MASONS IN MUSIC HISTORY
Famous musical masons
Music plays a big part in masonic ceremonies and many famous composers and others involved in music also had links with Masonry. Here are three examples.
Sousa ‘The March King’ was the unofficial title given to John Phillip Sousa who became famous for his many and varied marches including Stars and Stripes Forever, Washington Post, Power and Glory, Semper Fidelis, Salvation Army March and Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. Sousa was born in November 1854 and at the age of 13 he was
Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn was initiated on 11 February 1785 into Lodge True Harmony and followed Mozart who had been passed the previous month. Searches did not reveal any further records of his masonic career but he is known to have stated: ‘The Freemason serves mankind in all parts of the world, under all kinds of
Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven was born on 16 December 1770, the year in which Captain Cook had made his discovery voyage to Australia. His first musical performance was given in March 1778 when he was seven and he died in March 1827. There are strong grounds for believing that Beethoven was a Freemason although a definite masonic record for him has never been found. Many of his musical friends and fellow musicians were masons and several references to
L–R: Beethoven, Haydn and Sousa
enlisted in the US Marine Corps by his father where he learned to play wind instruments. Sousa organised his own band the year after he left the Marines and toured from 1892 to 1931, performing at 15,623 concerts. The band represented the United States in 1900 at the Paris Expo and marched through the city streets before touring Europe. This street parade was unusual because in more than 40 years of
touring, the Sousa band only took part in eight street parades. In 1911 the band visited Australia and gave performances in Sydney and Melbourne. Sousa also had an extensive masonic career. He was initiated in Hiram Tacoma Lodge in July 1881, passed in September and raised in November. He became a Shrine member in 1922 and was also a Royal Arch Mason and a Knight Templar. He died in March 1934.
governments, in public and in secret.’ This would no doubt have worried government officials, especially as Maria Theresa, the Empress of Austria where Hayden had been born, had made Freemasonry illegal in 1764. It was her belief that secret societies were intent on defeating ‘legal’ governments or at least the divine right of emperors. Emperor Joseph 11 later removed the ban but in December 1785
introduced a new law which limited each capital city of each province to one lodge which had to submit its membership list every three months to the secret police. Haydn, who had great influence on composers who succeeded him, was known as the ‘Father of the Symphony’ and ‘Father of the String Quartet’ and his ‘Emperor’s Hymn’ written in 1797 later became the Austrian national anthem.
Freemasonry have been found in his correspondence. Three of Beethoven’s biographers wrote that he was a mason but they did not give any further information. One biographer, Schindler, mentions a handshake when visiting Beethoven and wrote: ‘A grip of our hands said the rest.’ However, there were plenty of other indications that he was either very interested or involved in Masonry. The Adagio of his Seventh Quartet carries the statement: ‘A weeping willow or an acacia over the grave of my brother.’ His blood brothers were alive when this work
was written and it can be assumed the words had a masonic connection. A song What is the Mason’s aim was written and published in 1806. His presence at concerts given with full masonic rites can be found in documents and in order to attend, it must be presumed that he had at least been initiated. One reason his believed masonic details could not be found was that during his time, Masonry was oppressed in Central Europe with most lodge details either destroyed or not recorded.
JUNE 2015 FREEMASON
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