1. Aeron Ogden
Music 711: Mozart’s Operas
Dr. Timothy Noonan
Summer 2006
Final Paper
Mozart’s Ideology As Reflected In The Marriage of Figaro
No great achievement of the creative mind is formed in a vacuum, but takes shape and
is manipulated by countless external and internal factors. It is precisely this aspect which
gives the work dimension, the ability to be appreciated on multiple levels and the
fascination of reverse engineering for the willing scholar. Much has been written
concerning the social, political and musical environment of Mozart’s Vienna. Going
beyond this, the specific characters and elements at work both for and against the creation
and production of Mozart’s theatre works have been the subject of numerous scholarly
writings. Even the philosophical components of these works, at least the more obvious
ones, have been discussed thoroughly (i.e. Magic Flute as Masonic opera, Figaro as
political commentary). My aim is to take this analysis one step further, to focus on the
subtle, even unconscious influences, undertones and symbolism stemming from Mozart’s
psyche. In this pursuit there has been a deliberate attempt to ignore the overt and direct
references previously noted by other scholars, or by Mozart himself. This places my
argument in the realm of pure speculation, but it is speculation grounded in many known
facts and devoid of a claim of absolute truth. It is my hope that the reader will come to a
greater understanding of Mozart, the man, and this great opera by considering the
possibility of the subconscious ideology represented in The Marriage of Figaro.

2. How significant is a discussion of Mozart’s ideology regarding Figaro since he wrote
neither the original play nor the libretto on which the story rests? The answer to that
question comes in three parts. First, there is the fact that Mozart chose the play. It was his
idea to set it as an opera, a fact which increases in significance when one understands that,
by his own account, he had read hundreds of plays before settling on Beaumarchais’
scintillating tale. Second, Mozart was involved as a collaborator with his librettist, Lorenzo
Da Ponte, even so far as changing the arrangement and order of scenes from the play to
enhance the effect of the drama he wanted to create. Daniel Heartz noted that at the time of
their meeting Mozart had already composed ten operas, in two languages, produced in four
cities, whereas Da Ponte had not a single staged libretto to his credit.1
In Mozart the Man,
Arthur Hutchings claims, "Above all he [Da Ponte] was ready to hear the requirements of
the man whose genius he recognized and to discuss every turn of the opera with him."2
Third, Mozart had a supreme ability to create drama within the music. His treatment of
each character and each aspect of the plot is remarkably important to an understanding of
the play. By the mood or affect he chose, he controls the audience’s response with a
masterful degree of clarity. For these reasons, a study of Mozart’s ideology is crucial to a
complete comprehension of the opera.
Of central importance to anyone examining the creation of Figaro is the question why
Mozart, in need of good standing with the emperor from a financial standpoint, would have
chosen such a politically controversial play for the subject of his opera. Hutchings says,
"Mozart was not averse to handling a banned play and to judge from his own and his
father's sarcastic comments on feudal grandees he enjoyed seeing Count Almaviva
1
Daniel Heartz. “Mozart and Da Ponte.” The Musical Quarterly 79 (1995), p. 700.
2
Arthur Hutchings. Mozart: The Man. New York: Macmillan, 1976, p. 83.

