‘Alma: a night at the opera’

    

Tickets here.

I’m not at all embarrassed to admit everything I know of Alma Mahler comes from the Tom Lehrer song, but I’ve known every word of the song since 1980. In more recent news, Bro. Valentin Peytchinov, of Scotia Lodge 634, presents Alma, the opera, coming to New York! From the publicity:

Alma

Saturday, October 17

8 to 9 p.m.

Theatre of St. Jean’s

150 East 76th Street,

between Lexington & Third

Tickets here

Dear Brothers and Friends,

We are bringing Alma—a moving new opera about Alma Mahler’s life—to New York City, and I’m reaching out personally because this project is deeply meaningful to me.

This production will also honor the 75th birthday of Lubo Denev, the celebrated Bulgarian composer, conductor, and jazz artist. Presenting Alma in New York as a tribute to his legacy makes this moment truly special.

Overview

Alma the opera, comes to New York: a powerful monodrama of love, art, war, and Alma Mahler’s relentless pursuit of artistic freedom. Alma is a powerful monodrama inspired by the extraordinary life of Alma Mahler—composer, muse, lover, wife, and witness to the collapse of old Europe. Surrounded by the genius of Gustav Mahler, the passionate intensity of painter Oskar Kokoschka, the visionary architect Walter Gropius, and the poet Franz Werfel, Alma is swept through love, betrayal, war, and an unrelenting search for artistic freedom.

Her deeply personal journey becomes a mirror of an entire era—a story of passion, art, and the price of dreams. With music by celebrated Bulgarian composer Lubomir Denev and a libretto by Guerguan Tsenov, Alma brings Alma Mahler’s extraordinary story to the stage through an intimate and compelling musical portrait.

The New York premiere features soprano Teresa Castillo in the title role, with Ahmed Alom conducting a chamber ensemble. The New York premiere carries a special historical significance. After fleeing war-torn Europe, Alma Mahler spent the final two decades of her life in the United States and died in New York City on December 11, 1964. Presenting Alma in New York is therefore more than a premiere—it is, in many ways, a symbolic homecoming for one of the twentieth century’s most remarkable artistic figures.

Following its acclaimed Bulgarian premieres in 2025 at the March Music Days International Festival in Ruse and the Sofia Music Weeks International Festival, Alma now comes to New York in a production celebrating the 75th birthday of composer Lubomir Denev. Soprano Teresa Castillo, together with a chamber ensemble conducted by Ahmed Alom, will bring this intimate monodrama to life at Theatre at Saint Jean. The project is presented by Valentin Peytchinov Vocal Studios in collaboration with Vocal Productions NYC.

Throughout his distinguished international career, Valentin Peytchinov has devoted himself to mentoring young singers and creating opportunities for emerging artists. Alma continues that mission by bringing a remarkable contemporary opera to New York while providing a professional stage for exceptional young performers and celebrating the work of its composer, librettist, conductor, and performers.

You know something? Lehrer never mentioned Kokoschka!

      

‘Led Zeppelin: Alchemical Quartet’

    

This just in: Alaska’s research lodge will meet Saturday via videoconference for a talk on symbolism and music. From the publicity:

Led Zeppelin:

The Alchemical Quartet

Saturday, October 3

Noon Eastern

Academia Lux Borealis Lodge 25

Click here

What does Led Zeppelin have to do with Masonry? It doesn’t. However, some of their songs contain some exceptional symbolism and allegory. MW Bro. John May will present “Led Zeppelin: The Alchemical Quartet.”

This presentation is geared toward those brethren who struggle with symbolism and allegory. Come enjoy this musical journey and some new insights into symbolism and allegory through a contemporary and, perhaps, a more familiar lens.

This series is open to all Master Masons.

Last Friday was the 46th anniversary of the death of Zeppelin drummer John Bonham, which caused the dissolution of the group. I remember learning of this over breakfast the following day, listening to Paul Harvey’s early morning broadcast. All these years later, I marvel at how singer Robert Plant is, far as I’m concerned, the only star from the sixties who remains creative and relevant in this second quarter of the 21st century.

     

‘More music on Palm Sunday’

    

Palm Sunday arrives on the 29th, and Bro. Erik Carlson has a musical program planned for the Church of St. Thomas More.

