January 27
On this date in 1756,
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born. Son
of a Catholic musician, the child prodigy conducted his first original
Mass at age 12 in Vienna, was later made a Knight of the Golden Spur by
the pope, and was concert master to the Archbishop of Salzburg for many
years. Accused of neglecting his religion, he resigned the appointment
in 1781. Mozart joined the Freemasons, who were condemned by the
Catholic Church, in 1781. Mozart refused to ask for a priest when dying.
His wife sent for one anyway, who refused to attend. Mozart was buried
in a pauper's grave without a religious service. Referring to the
orthodoxy of his youth, he said: "That is all over, and will never come
back." (
Mozart's Leben, by A. Ulibichev, 1847, i, 243).
D. 1791.
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