‘On the Square board game coming soon!’

     

I wish I could report the arrival of this game on the market so you could amuse yourselves in small groups during this period of social distancing, but On the Square is still being developed, and a pending Kickstarter campaign will get it into production soon.

On the Square is the first board game slated for production by a company founded by two Freemasons in the United Kingdom. Matthew & Michael Limited is their game design and production studio, founded last year. Perhaps in keeping with the Masonic number three, another Mason, a specialist printer in Lancashire, will bring this game to fruition. In addition, a percentage of the profits will go to the Masonic Charitable Foundation.

The specs of On The Square include:

• Suitable for 2-4 players, with 5-6 player expansion available
• Play is between 25 and 45 minutes for 4 players
• Suitable for ages 14 and up

How do you play? From the publicity:

Prototypes of the game board.

On the Square is an augmented roll and play game with unique mechanism. Play as an officer of the lodge setting up for a ritual, and collect the tools of each degree to become Master.

On the Square is a new game based on the mysteries and secrets of Freemasonry. Lots of playability, multiple characters, and unique game mechanisms add an exciting strategic edge to traditional roll and move game. Superbly designed and illustrated, quality components, robust and well tested.

On the Square is a traditional, easy to understand and exciting game. You play as one of the six senior officers of the lodge to collect the tools of the three degrees while advancing through the game in the proper steps. Look out for gavel knocks and go on the square to reach the goal of Worshipful Master.

The gavel strikes! The Worshipful Master commands that you prepare yourself properly to enter the lodge in the correct degree and advance by the proper steps, taking your rightful position in your officer seat.

As the lodge door opens and you are admitted by the Tyler and Inner Guard, you must progress around the lodge, through each of the three degrees. Collect the tools of your degree to show your progress, and collect the secrets and mysteries of each officer of the lodge.

During your time in the lodge you are required to obey all the summonses from the secretary and heed the advice of the seniors. Visiting brethren will be on hand to help you progress.

At times, you will have the opportunity to go “on the square” and use your tactical skill, whilst moving in the proper form, to advance. From time to time you will have the opportunity to introduce a new candidate to the lodge, it is your duty to guide him thoughtfully throughout, and when you have completed your journey, you must immediately take your officer’s seat and you can become Master of your lodge.

I will report the progress of On the Square here on The Magpie Mason.
     

‘York Rite to return to New York’

     

Courtesy Jeff Day/Lodgical

Where else but in New York would the York Rite hold its conferences? Last September, the Northeast Conference was hosted in Albany, and this September (11 & 12) it will take place at Tarrytown. Details are still to come, but save the date.

     

‘Calling all quarantined artists’

     
While you artists are cooped up, aching for creative release, why not consider entering this contest via the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania? Phone 215.988.1912 for entry information. From the publicity:


The Masonic Library and Museum of Pennsylvania is sponsoring an art contest for amateur or professional artists, 18 and older, to submit original entries. All artwork must display a visual interpretation of some aspect of Freemasonry in Pennsylvania, whether it be philosophical, historical, scientific, social, fraternal, charitable, architectural, etc.

Entry deadline is Thursday, August 6. Jury selection will be announced Friday, August 28. Gala to be held Friday, October 2.

The Grand Exhibition will be available for public viewing October 6-31, Tuesdays through Saturdays, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
     

‘A tabernacle of peace’

     

Meditation by Rene Magritte, oil on canvas, 1936.

The Magpie Mason hopes all of you are well and are resisting the manufactured hysteria intended to control our lives.

As of four hours ago, the Chinese Virus death toll in the United States was 400.

The number of patients here who have recovered fully was more than 101,000.

Number of patients being treated nationwide: 33,404. In a country of 330 million, that equals one one-hundredth of 1 percent.

This is not an illness that turns healthy people into corpses. The flu, however, as of last week, was estimated to have killed between 23,000 and 59,000 Americans.

All of these statistics originate from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Look them up and check back daily to inoculate yourselves from the panic being foisted upon society for the most cynical and detestable motives.

It occurs to some that this new practice of self-quarantine is reminiscent of a religious custom dating to the Decalogue itself. Freemasons give Moses more attention in the Capitular chapter than in the Craft lodge, so it is of a Tabernacle of Peace that I think.

