‘A little Masonic music at Mostly Mozart’

     
Lincoln Center’s annual Mostly Mozart program will begin July 25, and it won’t take long to get into the Masonic material. On Friday, July 28 and Saturday, July 29, the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, led by Conductor Edward Gardner, will deliver a performance of Mozart’s, Beethoven’s, and Schubert’s music. From the publicity:

Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert

July 28 and 29 at 7:30 p.m.

David Geffen Hall

Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra

Edward Gardner, conductor

Jeremy Denk, piano

“Luminous atmosphere and edge-of-the-seat excitement.”
– The Times (U.K.) on Edward Gardner

“Irrepressibly charismatic...a joy to watch.”
– New York Times on Jeremy Denk

Maestro Edward Gardner’s “powerful, impassioned conducting” (Seattle Times) finds its match in the “irrepressibly charismatic” pianist Jeremy Denk (New York Times) in a program that moves from dark to light. Mozart’s austere work, composed for his fellow Freemasons, and Beethoven’s supremely lyrical concerto give way to a sunlit Schubert finale.

Mozart: Masonic Funeral Music

Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 4

Schubert: Symphony No. 5

Click here for more festival information. Click here for tickets to either of these concerts.

There will be pre-concert recitals (Shubert: Introduction and Variations on Trockne Blumen for flute and piano) by Jasmine Choi, flute; and Roman Rabinovich, piano at 6:30.

According to the indispensible website of the Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon:

Mozart’s Masonic music falls into three broad categories:

• music he wrote specifically for the lodge;
• music intended for the public but built on Masonic themes; and
• music he wrote for other purposes, but which was adapted, either by himself or others, for Masonic use.

K.477 Maurerische Trauermusik (Masonic Funeral Music). Composed in Vienna on 10 November 1785 for a Lodge of Sorrows held by Lodge Crowned Hope a week later for the funerals of Bro. Georg August, Duke of Mecklenburg-Streletz and Bro. Franz, Count Esterhazy of Galantha.
     

‘Mozart at 254’

Mustn’t let the day end without wishing Bro. Mozart a happy 254th birthday. Also, might as well remind readers of The Magpie Mason in the New York area that Mostly Mozart is coming.

For 22 nights this summer, Lincoln Center’s annual Mostly Mozart music festival will fill the air with our timeless Brother’s immortal music.

Bro. Haydn and others will be included in the festival also.


The complete schedule has been taken down from the Lincoln Center website, but tickets will become available before too long. It had been announced that ticket holders will have the added benefit of taking in free recitals and lectures almost every night before the concerts, so make a full night of it by having dinner a little earlier. (Tragically, Café des Artistes closed last August, but of course plenty of excellent restaurants in the neighborhood remain.)

Of Mozart’s Masonic music, both the July 31 and August 1 concerts in Avery Fisher Hall will begin with the Overture to The Magic Flute, featuring Piotr Anderszewski on piano.

The August 16 performance (seating at 3 p.m.) of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment will feature his very well known Piano Concerto No. 22 in E-flat major, K.482. The composer debuted this piece in December of 1785, reportedly at a musical academy sponsored by a Masonic lodge. Specifically it is the piece’s third movement that everyone is bound to recognize.

‘Almost Time for Mostly Mozart’

For 22 nights next summer, Lincoln Center’s annual Mostly Mozart music festival will fill the air with our timeless Brother’s immortal music. But keep in mind it’s “Mostly Mozart,” and not entirely Mozart; there will be performances of other composers, including Bro. Haydn, and even the premier of new work.

The complete schedule can be seen here, but take note that ticket holders will have the added benefit of taking in free recitals and lectures almost every night before the concerts, so make a full night of it by having dinner a little earlier. (Tragically, Café des Artistes closed last August, but of course plenty of excellent restaurants in the neighborhood remain.)

Of Mozart’s Masonic music, both the Friday, July 31 and Saturday, August 1 concerts in Avery Fisher Hall will begin with the Overture to The Magic Flute, featuring Piotr Anderszewski on piano.

The Sunday, August 16 performance (seating at 3 p.m.) of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment will feature his very well known Piano Concerto No. 22 in E-flat major, K.482. The composer debuted this piece in December of 1785, reportedly at a musical academy sponsored by a Masonic lodge. Specifically it is the piece’s third movement that everyone is bound to recognize.

Get there on time and turn off your phone.

The view of Lincoln Center from Broadway
this frigid December evening.