3. outwitted by servants."3
But why would he take the risk? To answer this question we must
first understand the role of the artist/musician in Europe in the late 18th
Century. Whereas
the Baroque era saw the artist firmly planted in the role of servant, the Classical period, the
“age of enlightenment”, catapulted the artist to a new level, even a new class. By the time
of Beethoven’s maturity this metamorphosis was complete, but in Mozart’s adulthood this
process was at its most precarious and tense point. Many of the poets and musicians in
Vienna in the 1780s believed in the equality, possibly even superiority, of talented persons
in relation to the nobility. But this concept had not become a practical reality, and so they
lived and worked in a system where they were required to please the nobility in order to
earn sufficient wages, but the dictates of their ego and of their art caused them to walk a
fine line that was sometimes crossed. Anyone familiar with Da Ponte, knows that he was a
renegade who often incited the wrath of his various employers among the nobility. But he
was not alone in this. His rival, the librettist Giovanni Batista Casti, was often in the hot
seat for his politically charged subjects. It seems that there were those who chose to toe the
line and remain in good standing, such as Salieri and Haydn, and those whose ideals
prevented them from doing that. The latter was certainly true of Mozart.
Mozart’s personal concept of his position as an artist was never more clearly defined
than in an encounter he had at the age of 25. In May 1781, while Mozart and his employer,
Archbishop Colloredo of Salzburg, were in Vienna, they had a heated exchange concerning
the fact that the Archbishop wanted Mozart to return to Salzburg. Mozart was not fond of
this idea, and his sarcasm and refusal to be dominated increased the fury of the
Archbishop. This led to Mozart's leaving Salzburg permanently. Here is an excerpt of the
letter Mozart wrote documenting that momentous argument:
3
Hutchings, Mozart: The Man, p. 81.

4. [Concerning Mozart’s return to Salzburg, the Archbishop asked:] “Well, fellow,
when are you going to go?”
I replied: “I meant to go tonight, but all the seats were taken.” –
Then he kept going on in the same vein telling me I was the most dissolute person
he knew and none of his people served him as badly as I; he advised me to leave
this very day, otherwise he will write home that they should withhold my pay- it
was impossible to squeeze in a word, it kept going like a brush fire. I listened
calmly; he lied to my face I was getting 500 fl. pay, called me a good-for-nothing, a
louse, a fop, I don't like to write it all down. Finally, when I was getting hot under
the skin, I said:
“Your Princely Grace, are you not satisfied with me, Sir?”
[Archbishop] “What? Are you trying to threaten me? Oh, you fop. There is the
door! Look, I won't have anything to do with such a miserable wretch.” –
Finally I said: “Neither I with you.” –
[Archbishop] “Then go”, -
and I, while on my way out: “Let us keep it that way. Tomorrow you will get it in
writing."4
Do we not see something of Figaro in the witty defiance of Mozart? Does not Count
Almaviva seem to appear in the sharply critical reaction of the Archbishop, shocked that
someone of a lower class would dare stand up to him? For Mozart, there are two
motivations at play here. His honor, “more precious to me than anything else,” was being
attacked, and he felt the sting to the extent that he would add “I hate the Archbishop to
madness.” He was also looking for any incentive to leave Salzburg. “I am so sure of my
success in Vienna that I would have resigned even without the slightest reason.” 5
In his
book Mozart and Masonry, Paul Nettl states "In this break and this alienation we should
see nothing less than the tangible expression of the ultimate liberation of Mozart's genius
from the burden of duty and routine and from his years of bondage within and without."6
Nettl also sees this important break as playing a major role in Mozart's decision to become
a Freemason, “For there he found true friends: Noblemen, scientists, artists and writers,
4
Quoted by Paul Nettl. Mozart and Masonry. New York: Dorset Press, 1987, p. 110-111.)
5
Quoted by Wallace Brockway and Bart Keith Winer. A Second Treasury of the World's Great Letters. New
York: Simon & Schuster, 1941, p. 252.)
6
Nettl, Mozart and Masonry, p. 111.

