The Universal Language of Freemasonry - ArchiMeD - Johannes ...

Chapter 8 - Categorization of Rituals 687
Music is the art which affects the passions by sound. [...] It is a
language of delightful sensations far more eloquent than words; [...] it
dissolves and inflames; it melts us in tenderness, and excites us to war.
(Organ plays Star Spangled Banner)
The martial strains of national airs heard on the field of battle have
thrilled the soldier's heart, causing him to burn with an emulous desire
to lead the perilous advance, and animating him to deeds of heroic valor
and sublime devotion; amidst the roar of canon, the din of musketry,
and the carnage of battle, he sinks to the dust. Raising himself to take
one long last look of life, he hears in the distance that plaintive strain:
Home, Sweet Home.
(Organ plays Home Sweet Home, first softy and then louder.) 1666
The phraseology, "it melts us in tenderness, and excites us to war" already
anticipates the feelings that are to be evoked in the candidate, mediated by the
power of music. And this peculiarity is not prevalent exclusively in the Craft
ritual from 1980. It seems to have been inherent to American Craft Masonry
from the 19 th century on, or maybe right from the beginning. The pathos is even
greater in the older rituals. When we look at the corresponding lecture in Simons'
Standard Masonic Monitor from 1888, we will find very romantic directions for
the organist:
The Organist will now commence playing with tremolo, as soft as
possible, gradually increasing and diminishing, until the word "WAR,"
then play two strains of "Marseilles Hymn" with full organ; then very
soft until the words "plaintive strain," then play four lines of "Home
Sweet Home," with tremolo; then very soft and plaintive until the word
"universe" when the entire Lodge will unite in singing "Be thou O God
[...]." 1667
The text about the dying soldier is the same as in the modern Craft ritual.
However, in the manual of 1888, there is a supplementary accompanying text to
the song "Home Sweet Home," which evokes sentimental feelings connected
with childhood: "It was our mother's evening hymn, that lulled us to sleep in
infancy [...]." 1668 Hereafter, in both the ancient manual and the modern ritual, a
hymn dedicated to the Deity is sung, which is considered the climax of the
musical power: "but it never sounds with such seraphic harmony, as when
employed in singing hymns of gratitude, to the Creator of the universe." 1669
There are numerous prayers and hymns to God in the Masonic Craft ritual, but
religious aspects will not be considered at the moment.
1666 Nizzardini (publ.), p. 114/115.
1667 Simons, p. 85.
1668 Simons, p. 86.
1669 Simons, p. 87, and Nizzardini, p. 115.