On 14 Dec 1784, Mozart and the priest Wenzel Summer were initiated into the masonic lodge Zur Wohltätigkeit, with the occasion marked by an oration given by the writer and minor official Friedrich Hegrad (1757–1809; see Lindert 1993). Although Hegrad was rather ungracious to Summer, he praised Mozart highly, offering two paragraphs of enthusiastic encomium (Neue Folge, 34–35). The composer soon returned the favor, for he appears among the subscribers to a novel by Hegrad published in 1786.

A picaresque novel satirizing various aspects of theatrical life through the story of a young man pursuing an actress, Friedrich Hegrads komischer Roman takes its inspiration from Paul Scarron’s Roman comique (1651/1657; see Selbmann 1994, 41–43, and Bodi 1995, 211–12). The circumstances of Mozart’s order, and the identities of those to whom he presumably distributed the copies, remain unknown. With these five copies, Mozart ordered the greatest number of exemplars by any private subscriber except fellow masons Alois Blumauer, who ordered six, and Otto von Gemmingen, who ordered 12. As the novel is not listed among the composer’s effects, Mozart may not have retained a copy himself (Konrad and Staehelin 1991, 12–19). Apart from the masonic connection, perhaps he was attracted to the subject matter of the novel through his own experiences of theatrical life and intrigue.

Mozart was later to subscribe to volumes of poetry by Gottlieb Leon and Anton Stein (Dokumente, 272). Deutsch’s transcription is incomplete for the Leon, which actually reads “Hr. v. Mozzart, Kappelmeister. [sic]” (on the use of the noble “von Mozart”, see Lorenz 2013). Hegrad also appears as a subscriber to Leon’s volume, and Leon appears on the list of subscribers to Hegrad’s novel.