Mozart and Freemasonry

[5] Mozart's position within the Masonic movement, according to Maynard Solomon, lay with the rationalist, Enlightenment-inspired membership, as opposed to those members oriented toward mysticism and the occult.

[6] This rationalist faction is identified by Katharine Thomson as the Illuminati, a masonically inspired group which was founded by Bavarian professor of canon law Adam Weishaupt, who was also a friend of Mozart.

[7] The Illuminati and rationalist Masons espoused the Enlightenment-inspired, humanist views proposed by the French philosophers Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Denis Diderot.

Music should "inculcate feelings of humanity, wisdom and patience, virtue and honesty, loyalty to friends, and finally an understanding of freedom.

[11] According to Katherine Thomson,[11] there are many other examples of specific musical symbols taken from the Masonic rites that appear throughout Mozart's compositions.

[14] For example, the three notes, which originate from the French genre of "le merveilleux", already appear in the musical theater of the early 18th century.

The three chords in the overture can be found in many other 18th-century stage works, such as Traetta's Armida and Gazzaniga's La Circe, operas that have no connection with Freemasonry.

David and his children were distinguished architects and master operative (craft) masons of the Augsburg guild (as contrasted to speculative freemasons).