Quiet time. Pray, meditate. No travel. No commerce. Shut off the phone (after reading this). Be still. Do not try to change the world.

     

‘Happy to meet again!’

     

“Happy to meet, sorry to part, happy to meet again!”

Brethren, because we all are absent, wherever you find yourselves at 9 p.m., raise a glass to the Craft.

“Here’s to the Sons of the Widow,

Whenever, wherever they roam,

A speedy relief to their afflictions

And if they desire,

A speedy return to their home.”

     

‘Does Masonry stop? Not at all.’

     

UPDATE: March 16, 6:30 p.m.

D'oh! Everything is postponed!

It is being said on social media this morning that Freemasonry is closing down everywhere due to concerns of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 outbreak, but this is not true. While grand masters throughout the United States are ordering postponements, of varying severities, of all manner of Masonic activities within their jurisdictions, the Grand Lodge of New York is governed by reason and it stands above the panic—which is really saying something considering how both the City and State are run by corrupt incompetents who could provoke hysteria in the streets with a single public utterance.

Dr. E. Oscar Alleyne

We have a secret weapon: The Right Worshipful Junior Grand Warden is an epidemiologist who serves as chief program officer for the National Association of County and City Health Officials. Bro. Oscar Alleyne earned a Doctor of Public Health Degree at New York Medical College, and he has years of experience with far more serious outbreaks (H1N1, Smallpox, MERS, and West Nile, to name a few). Maybe you saw him on television last night reassuring the public.

A few days ago, at the Congressional City Conference in Washington, Oscar delivered this presentation. It runs less than seven minutes, but watch and learn.

Neither I nor anyone else is saying there’s nothing to worry about. I’m just saying remain calm. I’m a simple-minded man; I think about other past and present outbreaks that did not spark nationwide panic. The flu, Types A and B, are expected to kill 20,000 or more this season, but for reasons I won’t get into here, we’re not hearing about any of it. In recent years, we have had those MERS and H1N1 viruses, but there wasn’t—shall we say?—the same “news” media coverage.

And social media? Our problem is the avalanche of emotionally hastened decisions they inspire. Grand Master A sees how Grand Master B has ordered the local lodges closed through April 1, and so A does the same thing. Twenty minutes later, Grand Master K, not wanting to squander a chance to sound significant, orders the local lodges in his area closed through May 1.

Well, my grand master says we’re going to carry on, and we’ll just modify some behavior with common sense precautions. For example, the March 19 launch of the Horticultural Center at Utica will proceed, but without ceremony. On the home page of the grand lodge’s website, there is a letter from MW Bro. Sardone—and it’s not even the first button to click; the scholarship application deadline comes first—which provides the headline of this edition of The Magpie Mason.

So, go easy, fellas. Subdue the passions, and “Follow Reason,” as we used to say 300 years ago.

Somehow, Oscar has time to visit our lodges to share what he knows. He will take to the lectern at Copernicus Lodge 545 in Whitestone on March 24 at 8 p.m. for a discussion open to Masons, our families, and friends. I’m sure he will speak at many more lodges to help us through this.
     

‘Research lodge to meet at George Washington’s lodge’

     

The lodge that made George Washington a Mason will be the meeting place of the next “stated conclave” of Civil War Lodge of Research 1865.

That’s Saturday, April 4 at Fredericksburg Lodge 4, located at 803 Princess Anne Street in Fredericksburg, Virginia.

The brethren and their ladies will dine informally the night before at Deutschland Downtown at 6 p.m. Kindly RSVP to Worshipful Master G. Andrew Martinez here.

On Saturday the fourth, the research lodge will gather at 8 a.m. for coffee before setting up the lodge room. The meeting will open at ten o’clock and will be followed by lunch at noon. At 1:30 the group will visit the Fredericksburg Battlefield (half-mile walk) for a tour led by Bro. Smith.

At 5:30, everyone is welcome to gather at Paradise Diner for supper.

Hotel accommodations are planned (approximately $100/night) at the Hampton Inn & Suites Fredericksburg. Breakfast, wifi, etc. are included.
     

‘King Solomon’s Temple, nazis, and a legendary piano’

     
It has been known as “The Immortal Piano” and “The Siena Piano” and “The King’s Piano” and “The Harp of David Piano,” and legend says it is made of cedar from King Solomon’s Temple; after failing to sell via eBay earlier this winter, the magnificent upright piano made in Italy in 1799 was auctioned last Monday by Winner’s Auctions.