Erik is our organist at Publicity Lodge 1000, and he plays for other lodges in Masonic Hall. He also is the director of music at the church. From the publicity:

You are invited! The ancient Christian text, Stabat Mater (Mary suffering beneath the Cross) will be performed by GRAMMY® musicians under the direction of Bro. Erik Carlson. Musical settings for choir and orchestra by Vivaldi, Palestrina, Rheinberger, and others. A goodwill donation of $20 is requested.

Thomas More is located at 65 East 89th Street, in the Yorkville part of Manhattan. “Sounds” like a great way to spend some time in the city. Nice weather is forecast too.

     

‘Masonry’s mistaken meaning of Music’

    

Bro. Howard Kanowitz presenting ‘What’s Wrong with the Seven Liberal Arts and Sciences?’ this morning at New Jersey Lodge of Masonic Research and Education 1786 at Freemasons Hall in North Brunswick. He spoke of Music, but is not conducting an orchestra here.

I’ve always insisted lunch is the most important meal of the workday, and it’s essential to a daylight lodge as well.

New Jersey Lodge of Masonic Research and Education 1786 met this morning at Freemasons Hall in North Brunswick for what turned out to be a pretty quick communication. Only ten were in attendance, which was unfortunate because our speaker was the inimitable Howard Kanowitz, doing his thing as only he can do. Some of our principal officers were absent, including Secretary Erich, who is in California speaking at the International Conference on Freemasonry. He sent me an email last night describing the debauchery few would believe is possible among Freemasonry’s celebrity intellectuals.

Click to enlarge.

Speaking of conferences, Past Master Bob, filling the loafers of absent Secretary Erich, updated us on the John Skene Masonic Conference coming in August. We already knew it will span the weekend of August 28 and will take place at the Grand Lodge of New Jersey’s Fellowship Hall (except for the Gravesite Memorial at Skene’s approximate final resting place). Now we know the speakers.

✓ Dr. Heather K. Calloway, Executive Director of University Collections at Indiana University.

✓ Robert L.D. Cooper, retired Curator of the Grand Lodge of Scotland and now co-host of the M.A.G.I. Podcast.

✓ Mark Tabbert, formerly of the George Washington Masonic National Memorial and now of the Masonic Service Association of North America, and author, and the other M.A.G.I. co-host, etc.

✓ The aforementioned Erich Huhn.

✓ And David Palladino, who is practically the lone champion of the humanities in New Jersey Freemasonry.

Other speakers are not confirmed yet but, trust me, they are authors from academia you know.

We received some sad news today—news to me anyway—as Len March, our research lodge’s inaugural treasurer, who manned that desk for many years, had passed away.

Also, it was noted how 2026 marks twenty-five years since MW David A. Chase set us to labor Under Dispensation. Vivat!

But lunch today—technically First Lunch, since we got to the restaurant before 11 a.m.—was a great time together. Junior Warden Dave, Senior Deacon Glenn, Bob, and I gabbed about Freemasonry over good grub and coffee. We chatted about things that could be improved in the field of Masonic education in New Jersey. Naturally, that topic could fill an immersive three-day conference of its own, so we circumscribed our desires and talked for a fast paced two hours about what we feasibly could affect. Lunch was longer than the meeting that brought us together in the first place.

Oh yeah, the meeting!

Howard presented “What’s Wrong with the Seven Liberal Arts and Sciences?” Music is the short answer.

By that, he means the citation of music within the Middle Chamber Lecture of the Fellow Craft Degree is discordant. Here’s how New Jersey’s version of the lecture addresses Music:

Music is that elevated science which affects the passions by sound. There are few who have not felt the charms of music, and acknowledged its expressions to be intelligible to the heart. It is a language of delightful sensation, far more eloquent than words; it touches and gently agitates the passions; it wraps us in melancholy, or elevates us in joy; it melts us in tenderness, or excites us to war. It is truly congenial to the nature of man for, by its powerful charms, the most discordant passions may be subdued.

I’d say what Howard means is, grouped among the Quadrivium, Music—in this particular Masonic context—is incongruent. The lecture’s talk of the incitement of passions, melancholy, joy, etc. makes Music sound more akin to the Trivium’s arts of Grammar, Rhetoric, and Logic, whereas Music would belong with Arithmetic, Geometry, and Astronomy if we instead noted its nature as a science of sound. Naturally, he spoke of the Harmony of Spheres so we understood why Music is a sibling of Arithmetic and Astronomy. This is something I’d never thought about, possibly because of my failure to internalize and recite the lecture for the Second Degree when I should have as an aspiring lodge officer decades ago—or since.