5. and other respected and respectable citizens who took him as a human being and treated
him as a brother and who honored and appreciated him and his talent.”7
Mozart was undoubtedly introduced to Freemasonry at a fairly young age, for he had
collaborated with a Freemason, on a play called König Thamos, as early as 1773. But it
wasn’t until Dec. 14, 1784 that Mozart was initiated at the lodge ‘Beneficence’ (Zur
Wohltätigkeit) in Vienna.8
Hutchings speculates, "After Mozart was admitted to a Masonic
lodge on Christmas Eve, 1784, his music for Masonic ceremonies and occasions must have
made him one of the most valued members. The speed with which he was promoted
through the minor orders was reserved for esteemed candidates.”9
In short order he
introduced his father to Freemasonry, and Haydn’s initiation can arguably be attributed to
Mozart as well. In this way, he was an “evangelist” of Freemasonry, which strengthens the
claim that, from very early on, he held deeply to its ideals. Long before the creation of his
Masonic opera, The Magic Flute, the compositional output from his first full year as a
brother of the Craft illustrates the immediate significance of the role it played in his life.
This included a cantata in honor of the highly respected Mason, Ignaz von Born,
Gesellenreise, a song for his father’s admission to the second level, and funeral music for
two departed brethren (one of whom was Prince Esterhazy).
Although the symbolism of Freemasonry is not plastered about Figaro as it is in The
Magic Flute, we can surely find philosophical components of the Craft in the opera in
7
Nettl, Mozart and Masonry, p. 111.
8
The following explanation of the Freemason tradition was originally provided in the Allgemeines Handbuch
der Freimaurerei:
… the activity of closely-united men who, employing symbolical forms borrowed principally from
the mason’s trade and from architecture, work for the welfare of mankind, striving morally to
ennoble themselves and others, and thereby to bring about a universal league of mankind, which
they aspire to exhibit even now on a small scale.
(Taken from Edward J. Dent’s Mozart’s Operas.)
9
Hutchings, Mozart: The Man, p. 80.

6. question. It is all the more interesting to note that this ideology was more likely the reason
that Mozart became a Freemason than the result of his involvement with it. It was his
ideals, forged throughout his upbringing, which attracted him to Freemasonry, and in turn
Freemasonry gave him the social context in which these ideals were affirmed. So too, a
discussion of the influence of Freemasonry on Figaro is only part of the puzzle. If Mozart
truly held to the ideals of the Order, he need not even deliberately attempt to represent it in
his work. It would flow from a sincere, if not intentional, source. As Christopher
Ballantine notes, “… consciously or unconsciously, he aligned himself with the
progressive social tendencies of his day.”10
Freemasonry can certainly be counted chief
among this list.
Edgar Istel, in his essay Mozart’s Magic Flute and Freemasonry, writes “It is no
accident that the other works written by Mozart in glorification of Freemasonry are closely
related in style and treatment to The Magic Flute...”11
Ballantine finds just such a relation
in Figaro:
At the end of the opera [The Magic Flute] Tamino and Pamina, having endured
their sacred trials, are united; at the end of Figaro the Count and the Countess,
having endured their secular trials, are also reunited… Tamino and Pamina, having
confronted and transcended the fear of death, find the veil lifted from their eyes; in
Figaro, the reunion of the couple is the moment of conrontation and forgiveness,
the Count is fully “unmasked” and the pair encompass and transcend their recent
suffering.”12
10
Christopher Ballantine. “Social and Philosophical Outlook in Mozart's Operas.” The Musical Quarterly 67
(1981), pp. 526.
11
Edgar Istel. “Mozart's Magic Flute and Freemasonry.” The Musical Quarterly 13 (1927), pp. 524-525.
12
Ballantine, “Social and Philosophical Outlook in Mozart's Operas,” pp. 522-523.