It was hoped the singular piece would garner between $1.5 million and $2 million, but the final gavel sounded after 33 competitive bids at $320,000.

Courtesy liveauctioneers.com

The Solomon’s Temple bit aside, this piano has an unbelievable history. From the auction house description:


The story of this piano starts at the beginning of the 19th century, when a harpsichord maker from Turin, Italy, named Sebastian Marchisio worked on building a new piano. Many legends have been told about the raw materials used by Marchisio. Inter alia, it is claimed that the source of wood for the piano was from the trees Hiram brought to King Solomon for the building of the first Temple.

Courtesy liveauctioneers.com

Sebastian managed to finish the resonance box before he passed away, but not the whole piano. His son Enrico continued building the piano, and after Enrico’s death, his grandsons Luciano and Raffaelo, talented craftsmen in their own right, made some changes, including adding strings, keys and hammers, while leaving the original resonance box built by their grandfather. The work was finally completed c. 1825. The new piano had a unique tone, unlike any instrument built until that time. The combination of Sebastian’s original resonance box and the enhancements contributed by his grandchildren created a more delicate sound than the pianos of those days, much like a harpsichord, yet more powerful, like a piano.

Courtesy liveauctioneers.com

The piano was given as a present to their sister, Sebastian’s granddaughter, Rebecca, who lived in Siena. The piano became very famous there, as it was frequently featured at festive events in the city. Toward the 1860s, the Marquis of Siena ordered a more magnificent appearance to be given to the piano. Sculptor Nicodemo Ferri, Rebecca’s son, and great-grandson of the original creator of the piano, Sebastian, together with his cousin, architect and painter Carlo Bartolozzi, were commissioned for this work. They produced the piano’s magnificent and impressive frame and its cover, which remain to this day. The design includes portraits of famous composers Mozart, Handel, and others. At center, they carved David’s harp, as well as lions, cherubs, and more. The refurbished piano is considered one of the most beautiful and impressive musical instruments in the world. Furthermore, the new design also included new technology: a staticofone, an iron-reinforced frame, which enhanced the sound. In 1867, after the piano’s design was completed, it was sent to Paris for the World’s Fair. The piano was exhibited in the Italian Pavilion, where renowned pianist Camille Saint-Saëns was one of the many who played it.

Courtesy liveauctioneers.com

A year later, in 1868, the City of Siena (after convincing Ferri) gave it to King (then Prince) Umberto I on the occasion of his marriage to Margherita, Princess of Savoy, with pianist Franz Liszt playing on it at the ceremony. Liszt also played it on other occasions in later years. Umberto was crowned King of Italy in 1878, and the piano earned the name “The King’s Piano.” The piano was transferred to Palazzo del Quirinale. It remained there for approximately 70 years, serving the royal family. Queen Margherita often entertained in the palace’s music room, where the piano stood, and it is reported to have been her favorite instrument.

During the 1880s, Mattis Yanowski, a refugee from Czarist Russia, performed before King Umberto, performing wondrously. After the performance, the king approached Yanowski, complimented his playing. He told him about the wondrous piano in his possession, justifiably nicknamed “David’s Harp,” and he invited him to play at his palace. The invitation and the description of the piano left a great impression on Yanowski, but the king’s murder prevented Yanowski from seeing the piano and it remained an unrealized dream. On his deathbed, Yanowski extracted a promise from his grandson Avner Carmi, one of the first piano makers and tuners in the Land of Israel, to go see the legendary piano in Rome. Carmi first traveled to Berlin in 1920 with the goal of studying music and piano tuning. On his way, he went to Rome and attempted unsuccessfully to get into the palace to see the piano. He visited Rome several times more over the following years, but each time, he did not manage to see the legendary piano. Once, he was even arrested by the palace guards, and released with his friend Arthur Schnabel’s intervention.