As an aside, let me explain that Music-as-science is how it worked originally. The Music paragraph in William Preston’s Illustrations of Masonry (1775 edition) says:

Music teaches us the art of forming concords so as to make delightful harmony by a mathematical and proportional arrangement of acute, grave, and mixed sounds. This art is by a series of experiments reduced to a demonstrative science with respect to tones and the intervals of sound only. It inquires into the nature of concords and discords, and enables us to find out the proportion between them by numbers.

There’s a saying at New Jersey’s research lodge: Ben Hoff (our other eminent scholar) views Freemasonry through a microscope, and Howard views Freemasonry through a telescope, meaning Ben searches internally in his forensic studies of ritual evolution, and Howard scans a broad horizon to chart another direction Freemasonry can send us. Ben would’ve pointed out that Preston bit had he been there. Anyway, the world history Howard unspooled took us from Pythagoras and Martianus Capella to Brahe and Kepler, with stops in Prague and Vienna to visit Mozart and Beethoven. Really outstanding work, and presented without reading material—no paper nor notes, nothing, nada. An appropriate topic for π Day too.

Without revealing the substance of the private conversation during First Lunch, we groused about how few Masons can be motivated to come hear fascinating Masonic talks. Never mind conceiving, researching, and writing such pieces of architecture themselves, but just showing up to listen to one of the best in the field.

A new clock has been hung in the lodge room! I’ve been attending various meetings here for twenty years and I’d swear the previous clock was always off by fifteen or sixteen hours. This one correctly shows the division of time.

We will do it again on Saturday, June 13. I’ll be back at the lectern September 12 to recount a far less enchanting tale of Masonry’s past.

    

‘Christmas concert in Manhattan’

    

Bro. Erik Carlson, star organist for a number of lodges at Masonic Hall, will conduct the choir and orchestra next Friday at the Church of Our Lady of Good Counsel-St. Thomas More.

A program of Vivaldi, Vaughan-Williams, and Purcell awaits you at a concert ideal for enjoying Christmas in New York. The church is located at 65 East 89th Street, between Madison and Park, in Manhattan.

A fresh snowfall, but not too much, would make it perfect.

     

‘The return of The Magic Flute’

    

The Met

It’s almost time for The Magic Flute, Mozart’s Masonic opera, to return to The Met for its annual run. I promote this production every season both here on The Magpie and in my travels, but I never hear of Masons or lodges attending the show. As far as I can tell, the ticket price here is the only cost in New York City that hasn’t budged in years, but I digress. From the publicity:

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s

The Magic Flute

The Metropolitan Opera

December 11-January 3

Tickets (from $35!) here

The Met’s family-friendly production of Mozart’s dazzling fairy tale returns, sung in English and running ninety minutes. Erina Yashima and Steven White share conducting duties, leading a standout cast in Julie Taymor’s magical staging. Tenors Joshua Blue and Paul Appleby share the role of Tamino, the brave prince on a quest to win the clever princess Pamina, sung by sopranos Erin Morley and Joélle Harvey. The cast also features tenors Joshua Hopkins and Michael Sumuel alternating as the luckless bird catcher Papageno. Sopranos Rainelle Krause and Aigul Khismatullina alternate as the Queen of the Night. Basses Matthew Rose and Alexander Köpeczi take turns as Sarastro.

Prior to the December 14 performance, children and families are welcome to join our Holiday Open House. The Open House is free to all ticket holders for the December 14 performance.

The Met

World Premiere: Freihaus-Theater auf der Wieden, Vienna, 1791. A sublime fairy tale that moves freely between earthy comedy and noble mysticism, The Magic Flute (Die Zauberflöte in the original German) was written for a theater located just outside Vienna with the clear intention of appealing to audiences from all walks of life. The story is told in a singspiel (“song-play”) format characterized by separate musical numbers connected by dialogue and stage activity, an excellent structure for navigating the diverse moods, ranging from solemn to lighthearted, of the story and score.

The Met

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-91) was the son of a Salzburg court musician who exhibited him as a musical prodigy throughout Europe. His achievements in opera, in terms of beauty, vocal challenge, and dramatic insight, remain unsurpassed. He died three months after the premiere of Die Zauberflöte, his last produced work for the stage. The remarkable Emanuel Schikaneder (1751-1812) was an actor, singer, theater manager, and friend of Mozart who wrote the opera’s libretto, staged the work, and sang the role of Papageno in the initial run.