7. Ballantine also mentions a “fundamental similarity in the music Mozart wrote for these
two occasions,” a point which he believes emphasizes the supreme importance of
forgiveness in Mozart’s ideology.13
Another possible connection to Freemasonry can be seen in the opera’s most popular
aria. Some see Figaro’s charge to Cherubino, “Non piu andrai,” as hinting at a secret
aggression. But it seems closer to the truth to call it a rite of passage delivered by an older
“brother.” When Figaro speaks of “a sabre hanging at your right,” an image of the
melodramatic Masonic functions, all members suited with swords, comes to mind; as he
prepares the page for “winning honors, but little money” he calls him to nobler pursuits;
and as he describes a great journey ahead, the purification ritual is clearly seen. There is
also justification of this connection in the music itself. The instantly recognizable dotted-
eighth rhythm has been clearly accepted as a Masonic figure. The aria lacks the overt
references of The Magic Flute (as does the entire opera), but this is a discussion of the
ideals and not the symbols. Where Figaro is broad, The Magic Flute is specific; and while
The Magic Flute is “sacred,” Figaro is secular. But many of the idealistic general themes
are the same.
Now we come to the most fascinating expression of Mozart’s paradigm as illustrated in
the opera, and this concerns Mozart’s preoccupation, even obsession, with the idea of
death. Numerous accounts from Mozart’s own life help us understand the immensity of
this theme in his mind. In 1778, as Mozart was on a concert tour accompanied by his
mother, she succumbed to an illness and died. Following this tragic event, Mozart wrote:
Under these mournful circumstances I found solace in three ways, namely through
my complete and implicit trust in God's will, then through the present memory of
her unsuffering and beautiful death, by imagining how now in one moment she is to
13
Ballantine, “Social and Philosophical Outlook in Mozart's Operas,” p. 523.

8. be happy- how much more happy she now is than we are, so that I might have
wished to be traveling with her at this time. And this desire and this urge gave rise
to a third solace, namely, that she is not lost forever, that we shall see her again and
dwell together, more mirthfully and more happily than on this earth.14
This brings about the topic of Mozart’s “faith.” No mention of Catholicism has been
offered, and this is not without reason. Although the Mozart family was Catholic, the
religion, at least in its traditional form, does not seem to have been very important to
him… a fact which concerned his father. Mozart’s “faith” was a deeply personal belief in
the existence and benevolence of God. His “religion” was Freemasonry, in the sense that
this is where the external context of his faith was acted out. But Freemasonry as a
“religion” did not replace Catholicism; it was an extension of it. "Did Mozart meet his
suffering and death as a Freemason or as a Catholic?” writes Hutchings. “The question
would not have ocurred to him. Most of his local brothers in the craft were Catholics…
priests belonged to the Vienna lodges, and to Mozart the practices and teachings of
Freemasonry were an exciting extension of religion."15
Like Catholicism, Freemasonry
teaches of life after death, and in this understanding death becomes an initiation to
something greater, rather than an end. Istel writes “… to the freemason, death is not an
image of annihilation, but of life. We leave this corporeal existence to take on the full
stature of the spiritual life… The harder we wrought to fulfill our moral mission in life, the
brighter for us are the beams of divine clemency, the more composedly can we look death
in the face.”16
Mozart expressed this belief passionately in a letter dated April 4, 1787. As
Leopold was on his deathbed, Mozart wrote to him:
As death (strictly speaking) is the real object of our life, for some few years I have
made myself so familiar with this true, best friend of man that his image not merely
14
Nettl, Mozart and Masonry, p. 116.
15
Hutchings, Mozart: The Man, p. 98.
16
Istel, “Mozart's Magic Flute and Freemasonry,” p. 511.

9. no longer affrights me, but brings me tranquility and comfort! And I thank my God
that He has vouchsafed me the happiness of procuring the opportunity (you
understand me) to recognize, in death, the key to our true felicity.17
Now we turn our attention back to Figaro, for does not the Countess voice this
perspective on death in her introduction aria? The Countess is arguably the central
character of the opera. That she achieves this distinction despite being absent from the
entire first act is quite remarkable. But it is Mozart’s dramatic genius which percieved this
very aspect would actually lend weight to her role. When she opens her mouth for the first
time with the words “Porgi, amor, qualche ristoro, al mio duolo (Grant, love, that relief to
my sorrow),” every heart sympathizes with her and takes her side. But the climax of the
song comes when the Countess begs of “love,” that if her treasure is not returned, to at
least let her die! In this moment we are no longer witnessing an opera buffa, but a deeply
human story with sincere and complex characters.18
This aria, however, is far from morbid.
It is “pathetique,” but not because she is asking to die. We are sad for her because of the
loss of love. Death, quite literally, is the high point of the aria. In measure 36 she begins a
line ascending in steps for just short of an octave, culminating on a high A-flat, and the
word “morir” (die). The music matches the ideal of death as a welcome thought. It is an
ascension to the spiritual realm. Supporing this argument is the fact that all of the musical
elements attributed to Freemasonry are found in this piece. The effect of ties (symbolising
brotherhood) is present in the syncopation of the opening orchestration, most noticeably in
the violin lines in mm. 11-12. It is also the violins which immediately follow the
Countess’s first sung line with a dotted rhythm (already mentioned as a Masonic musical
17
Quoted by Istel, “Mozart's Magic Flute and Freemasonry,” pp. 511.
18
It is precisely this characteristic which led Mozart to the story, for according to Hutchings, Mozart and Da
Ponte were influenced by "human comedies set to music rather than neatly turned old-fashioned opere buffe
with "type" characters." (Arthur Hutchings. Mozart: The Musician. New York: Macmillan, 1976, p. 87.)