Courtesy liveauctioneers.com

Carmi was drafted into the British army during WWII, and he served in Egypt. One day, soldiers from his unit who were searching for mines using metal detectors, discovered a plaster-covered piano buried in the sand, and brought it with them. The unit’s officers wanted to discard the piano, but Carmi convinced them to hold on to it as a means to entertain the soldiers. In a strange twist of fate, Carmi himself did not realize that this was the piano he had been seeking all those years. After the war, the piano was sold at auction in Gaza City, where a Tel Aviv dealer bought it. Carmi despaired of searching for the legendary piano while visiting Monza after the British conquest, when he discovered that the piano had been looted by a senior Nazi officer, apparently Rommel himself. When he returned to Tel Aviv, he met that same dealer who had bought the piano in Gaza. He bought it from him for next to nothing because the crowding at the dealer’s store was insufferable.

Carmi began refurbishing it, and much to his amazement, after discarding a few pieces of plaster from the piano, carved cherubic figures peeked out at him from the wood. As he continued to work, he realized that the legendary piano he had been searching for over the years now stood in his living room. Excited, Carmi wrote to the King of Italy to tell he had the piano, and that he had commenced the grueling work of restoring it. It took him three years and 90 liters of acetone to recreate its external appearance. Carmi then traveled to the United States with the piano, where he restored its original special sound. The piano starred in American media with the best musicians of the day playing it, such as Arthur Rubinstein, Penina Saltzman, Charles Rosen, Alfred Cortot, and others. Many articles and extensive write-ups have covered it. There was an attempt to produce a movie about it, but Avner Carmi passed away before this idea was realized.
Carmi’s children eventually sold the piano to a private collector.
     

‘Washington Inaugural Bible on display’

     
New-York Historical Society opened an exhibit a few weeks ago where you can see the King James Bible on which George Washington took his first presidential oath of office. “Meet the Presidents” has no posted closing date, but I figure the artifacts now on display will be succeeded by others planned for rotation, so check it out.

Courtesy St. John’s Lodge No. 1 Foundation, Inc.

The Bible, as I’m sure you know, is owned by St. John’s Lodge 1 in New York City. It was the lodge’s altar Bible on April 30, 1789 when Washington was to be sworn into office at what we now call Federal Hall on Wall Street. Just before the ceremony, it was decided to add a Bible to the proceedings, so Jacob Morton, Master of the lodge, retrieved this VSL for use in administering the oath of office. Read more about this here.

For more on this exhibit, click here. To help the foundation preserve this historic treasure, click here.
     

‘Salon de la Rose-Croix this month’

     
The Chancellor Robert R. Livingston Masonic Library will host its third annual Salon de la Rose Croix, featuring unique conversation, poetry, art, and music, later this month at Masonic Hall.

That will be Thursday, March 26 at 6 p.m. in the French Doric Room on the tenth floor. Photo ID is required to enter the building. Admission is free, but book your seats here. Masonic Hall is located at 71 West 23rd Street in Manhattan.

Milosz Jeziorski will begin the salon with his lecture titled “In Search of The Golden Fleece: The Warrior Philosopher’s Path Towards Immortality.” Tony Crisos will present a musical performance, and then Angel Millar and Adrienne Chrysovergis will read original poetry. A question-and-answer period will conclude the evening. From the publicity:

Milosz Jeziorski

Bro. Milosz Jeziorski is a composer, visual artist, and podcast producer who often creates under the name MJDorian. His professional accolades include winning Best Original Score at VisionFest film festival for his music to the feature film Ontologica, as well as collaborations with up-and-coming singers and rappers of New York City for his debut dark pop album Catharsis. His current passion project has been writing and producing a podcast series titled Creative Codex about history’s great creative geniuses. Milosz’s foray into Western esoteric traditions began with Freemasonry in 2012, and now includes the distinguished honor of serving as Master of Compact Lodge 402.

Angel Millar

Bro. Angel Millar is the author of The Three Stages of Initiatic Spirituality: Craftsman, Warrior, Magician, and other books. He is a well known lecturer on the subject of the Craft, and has spoken at Masonic Con, Attleboro, Massachusetts; Masonic Con, Pasadena; 300: Freemasonry’s Legacy, Freemasonry’s Future event at the George Washington Masonic National Memorial in Virginia; at the Grand Lodge of New Jersey; and at lodges around the United States.

Bro. Tony Crisos is a composer, guitarist, lyre player, philosopher, writer, and lecturer. He studied philosophy at the National Kapodistrian University of Athens, earned his Bachelor of Arts Degree in Music Performance from Berklee College of Music, and his Master of Arts in Music Education from Boston University.

