Mozart, Mendelssohn, and Metaphysics

Abstract

Mozart’s biographers routinely point to Moses Mendelssohn’s Phädon as the inspiration for a famous passage from Mozart’s last known letter to his father. In this letter, dated April 4, 1787, Mozart wrote that we should not fear death because it is “der wahre Endzweck unsers Lebens” (the true and ultimate purpose of our life) and the “schlüssel zu unserer wahren Glückseligkeit” (key to our true happiness). This article assesses how the Phädon came into Mozart’s possession and the extent to which he may have been influenced by it. It finds that there were extensive indirect links between Mozart and Mendelssohn through Mendelssohn’s cousin, Fanny von Arnstein, whose family provided lodging and other support to Mozart after he moved to Vienna. Despite these connections, however, and although the Phädon’s message was consistent with Mozart’s own beliefs, certain aspects of Mendelssohn’s arguments and mode of reasoning were foreign to him. The philosophical link between Mozart and the Phädon is more tenuous than his biographers have led us to believe.