10. trait). Most importantly, the aria is in the key of E-flat major, the mode decorated with the
greatest significance in Freemasonry. Ballantine calls it “the “redeemed” or “enlightened”
key,”19
and it is the key which Mozart chose for The Magic Flute.
The Countess contains in her person the three pillars of Freemasonry- Wisdom,
Strength and Beauty- more than any other character in Figaro (even Susanna); it is she
who is given the “final word” in offering forgiveness to her unworthy, philandering
husband; she is the embodiment of Mozart’s ideals presented in this great work. That he
assigns this role to a woman character is truly striking and speaks of Mozart’s extension of
equality beyond even the parameters set by his fellow Freemasons. It is naïve to present
the reduction of women in the line “cosi fan tutte” as support of sexism in Mozart’s work.
When Figaro sings this line, the audience knows he is misunderstanding the situation, and
the women prove him wrong in the end.
Equality, liberation, forgiveness, nobility of character rather than title, hope in death-
these ideals are presented powerfully in The Marriage of Figaro and contribute to the
magnetic attraction this opera has held on audiences from varied cultures and time periods
for more than two hundred years. The opera also shows a side of Mozart, sincere and
goodhearted, which held onto his ideals at such a deep level that he did not need to be
intentional or even aware to communicate them with conviction and passion.
19
Ballantine, “Social and Philosophical Outlook in Mozart's Operas,” p. 513.

11. Works Consulted
Angermüller, Rudolph, and John Platoff. “Casti, Giovanni Battista.” Grove Music Online,
ed. L. Macy (Accessed 20 August 2006), http://www.grovemusic.com.
Ballantine, Christopher. “Social and Philosophical Outlook in Mozart's Operas.” The
Musical Quarterly 67 (1981): 507-526.
Brockway, Wallace and Bart Keith Winer. A Second Treasury of the World's Great Letters.
New York: Simon & Schuster, 1941.
Carter, Tim. “Da Ponte, Lorenzo.” Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (Accessed 20 August
2006), http://www.grovemusic.com.
Dent, Edward J. Mozart’s Operas: A Critical Study, 2nd
ed. London: Chatto & Windus,
1913. Page Number: 329.
Heartz, Daniel. “Setting the Stage for Figaro.” The Musical Times 127 (1986): 256-260.
Heartz, Daniel. “Mozart and Da Ponte.” The Musical Quarterly 79 (1995): 700-718.
Hogarth, A. David. Mozart: The Man - The Musician (Pictorial Essay). New York:
Macmillan, 1976.
Hutchings, Arthur. Mozart: The Man. New York: Macmillan, 1976.
Hutchings, Arthur. Mozart: The Musician. New York: Macmillan, 1976.
Istel, Edgar. “Mozart's Magic Flute and Freemasonry.” The Musical Quarterly 13 (1927):
510-527.
Nettl, Paul. Mozart and Masonry. New York: Dorset Press, 1987.
Thomson, Katharine. “Mozart and Freemasonry.” Music & Letters 57 (1976): 25-46.