Tony Crisos

Crisos was raised in March 2016 in Advance Service Mitzpah Lodge 586 in Queens, and now is a member of Compact Lodge 402. He has been an active member of the fraternity, including in both the Scottish Rite and York Rite. Crisos contributes his time and energy to philosophy, Freemasonry, and the Western esoteric arts. He has presented lectures on Masonic subjects to Advance Service Mitzpah Lodge, to the RW John C. Ross School of Instruction, to the Chancellor Robert R. Livingston Library, and at the Apollo Festival of Masonic Arts in Virginia. He is an active member of the Aesthetic Rose+Croix Order of the Temple and the Grail (also known as the Aesthetic Rose+Croix), and is founder of the modern incarnation of the Salon de la Rose + Croix tradition currently taking place at the Livingston Library. Crisos has published several articles online including “The Spiritual Meaning of Music from Ancient Greece to Today” in 2016, “Myth, Catharsis, and the Riddle of The Sphinx” in 2017, “The Sufi Mysticism of Music, Sound, and Vibration” in 2017, “In Search of Light: A Journey Through the Mysteries of the Great Gods” in 2017, and “Three Ancient Greek Texts for the Warrior-Philosopher” in 2018. Today he is lecturing on Greek philosophy and the ancient Mystery Schools, writing a book on the ancient Greek lyre, and actively performs with both his instruments in the New York City area.

Adrienne Chrysovergis

Adrienne Chrysovergis is a licensed insurance agent, running her family-owned insurance brokerage since 2002. She oversees all aspects of the business, from sales to customer service. She received her B.A. in English from Adelphi University, and loves all things related to words, including reading and writing poetry. She is also an active member of the Aesthetic Rose+Croix, and she is working on a series of poems inspired by ancient Greek theology.

Nick Kampouris

Nick Kampouris is a New York City-based artist and designer. His artworks include portraits with a contemporary/urban feel, as well as representational and nonrepresentational abstract pieces. You can find his art in magazines, film, and private collections.
     

‘Weird Fact Wednesday: from tomb to telephone box’

     
At the meeting of Quatuor Coronati Lodge 2076 last month, Bro. James Campbell presented his paper “Sir John Soane and Freemasonry: A Reassessment Based on a Return to the Original Sources.” That’s not the weird part. Actually, this had been scheduled for last fall, but it didn’t work out. And that’s not the weird thing either. No, this week’s Weird Fact Wednesday concerns John Soane and the design of the now disappearing red telephone boxes of the United Kingdom.

Courtesy Internet Lodge 9659

This portrait of Bro. Soane, by John Jackson, hangs

in Soane’s home, now museum, at Lincoln’s Inn Fields.

Soane died in 1837, and what is weird is he inadvertently inspired the telephone box, which didn’t begin appearing until the 1920s.

I don’t know the contents of Bro. Campbell’s paper, but hopefully it doesn’t contradict what is known about Freemason Soane: He received the degrees of Freemasonry in 1813, and was named Grand Superintendent of Works of the Freemasons that same year. In 1826, he began designing Freemason’s Hall on Great Queen Street (the predecessor of the building we know today), and began its construction in 1828. I cannot confirm his lodge affiliation.

Soane’s wife Eliza predeceased him in 1815; he is said never to have transcended his grief. The architect of the Bank of England, various churches, and other famed structures, also built his wife’s tomb. It is this project, which later would serve as the Soane family tomb, that would inspire the design of the phone boxes.

The main tomb structure:

Courtesy Astoft

There have been different models, but here is a typical telephone box:

Courtesy liberaldictionary.com

The red telephone box has been rendered redundant by the ubiquity of cell phones, so they are disappearing from the streets of the United Kingdom, but in their day they were found everywhere from Manchester to Malta, from Brighton to Bermuda, from Great Queen Street to Gibraltar—you get the idea. Six months ago, The Guardian mentioned there still were 10,000 in existence, with some being repurposed as tiny public libraries, houses for defibrillators, and other uses. There is the adopt-a-kiosk system that saves many of them.

