different factors and aspects of music such as pitch, which was deduced from his enlightened state and application of mathematics. With this in mind, his acoustics set the path for other musicians that came after him as he had a musical genius from birth in that the acoustic features of his music originated from mathematical manipulations of Babylonian and Hebrew senses. This only serves to show how much freemasonry influenced modern music and even music at the time of Mozart by drawing means and aspect never seen before his time. This may also show his liberal sense of music in that his styles were all new and that beat convention, as earlier mentioned. Under the influence of JS Bach and mathematics, this time round, all his compositions depended on calculations due to the heavy interest that enlightened freemasons had in mathematics. The compositions of Mozart from his time onwards followed a strict agreement of mathematical sequencing of pitch and other musical elements to ensure that there was a balance among all elements and for an appealing sound. In addition, there was an issue of concern in his influence in both freemasonry and social change based on the line of thought and perceptions of the freemasons towards the world and music. As a result, they had a strong sense of responsibility towards history and the past events, as well as ancients’ texts and theories, which worked in perspectives for music. Mozart, therefore, ran his compositions based on masonic beliefs and perspectives that were included in their values as a society, which later came out to be embraced as being highly influential for the same society in which they lived. In addition, Mozart applied knowledge from ancient texts in musicin his compositions, as evident in the opera the wedding of Figaro, in which he applied the issues of public injustices by aristocrats and he managed to bring it out so well in that he followed up on generations long of hypocrisy and how they oppressed people. This was a historical aspect thatwas lacking with the freemasonry that inspired Mozart in his compositions. Additionally, after his time, his works as a freemason and as a musician granted the society a new form of inspiration in music as there was Ludwig van Beethoven who came after Mozart to continue the works of Mozart as a freemason (Gaona 73). Beethoven followed in the footsteps of Mozart showing that Mozart’s freemasonry impacted society by bringing a new form of composition and artwork that was only at par with Mozarts or even exceeded it by far. Altogether, Mozart let out a number of secrets belonging to the freemason society a bit too carelessly as seen in his works, especially the marriage of Figaro and The Magic Flute, which let out a number of information that was exclusive to the freemason society (Barnes 2). This implies that Mozart brought out the existence of the freemason society to a society that originally did not have much face before his time (Freemasonry Watch 1). The society may have been there, but it was not as overt as it was prior to Mozart and as a result, the world became aware of some of the practices of the society. This is evident in the case of Emperor Joseph II who did not appreciate the existence of the society, which was against the catholic following that was found in Vienna and other cities around it (Davis 3). In conclusion, Mozart influenced the freemasons society and the society at large through a number of ways that include the application of freemason beliefs, values and perspectives into music (San Francisco Opera Education 2). With this, his background played a crucial role prior to having mathematics, history and other issues of theory, where most of his compositions saw him use freemasonry to bring his ideas to light as is shows by various operas. In addition, his influence in society based on freemasonry shows the use of freemasonry secrets at one time or the other to prove his points and even go against the grain social order, as well as propagate the beliefs of freemasonry. Other than this, there is also the concept of psychology that came up in recent times, where there is the Mozart effect and intelligence. Piecing all these together shows the major contributions that Mozart made towards society and changed it over time and even beyond his time, post humus. Works cited “Let’s Go Mozart Teacher Resource Kit”. Export development Canada. n.d.Web. 15 Mar. 2013. Bangerta, Adrian and Heath, Chip. The Mozart effect: Tracking the evolution of a scientific legend.British Journal of Social Psychology (2004), 43, 605–623 Barnes, Malcom . Masonic Ideas in Mozart’s, The Magic Flute. 2011. Web. 15 Mar. 2013. Baumol, William and Baumol, Hilda 1994.On the Economics of Musical Composition in Mozart’s Vienna.Journal of Cultural Economics 18:17-198, 1994. Bourdon, Austin.Johann Christian Bach’s Influence on Mozart’s Developing Style.2010. Web. 15 Mar. 2013. 15 Mar. 2013. Davis, Robert. Mozart and his Masonic Music.n.d.Web. 15 Mar. 2013. Freemasonry Watch .The First Degree of Freemasonry Watch.n.d. Web. 15 Mar. 2013. Fuchs, Peter .A Resolution of Mozart and Freemasonry: Enlightenment and the Persistence of Counter-Reformation.n.d.Web. 15 Mar. 2013. http://www.masonmusic.org/Mozart%20and%20the%20Enlightenment.pdf Gaona, Brian. Through the Lens of Freemasonry: The Influence of Ancient Esoteric thought on Beethoven’s late works.2010.Web. 15 Mar. 2013. Goodkin, Doug. Art as a force for social Change.n.d. Web. 15 Mar. 2013. Karakelle, Sibel. The Carriers of the Enlightenment: Mozart and Rousseau in the 18th Century Europe.Humanity & Social Sciences Journal 2 (1) 23-28 2007 Rahim, Sameer. The Opera Novice: Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro.The Telegraph.2012 Rushton, Julian. The Illusory Mozart: Selfish Memes in the Priest’s Marches .n.d.Web. 15 Mar. 2013. Mendel, Arthur, Broder, Nathan. Mozart. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1945. Print. Gay, Peter. Mozart. New York: Penguin, 1999. Print Read More