The libretto specifies Egypt as the location of the action. That country was traditionally regarded as the legendary birthplace of the Masonic fraternity, whose symbols and rituals populate this opera. Some productions include Egyptian motifs as an exotic nod to this idea, but most opt for a more generalized mythic ambience to convey the otherworldliness that the score and overall tone of the work call for.

The Met

Mozart and his librettist, Emanuel Schikaneder, created The Magic Flute with an eye toward a popular audience, but the varied tone of the work requires singers who can specialize in several different musical genres. The baritone Papageno represents the comic and earthy, the tenor Tamino and the soprano Pamina display true love in its noblest forms, the bass Sarastro expresses the solemn and the transcendental, and the Queen of the Night provides explosive vocal fireworks.

     

‘Music is a language of delightful sensations’

    

Two live music concerts to tell you about. Sorry this first one comes so late, but I learned of it only today. Wish I could go. All the info you need is in the above advertisement.

However, a few weeks off, the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts will host “A Concert for Brotherhood, Family, and Future” at the Boston Masonic Building. From the publicity:

Boston Latin American Quartet.

Brother, you are invited to the Grand Lodge Gala 2025, presented by the Grand Master of Masons in Massachusetts in support of Massachusetts Rainbow Girls and DeMolay.

Eliot Fisk and Zaira Meneses.

Join us for an afternoon of world-class music featuring celebrated artists Zaira Meneses, classical guitarist; Eliot Fisk, virtuoso guitarist; and Boston Latin American Quartet, celebrating rich musical traditions.

Sunday, May 4

186 Tremont Street, Boston

Doors open at 1 p.m. followed by hors d’oeuvres reception. Tickets are on sale now here. Business Attire.

The headline of this edition of The Magpie Mason is borrowed from the lecture of the Fellow Craft Degree, as rendered in New York.

     

‘Live music: Paris for Christmas’

    

Among the yuletide highlights in New York City is the anticipated concert organized by Bro. Erik Carlson, musical director of my lodge, Publicity 1000. This time, the free festivities will be “Paris for Christmas.” From the publicity:

Thursday, December 19 at 7 p.m.

Church of St. Thomas More

65 East 89th Street

Free admission; reception to follow

This Year, Let’s All Go

to Paris for Christmas!

🎄 Christmas Oratorio by Camille Saint-Saens

🎄 Four Christmas Motets by Francis Poulene

🎄 French Organ Music by Alexandre Guilmant and Octave Parisot

🎄 Featuring the St. Thomas More Concert Choir under the direction of Erik E. Carlson with the St. Thomas More Christmas Orchestra of strings, harp, and organ.

Don’t miss it!

Erik E. Carlson will conduct the orchestra as well as play organ and direct the choir. Erik studied piano from an early age that lead to his formal conservatory training where he graduated from the Hartt School of Music with degrees in both keyboard performance and music theory. He has been a professional church musician in New York City for the last twenty years, specializing in sacramental service playing.

Pursuing his interest in the nineteenth century organ music of France, Erik has played throughout the Saône-et-Loire department of Burgundy, including at the parish churches of Paroisse Saint-Louis, Saint-Gengoux-le-National, Saint-Georges, Sercy, and Église Saint-Didier, Joncy.

At St. Thomas More, he continues this level of French organ music and enjoys the Lively-Fulcher organ for its unique sounds and colors.

Talk about publicity, here Bro. Erik shows off the concert announcement on the wall above the Bowery Mural. 

He is an active member of the American Guild of Organists, the Association of Anglican Musicians, and the National Arts Club.

Outside of church music, Erik enjoys time with his family, including his dearly loved beagle, Brogan.

     

‘The return of The Magic Flute’

    

The Met

It’s almost time for The Magic Flute, Mozart’s Masonic opera, to return to The Met for its annual run. From the publicity:

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s

The Magic Flute

The Metropolitan Opera

December 12-January 4

Tickets (from $35!) here

The Met’s family-friendly production of Mozart’s dazzling fairy tale returns, sung in English and running under two hours. Nimrod David Pfeffer and J. David Jackson share conducting duties, leading a standout cast in Julie Taymor’s magical staging. Tenors David Portillo and Duke Kim share the role of Tamino, the brave prince on a quest to win the clever princess Pamina, sung by sopranos Hera Park and Emily Pogorelc. The cast also features tenors Will Liverman and Sean Michael Plumb alternating as the luckless bird catcher Papageno. Sopranos Kathryn Lewek and Aigul Khismatullina alternate as the Queen of the Night. Basses Solomon Howard and Pectin Chen take turns as Sarastro.