The red telephone box originally was designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, the architect of Battersea Power Station, the Anglican cathedral in Liverpool, and other notable sites. The influence of Soane’s tomb on Scott’s phone box is not obvious, in my opinion, but architecture historians attribute the former to the latter, so I side with them. Also, Scott was a trustee of the Soane Museum.

Originally, I was hoping to connect the Soane tomb to the TARDIS by way of the English police box, but maybe more research is needed to illustrate art imitating art.
     

‘Morris receives Washington Award’

     

Courtesy Mark Tabbert

Jeff Webb, left, president of the George Washington Masonic

National Memorial Association, presents Morris with the award.

On Saturday, February 22, Bro. S. Brent Morris was presented with another top honor for excellence in Masonic scholarship when he received the George Washington Memorial Award.

It was the 110th anniversary of the George Washington Masonic National Memorial Association, and part of the festivities included Morris presenting his “In Praise of Punctuation: The Case of the Missing Semicolon,” which explains how small mistakes can cause misunderstandings in historical research. This award, I gather, is more in recognition of a lifetime of labor.

Congratulations, Brent! They’ll need a wing in the House of the Temple for all your trophies one day.

(I don’t know if he still reads The Magpie Mason, but Brent was an encouraging voice back when this blog was more informative.)
     

‘Masonic March Madness’

     
Don’t miss these local and nearby events!

Saturday, March 7 – Maryland Masonic Research Society to meet at Mount Hermon Lodge 179 in Hyattsville, Maryland. Two presentations are scheduled: Cleola Bostic on “Hannah Mather Crocker, Pioneer of American Women’s Freemasonry & The First Women’s Lodge,” and Anne-Marie Moody on “Annie Besant and Freemasonry.” All are welcome. Write the secretary here to reserve your seat.

Saturday, March 14 – New Jersey Lodge of Masonic Research and Education 1786 will meet at Hightstown-Apollo Lodge 41 in Hightstown. The main attractions will be:

• Bro. Howard Kanowitz presenting his “Ideas that Influenced the Writers of Our Ritual.”
• Bro. Erich Huhn, author of the newly published New Jersey’s Masonic Lodges, presenting “From the Academy: Masonry and the Study of History.”
• Bro. Scott Vicari discussing the book Learning to Walk by Barbara Brown Taylor, an Episcopal priest and professor.

The lodge will open approximately 9:30 a.m. and usually closes before 1 p.m. Breakfast and lunch will be served. Attire: suit and tie with regalia. It’s the only lodge in the state that educates Masons in regularly scheduled communications (second Saturdays of March, June, September, and December).

Also make sure you get here on St. Patrick’s Day to hear Robert L.D. Cooper discuss a 17th century Masonic ritual.

Saturday, March 21 – At Pennsylvania Academy of Masonic Knowledge, Chuck Dunning and a brother from Cuba are scheduled to speak. Click here.

Monday, March 30 – I still have to confirm this, but The American Lodge of Research is said to have been revived, and will host its table lodge at Masonic Hall in Manhattan.

     

‘Call for papers: Islamic Esotericism’

     
You have two months to answer the call for papers of this year’s European Network for the Study of Islam and Esotericism. (I didn’t know that existed either, but it is part of the European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism.)

The 2020 meeting will take place September 24-26 at Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium. The theme is Islamic Esotericism in Global Contexts. From the publicity:

Call for Papers:

Islamic Esotericism

in Global Contexts

Deadline for submissions:

May 1, 2020

The European Network for the Study of Islam and Esotericism (ENSIE) invites you to submit proposals for its 2020 meeting. The theme for the meeting is “Islamic Esotericism in Global Contexts.” The aim is to consider the relationship between Islam and esotericism, and Islamic esotericism, in a global context, shifting the emphasis not only from Western perspectives, but also being more inclusive of the experience of Islam beyond the Arabo-Persian domains. We encourage proposals that give prominence to the agency of non-Western actors in negotiating and challenging social, political, and doctrinal “realities” as they manifest in the writings and activities of esoteric groups and systems. The chronological scope thus stretches from medieval to contemporary times. We encourage papers outlining suitable methods of investigation, re-evaluating accepted conceptual frameworks, formulating effective comparative research, and foraying into new textual frontiers.

We invite papers that engage with these aims, but proposals that do not relate to the 2020 meeting theme are also welcome.

