‘Freemason Sibelius and his Opus 113’

     
The George Washington Masonic Stamp Club will meet in September in Baltimore. The keynote speaker for the meeting will be Walter Benesch, past president, who will discuss “Jean Sibelius: The Great Finnish Composer and Mason and the Strange History Behind His Opus 113.”

From the publicity:

George Washington Masonic Stamp Club

Meeting at the Baltimore Philatelic Exhibition

Saturday, September 3

1 p.m.

Wyndham Hunt Valley Inn

Salon C

245 Shawan Road

Hunt Valley, Maryland

Summer 2016 message from the President

For those who missed the Annual Meeting in February, it was a delightful meeting.

There were four new candidates for the Degree of Philately. This was followed by our election. Yours truly was re-elected President for another two years. Our new First Vice President is Ralph E. Olson. Dr. Rudy Krutar continues as our Second Vice President. John Allen and Sherrill Watkins continue as Secretary and Treasurer, respectively. Michael Aulicino was re-elected as our Cachet Maker-Cover Chairman. But what is good, we now have an official Assistant Cachet Maker, Casey Polowitch. Hopefully Casey will be ready to take over at the next election in 2018. It is always great to see our younger members step up to help out.

Our summer meeting will be at BALPEX on Saturday, September 3 at 1 p.m. in Salon C. The program will be Part Two of last year’s presentation on Jean Sibelius, the great Finnish composer and Mason, but this talk will be on the strange history behind his Opus 113—his “Masonic Opus.” You will hear brief excerpts, and learn one of the strangest histories of any musical composition, including why the Grand Lodge of New York holds the copyright. There will be the traditional door prizes and sale items. Your President is attempting to lessen his collection, so there will be several valuable binders offered to Club members.

BALPEX is held at the Hunt Valley Inn. There is plenty of free parking and a quality restaurant in the hotel, with other restaurants down the road. If there is enough interest, we may go as a group for an early dinner at around 4 p.m. I want everyone to have enough time to review the exhibits at BALPEX, to talk to the vendors, and add to your collections.

Remember, the Club depends on new members, so talk up the George Washington Mason Stamp Club at your lodge and other Masonic bodies. If you don’t have an application, click here.

The next Annual Meeting will take place Sunday, February 27, 2017 at the George Washington Masonic Memorial in Alexandria, Virginia.

     

‘George Washington Masonic Stamp Club’

     

The George Washington Masonic Stamp Club will honor composer and New York Freemason Jean Sibelius at its meeting September 6 in Baltimore. This year is the sesquicentennial anniversary of his birth on December 8, 1865.

In 1922, Sibelius was among the founders of Suomi Lodge No. 1 in Helsinki, chartered by the Grand Lodge of New York. He was elected Fellow Number 3 of The American Lodge of Research in New York City. Suomi is the owner of the composer’s music for the three Craft degrees. Click here for an article by William Peacher.

The meeting will take place at 1 p.m.—during the annual Baltimore Philatelic Exposition at the Hunt Valley Inn, Wyndham Grand Hotel, at 245 Shawan Road in Hunt Valley, Maryland.

The program on Jean Sibelius will include a multimedia presentation of the great Finnish composer’s music and, of course, stamps issued in his honor. This meeting, like all BALPEX meetings, will be open to the public (with door prizes for all in attendance).



Any applications for membership in GWMSC may be voted upon at this meeting, but candidates will have to wait until the February annual meeting to receive the actual degree.

The club hopes its members will promote club activities in their lodges and other Masonic gatherings. Any Freemason in good standing in a recognized Craft lodge is eligible for membership. There are no annual dues, only a nominal one-time life membership fee. The Master of Philately Degree is conferred at the club’s February meeting at the George Washington Masonic Memorial in Alexandria, Virginia, but it is not necessary to receive the degree to hold club membership. Click here for the membership application.

Club President Walter Benesch also says he is in possession of a deceased member’s collection of covers, and that the lot is available for the right price, so get to Baltimore to see these stamps for yourself.
     

‘Chapter and chorus’

Still playing catch-up with reporting recent events. It was two weeks ago that Northern New Jersey Chapter of Rose Croix met and hosted a concert by the Men's Chorus of the Presbyterian Church in Morristown. That's our Most Wise Master wearing the red bowtie.

Actually the meeting took place in Morristown too, while our building recovers from the recent flooding.

The choir was excellent. Dividing the concert into two sets, the singers first, and not surprisingly, performed a number of religious pieces before moving into the Masonic music, featuring works by Mozart, Sibelius, and others, including Ignatz Joseph Pleyel, who composed music you may recognize from the Master Mason Degree. The choir concluded the performance with more recent works, jazz standards and show tunes among them.

‘Happy Birthday Bro. Sibelius’

I heard on the radio this morning that today is the 144th anniversary of the birth of Bro. Jean Sibelius who, like Mozart before him, composed immortal music in celebration of Freemasonry for ritual use within the Temple and for enjoyment without.

His lodge was Suomi Lodge No. 1, which was chartered by the Grand Lodge of New York, and whose earliest minutes record Sibelius’ intention to compose “original, genuinely Finnish music for the lodge.” His talent and fame also would earn him Honorary Membership in the Grand Lodge of Finland, one of the jurisdictions of the Swedish Rite of Freemasonry, and an honor very rarely bestowed.



Rather than copy and paste the writings of others, I’ll just direct Magpie readers to several websites that offer interesting information about Sibelius:

A biographical website focuses on his Masonic life.

The evolution of Freemasonry in Finland.

The Beeb.

“The Canberra Curmudgeon”

As Bro. Benjamin Franklin graces America’s $100 bill,
so does Bro. Sibelius on Finland’s 100 Mark note.

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And speaking of those operative builders who labor in notes and scales, ’tis the season of Handel’s Messiah at Trinity Church! Handel’s Messiah is a Christmas tradition at Trinity dating to the famous oratorio’s New York debut in 1770, one of the first performances of Messiah in the New World.

The 2009 concerts will be performed Sunday, December 13 at 3 p.m. and Monday, December 14 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets can be purchased here.

The Sunday concert will be broadcast live on WQXR, 105.9 FM, at 3 p.m. Monday’s concert will be webcast for live and on-demand viewing.

Messiah also will be performed at Avery Fisher Hall, December 15-18, and at Carnegie Hall, December 21 and 22.