Prior to the December 14 performance, children and families are welcome to join our Holiday Open House. The Open House is free to all ticket holders for the December 14 performance.

The Met

World Premiere: Freihaus-Theater auf der Wieden, Vienna, 1791. A sublime fairy tale that moves freely between earthy comedy and noble mysticism, The Magic Flute (Die Zauberflöte in the original German) was written for a theater located just outside Vienna with the clear intention of appealing to audiences from all walks of life. The story is told in a singspiel (“song-play”) format characterized by separate musical numbers connected by dialogue and stage activity, an excellent structure for navigating the diverse moods, ranging from solemn to lighthearted, of the story and score.

The Met

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-91) was the son of a Salzburg court musician who exhibited him as a musical prodigy throughout Europe. His achievements in opera, in terms of beauty, vocal challenge, and dramatic insight, remain unsurpassed. He died three months after the premiere of Die Zauberflöte, his last produced work for the stage. The remarkable Emanuel Schikaneder (1751-1812) was an actor, singer, theater manager, and friend of Mozart who wrote the opera’s libretto, staged the work, and sang the role of Papageno in the initial run.

The libretto specifies Egypt as the location of the action. That country was traditionally regarded as the legendary birthplace of the Masonic fraternity, whose symbols and rituals populate this opera. Some productions include Egyptian motifs as an exotic nod to this idea, but most opt for a more generalized mythic ambience to convey the otherworldliness that the score and overall tone of the work call for.

The Met

Mozart and his librettist, Emanuel Schikaneder, created The Magic Flute with an eye toward a popular audience, but the varied tone of the work requires singers who can specialize in several different musical genres. The baritone Papageno represents the comic and earthy, the tenor Tamino and the soprano Pamina display true love in its noblest forms, the bass Sarastro expresses the solemn and the transcendental, and the Queen of the Night provides explosive vocal fireworks.

     

‘Mozart and More on Sunday’

    

Bro. Erik, Organist of my lodge and others, invites us to a free concert Sunday. From the publicity:

Bro. Erik Carlson will perform a free concert, “Mozart and MORE,” at the Church of Saint Thomas More in New York City Sunday, April 21 at four o’clock.

Included on the program will be Mozart’s Missa Brevis in G Major for choir and strings alongside works by Haydn, and others. A reception will follow.

Bro. Carlson is the Director of Music and the Organist at St. Thomas More. The church is located at 65 East 89th Street, between Madison and Park avenues.

     

‘The Magic Flute returns to The Met next month’

    

The Met

The new issue of my lodge’s monthly magazine reminds me that it’s almost time for The Magic Flute, Mozart’s Masonic opera, to return to The Met for its annual run. From the publicity:

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s

The Magic Flute

The Metropolitan Opera

December 8-30

Tickets (from $37!) here

The Met’s family-friendly production of Mozart’s dazzling fairy tale returns, sung in English and running under two hours. Patrick Furrer and Gareth Morrell share conducting duties, leading a standout cast in Julie Taymor’s magical staging. Tenors Piotr Buszewski and Joshua Blue share the role of Tamino, the brave prince on a quest to win the clever princess Pamina, sung by sopranos Janai Brugger and Liv Redpath. The cast also features famed tenor Rolando Villazón reprising his uproarious portrayal as the luckless bird catcher Papageno, alternating with baritone Alexander Birch Elliott, and soprano Kathryn Lewek as the Queen of the Night, alongside basses Brindley Sherratt and James Creswell as Sarastro.

Prior to the December 10 performance, children and families are welcome to join our Holiday Open House. The Open House is free to all ticketholders for the December 10 performance.

The Met

World Premiere: Freihaus-Theater auf der Wieden, Vienna, 1791. A sublime fairy tale that moves freely between earthy comedy and noble mysticism, The Magic Flute (Die Zauberflöte in the original German) was written for a theater located just outside Vienna with the clear intention of appealing to audiences from all walks of life. The story is told in a singspiel (“song-play”) format characterized by separate musical numbers connected by dialogue and stage activity, an excellent structure for navigating the diverse moods, ranging from solemn to lighthearted, of the story and score.