There is no fee for attending the meeting and accommodation will be provided, but the cost of travel is the responsibility of individual participants.

Send proposals, before May 1, here. Provide the title and abstract (250 words maximum) of your proposed paper, and your name, institution, academic position, a brief bio, and a short CV.

The meeting is organized by

• Mark Sedgwick, Professor of Arab and Islamic Studies, Aarhus University, and Convener of ENSIE
• Liana Saif, Research Associate, Warburg Institute
• Godefroid de Callataÿ, Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies, Université catholique de Louvain
• Michele Petrone, Postdoc, Université catholique de Louvain
• Francesco Piraino, Postdoc, IDEMEC-CNRS - Fondazione Giorgio Cini

The 2020 meeting is arranged in cooperation with the ERC project on Philosophy in al-Andalus (PhilAnd), and the Université Catholique de Louvain.

Click here for further information on ENSIE.
     

‘Handel’s temple of sound on Mott Street’

     
Almighty pow’r, who rul’st the earth and skies,
And bade gay order from confusion rise;
Whose gracious hand reliev’d Thy slave distress’d,
With splendour cloath’d me, and with knowledge bless’d;
Thy finish’d temple with Thy presence grace,
And shed Thy heav’nly glories o’er the place.

Solomon, from the libretto


What are you doing in two weeks? Get the boys from lodge and your ladies together for a class trip and go get some culture! Handel’s oratorio Solomon will be performed by Amor Artis Chorus at Basilica of St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral. From the publicity:

G.F. Handel’s Solomon

Sunday, March 8

3:30 p.m.

Amor Artis Chorus

Basilica of St. Patrick’s

Old Cathedral

261 Mott Street, Manhattan

Tickets here

Seize a rare opportunity to hear Handel’s majestic oratorio Solomon. Alex Ross of The New Yorker deemed Act III “Handel’s genius at its vertiginous height . . . [a] temple of sound, which has withstood the centuries and shines brighter than ever.” Led by the “exquisite” singing of Sarah Nelson Craft in the title role (Opera News), Amor Artis, in collaboration with our friends, the “truly excellent” dynamos of New York Baroque, Inc. (The New York Times), will present this famous story of wisdom and judgment, which features some of Handel’s grandest choruses. Join us at the beautiful space at the Basilica of St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral.

Amor Artis Chorus
with
Madeline Healey, soprano
Katie Lipow, soprano
Sarah Nelson Craft, mezzo-soprano
Alex Guerrero, tenor
Michael Steinberger, tenor
Richard Holmes, baritone

New York Baroque, Incorporated


British Choirs on the Net explains:

The popularity of oratorio in England owes much to the nation’s choral singing tradition and the patronage by the Elector of Hanover, later George I, of George Frederick Handel. In his oratories, Handel sought both to educate and entertain, and provided a foil to the more restrained and devotional religious music of Byrd and J.S. Bach.

Handel composed Solomon between May 5 and June 13, 1748. The librettist, as with his next work Susanna, is unknown. The plot is simple with Act I dealing with the inauguration of the newly completed temple, and ends with Solomon beckoning his queen toward the cedar grove, where one suspects it is not just the “amorous turtles” that “love beneath the pleasing gloom.” Act II is based around the well known story of two women arguing over who is the mother of the newborn baby, and Solomon’s sharp thinking to find a solution. Act III portrays the visit of the Queen of Sheba (also known as the Queen of Egypt and Ethiopia), and her amazement at the glory and splendor of Solomon’s court.

With a relatively small and diverse cast of characters (Solomon, Queen of Sheba, two Harlots, Zadok the Priest, and a Levite), it falls to the chorus, as builders and inhabitants of this “golden city,” to emphasize the grandeur and splendor of Solomon’s kingdom, and to literarily provide the pillars of the whole piece. These grand choruses, seven of which are in eight voice-parts, add to the texture and opulence of the oratorio mirroring the glory of the court and religious intensity.

Always an astute businessman, Handel praised and paid homage to his patron by highlighting the perceived parallels, for the eighteenth century audience, between Solomon and George II. The qualities of Solomon, as portrayed by Handel, his piety (Act I), wisdom (Act II), and splendor (Act III), were also attributable to the reigning English king, and Handel duly praised the establishment virtues of happy marriage, rural contentment, and a national religion.