Eternity (Mozart Minute 13)

In a letter to his seriously ill father Mozart wrote, "although I have made it a habit to imagine the worst in all matters as death /:to be precise:/ is the true goal of our existence, during the past few years I have become intimate with this best and truest friend of mankind, so that his image is not only no longer terrifying to me, but is indeed very soothing and consoling! I never go to bed without considering that fact that /:in spite of my youth:/ I might never see the next day and"

Mozart was referring to a passage from Moses Mendelssohn´s Socratic dialogue "Phaedon, or On the Mortality of the Soul" (1776). A copy of it was found in Mozart´s estate.

"To the true sages of the world, death must never be appalling, but so ever welcome.
The company of the body is cumbersome to them in every situation; as they want to fulfill the final purpose of their existence, they must always seek to separate the soul from the body by gathering them within. Death is this separation, the long-desired release from the company of the body. What inconsistency therefore to tremble as the same approaches, to grieve! Confidently and joyfully rather we ought to travel, where we hope to embrace our love, I mean the wisdom, to overcome the overly burdensome companion, who has caused us so much misery".

(Edgar Honetschläger)