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

Chapter 9 - Masonic and Anti-Masonic Literature 713
Gedanken anklingt, waren die Gedanken der Wiener der Mitte des
josephinischen Jahrzehnts. Genauso wie man das Problem auf der Bühne
darstelle, genauso war es Bestandteil des täglichen Lebens." 1742 Emperor
Leopold II (1790-1792) maintained a good relationship with the Freemasons. In
the years under his reign, several theater plays were performed that did not
mention the word "Freemasonry," but contained Masonic ideas and symbols, and
thus showed Masonic influence. One of these plays, Der Geisterseher by Perinet,
leaning on Schiller's fragment with the same title and performed in 1790, seems
to have had an educational function. Its author was skeptical with regard to secret
societies, displayed stage equipment resembling a lodge room, and dealt with
necromancy, creating an anti-Rosicrucian propaganda and a warning against
alchemy. 1743 In 1791, three months prior to Mozart's opera, The Magic Flute, the
play Die Tempelherren (The Templars) by Kalchberg was performed, which
contained the hypothesis that the Knights Templar were the predecessors of the
Freemasons.
Under Emperor Franz II (1792-1801), censorship was introduced against
Freemasonry which forbade Masonic emblems and texts: "Bei Opern,
Singspielen und derogleichen war der Text, bei Musikalien außerdem
Bildschmuck oder auch Widmungen zu zensurieren." 1744 Anti-Masonic
propaganda became so strong that in 1794, the lodges in Vienna ceased to work.
The few plays performed under these circumstances contained many allusions
and symbols and remained an "outer space" for the profane audience: "Die in
dieser Phase untersuchten Stücke sind vor allem mit Sinnbildern angereichert;
eine geheimnisvolle und fremde Welt für das allgemeine Publikum. Die
Humanideen sind gerahmt, und in einer Spätphase sogar getrennt von Symbolik
erkennbar." 1745
What is the content of Masonic plays? As has been shown, some try to
recapture the historical development of Freemasonry. Others expose "secret"
Masonic initiation rites. Some plays denounce Rosicrucianism and magism that
have nothing to do with Masonry, and thus wrongly show Freemasonry in an
unfavorable light. Only a few discuss the problems of Freemasonry in the
historical context, or contain humanistic ideas mingled with Masonic symbolism.
Certain are shallow or hilarious plays on curious women seeking entrance into
the secret order and being detected. Some comedies ridicule women inventing
their own female Masonry, such as the American play Sister Masons. A
Burlesque in One Act, by Frank Dumont, 1894. In this burlesque, the female
Masons fail to perform a solemn initiation ceremony because the hysterical
ladies are afraid of a mouse, and the female candidate runs off before she can be
made to "ride the goat." 1746 Other plays were restricted by censorship, and some
even caused a scandal, such as the comedy Der Freimaurer (1818) by the
1742
Ibid, p. 104.
1743
Cf. ibid, p. 112.
1744
Quoted from Marx Julius, Die österreichische Zensur im Vormärz, by Großegger, p. 119.
1745
Großegger, p. 123.
1746
Burlesque printed in The Lodge Goat by Pettibone, p. 587-596.