Masonic Ritual Music vinyl LP - RARE

Masonic Ritual Music vinyl LP
by Jean Sibelius
Opus 113
1950s? King Country Masonic Library, Inc., PC-167
Excellent condition.

This was specially composed music for the fraternity by Finnish composer Jan Sibelius (1865-1957), after receiving his Masonic degree at the newly founded Suomi-Loge No.1 in Helsinki, Finland, in 1922. I’ve seen several iterations of this album/music from the 1970s to present, but this is the oldest record I have been able to locate. Recorded in the first Presbyterian Church, Seattle, WA.

Freemasonry had reached Finland via Sweden in the mid-eighteenth century, but was banned after the country became part of Russia in 1809. In early 1922, after Finland had established its independence, a new Masonic lodge was formed – Suomi Lodge No.1. Among its first members was Jean Sibelius, who initially served as the lodge’s organist. At lodge meetings, Sibelius would played the harmonium, performing music by Mozart, Beethoven and Handel as well as improvising – at times so enthusiastically that he would have to be called to order by the Grand Master. It was also suggested that Sibelius should compose ‘special, genuinely Finnish music for the lodge’, but this did not happen until some years later, when he received a proper commission – and a fee – for the task.

His Masonic Ritual Music, or Musique religieuse, received its first complete performance on 12th January 1927, but Sibelius returned to the work some twenty years later, adding two movements – Ode to Fraternity and Hymn – which are believed to be his last original compositions. The Masonic Ritual Music centers around a series of songs for tenor and organ, the number, order and texts of which vary between the original manuscripts and the various editions.