The Met

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-91) was the son of a Salzburg court musician who exhibited him as a musical prodigy throughout Europe. His achievements in opera, in terms of beauty, vocal challenge, and dramatic insight, remain unsurpassed. He died three months after the premiere of Die Zauberflöte, his last produced work for the stage. The remarkable Emanuel Schikaneder (1751-1812) was an actor, singer, theater manager, and friend of Mozart who wrote the opera’s libretto, staged the work, and sang the role of Papageno in the initial run.

The libretto specifies Egypt as the location of the action. That country was traditionally regarded as the legendary birthplace of the Masonic fraternity, whose symbols and rituals populate this opera. Some productions include Egyptian motifs as an exotic nod to this idea, but most opt for a more generalized mythic ambience to convey the otherworldliness that the score and overall tone of the work call for.

The Met

Mozart and his librettist, Emanuel Schikaneder, created The Magic Flute with an eye toward a popular audience, but the varied tone of the work requires singers who can specialize in several different musical genres. The baritone Papageno represents the comic and earthy, the tenor Tamino and the soprano Pamina display true love in its noblest forms, the bass Sarastro expresses the solemn and the transcendental, and the Queen of the Night provides explosive vocal fireworks.

     

‘Mozart’s Masonic opera at The Met’

   

The Met

It’s halfway through its three-week run already, but there still is plenty of opportunity to take in the Metropolitan Opera’s new staging of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “Masonic opera” The Magic Flute. Actually, this is Die Zauberflöte, as it is a German-language production of more than three hours, as opposed to The Met’s annual Christmastime production of Julie Taymor’s English-language suitable-for-children confection.

Tickets, starting at $39.50, can be booked here. And this will be part of The Met’s Live in HD series in movie theaters. From the publicity:

One of opera’s most beloved works receives its first new Met staging in 19 years—a daring vision by renowned English director Simon McBurney that The Wall Street Journal declared “the best production I’ve ever witnessed of Mozart’s opera.” Nathalie Stutzmann conducts the Met Orchestra, with the pit raised to make the musicians visible to the audience and allow interaction with the cast. In his Met-debut staging, McBurney lets loose a volley of theatrical flourishes, incorporating projections, sound effects, and acrobatics to match the spectacle and drama of Mozart’s fable.

Kathryn Lewek

The brilliant cast includes soprano Erin Morley as Pamina, tenor Lawrence Brownlee as Tamino, baritone Thomas Oliemans in his Met debut as Papageno, soprano Kathryn Lewek as the Queen of the Night, and bass Stephen Milling as Sarastro.

Creators

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-91) was the son of a Salzburg court musician who exhibited him as a musical prodigy throughout Europe. His achievements in opera, in terms of beauty, vocal challenge, and dramatic insight, remain unsurpassed. He died three months after the premiere of Die Zauberflöte, his last produced work for the stage. The remarkable Emanuel Schikaneder (1751-1812) was an actor, singer, theater manager, a friend of Mozart who wrote the opera’s libretto, staged the work, and sang the role of Papageno in the initial run.

The Met

World premiere: Freihaus-Theater auf der Wieden, Vienna, 1791.

Die Zauberflöte—a sublime fairy tale that moves freely between earthy comedy and noble mysticism—was written for a theater located just outside Vienna with the clear intention of appealing to audiences from all walks of life. The story is told in a singspiel (“song-play”) format characterized by separate musical numbers connected by dialogue and stage activity, an excellent structure for navigating the diverse moods, ranging from solemn to lighthearted, of the story and score. The composer and the librettist were both Freemasons—the fraternal order whose membership is held together by shared moral and metaphysical ideals—and Masonic imagery is used throughout the work. The story, however, is as universal as any fairy tale.

The Met

The libretto specifies Egypt as the location of the action. Egypt was traditionally regarded as the legendary birthplace of the Masonic fraternity, whose symbols and rituals populate this opera. Some productions include Egyptian motifs as an exotic nod to this idea, but many more opt for a more generalized mythic ambience to convey the otherworldliness that the score and overall tone of the work call for.

Music

Die Zauberflöte was written with an eye toward a popular audience, but the varied tone of the work requires singers who can specialize in several different musical genres. The comic and earthy are represented by the baritone, Papageno, while true love in its noblest forms is conveyed by the tenor, Tamino, and the soprano, Pamina. The bass, Sarastro, expresses the solemn and the transcendental. The use of the chorus is spare but hauntingly beautiful, and fireworks are provided by the coloratura Queen of the Night.

Please note that video cameras will be in operation during the May 31 and June 3 performances as part of the Met’s Live in HD series of cinema transmissions.

     

‘For your Brotherly Love’

    

For Your Love, Bro. Francis Dumaurier’s biography of Bro. Giorgio Gomelsky, has been available in digital format for more than a year, but the high quality print versions are coming to market now. In fact, on Sunday, Dumaurier will launch his book in London with a celebration at the historic Crawdaddy Club, where the Rolling Stones got their start and the Yardbirds later served as the house band. (A New York City book launch is coming in June.)

Giorgio Gomelsky (1934-2016) was the impresario and record producer who figured significantly in the Swinging Sixties without himself becoming a household name. I mean he was a name in my household—or at least in my bedroom where my record collection was—but I don’t think he ascended into the stratosphere like Brian Epstein, George Martin, Andrew Oldham, et al.

But, did you know it was Gomelsky who introduced the Beatles to the Stones? Sure, they would have met eventually, but that encounter was sixty years ago last Friday at the Crawdaddy Club. Later in 1963, the Stones would have their first hit single with “I Wanna Be Your Man,” penned pretty much for them by Lennon and McCartney.

Born in Soviet Georgia and died in New York City, Gomelsky’s story has ups and downs, all of which are pretty amazing. He was at Masonic labor in l’Union Française 17 in the Tenth Manhattan District, as is Bro. Francis.

Francis Dumaurier

Tickets to the event Sunday can be had here. There will be a book-signing, live music, and more.

     

‘Art which affects the passions by sound’

    

Sorry for the blur. It’s the only image I have.

True Craftsman’s Lodge 651 has a concert planned for April. Guitarist Alessandro Minci is a Mason at labor in Numa Pompilio Lodge 1334 (GOI) in Frosinone, Italy.

A graduate, with honors, of Alfredo Casella Conservatory of Music, Minci is a well known performer, having played in a number of festivals around the world. You can read more about that here.

As you can see on the flier, an “evening of Masonic musical magic” awaits us April 14. This definitely is a lodge activity I support. See you there.

(If you are unsure about recognition, we Americans are in amity with the Grand Orient of Italy. The English have other ideas about il bel paese.)

     

‘A language of delightful sensations’

    

Ally Retberg

That part of the lecture describing the Liberal Arts, as we in New York have it, says music is “a language of delightful sensations far more eloquent than words.” In the wide diversity of rituals known throughout English lodges, there probably is similar phrasing in a Second Degree, but the recent news I’m telling you about this morning concerns live musical performance at Freemasons’ Hall.

The London headquarters of the United Grand Lodge of England, erected on land where Freemasons have been meeting since 1775, features the Cafe and Bar. Simple foods and ample beverages, and, now, live entertainment. Ally Retberg, a singer and actress known for the musical Friendsical—yes, based on the television program—will perform jazz standards (Sinatra, Ella, Nat King Cole) next Thursday night in the debut of live music in the venue, which is open to the public.

I know I’ve been writing a lot about the English lately, and this is largely because of the energy unleashed by the UGLE’s leadership and professional team. From a distance, it seems the creative initiatives that engage Freemasons, the public, and the media alike are recasting the once elusive fraternity as a lively cultural player. I don’t see much of that sort of enterprise evident in the United States. Here in New York City, I can’t say there is demand for another bar with live music (whereas I can say the corrupt city and state governments make such business models nearly impossible), but other sizable Masonic venues elsewhere may recognize a chance to learn something from Great Queen Street.

(I’ve been meaning to tell you about the classical and pop music concerts—by candlelight!—at the Philadelphia Masonic Temple, and hopefully they are successful and will be continued.)

So congratulations to UGLE’s business departments, and good luck to Miss Retberg!

     

‘And give us a hand o’ thine’

    

Finally, this year is done, but not before a teamwork of media and academia boasts of an achievement in historical research that you and I have known all along.

Today’s Evening Standard and a growing number of other outlets report how a Scottish scholar, who specializes in anthropological and sociological facets of music, has “discovered” that the tradition of locking arms while singing Bro. Robert Burns’ “Auld Lang Syne” began with…the Freemasons!

Hmmm, you don’t say.

Read all about it here.

That’s it for me, brotherans. Signing off for 2021, and wishing all of you a Happy New Year that won’t suck nearly as much as did this annus horribilis.