MOUNT CAF.
In the Mohammedan mythology, a fabulous mountain which encircles the earth. The home of the giants and fairies, and rests upon the sacred stone Sakhral, of which a single grain gives miraculous powers. It is of an emerald color, and its resected light is the cause of the tints of the sky.
MOUNT CALVARY.
See Calvary.
MOUNT MORIAH.
See Morzah.
MOUNT SINAI.
See Sinai.
MOURNING.
The mourning color has been various in different times and countries. Thus, the Chinese mourn in white; the Turks in blue or in violet; the Egyptians in yellow; the Ethiopians in gray. In all the Degrees and Rites of Freemasonry, with a single exception black is the symbol of grief, and therefore the mourning color. But in the highest Degrees of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite the mourning color, like that used by the former kings of France, is violet.
MOUTH TO EAR.
The Freemason is taught by an expressive symbol, to whisper good counsel in his Brother's ear, and to warn him of approaching danger. "It is a rare thing," says Bacon, "except it be from a perfect and entire friend, to have counsel given that is not bowed and crooked to some ends which he hath that giveth it." And hence it is an admirable lesson, which Freemasonry here teaches us, to use the lips and the tongue only in the service of a Brother.
MOVABLE JEWELS.
See Petrels of a Lodge.
M. O. V. P. E. R.
See Grotto.
MOZART, JOHANN CARYSOSTOMUS WOLFGANG AMADEUS.
A celebrated German composer and musician, born January 27, 1756, in Salzburg, and died December 5, 1791, in Vienna. Mozart's father, Leopold, was a violinist of repute and gave his son early and splendid trainings so much so, in fact, that at the age of five the young Mozart wrote an extremely difficult concerto for the harpsichord.
At six he made his musical debut in Vienna; published his first sonatas for the harpsichord at seven years of age in Paris and at eight performed before the Court of England difficult compositions of Bach and Handel. In 1767 he received his first commission from the Emperor Joseph II at Vienna to write the music of a comic opera. This-was written, but unfortunately was suppressed and never performed owing to the opposition of the court musicians. In 1769 Mozart went to Milan—then fourteen Years of age—with the idea of finishing his education. Here he heard the Miserere (usually meaning Psalm 51, but sometimes any penitential chant) once at Sistine Chapel and then wrote it down from memory, note for note. At that time even the singers were forbidden to transcribe the music of the Miserere on pain of excommunication by the Pope, so this feat created a sensation and was so mighty an accomplishment that the Pope, cl on the return of Mozart to Rome, invested him with the Order of the Golden Spur, which honor had also been conferred upon Gluck not many years before. Mozart's first opera was written during his twentieth year, called Mithridates, and performed more than twenty times in succession. Following this he was appointed Composer to the Court. At the age of twenty-five he married Constance Weber.
All through Mozart's life he was harassed and handicapped by extreme poverty and his hardships and difficulties were greatly increased by Hieronymus, Count of Colloredo, a Roman Catholic Archbishop of Salzburg, to which office he was appointed at the death of a previous Archbishop who had rendered the young Mozart much assistance in the way of interest and help to Mozart's father during the earlier years of his training of his son. When Mozart was sixteen vears old, Hieronvmus summoned him and kept him in Salzburg without funds, refusing him permission to leave on a concert tour for the purpose of gaining some income to relieve the extreme financial stress which Mozart was suffering. This in spite of the fact that the position he held with Hieronymus was a purely honorary one without income.
At twenty-one Mozart again sued for permission to resign this appointment and after much vituperation Hieronymus finally permitted him to leave. Mozart's art naturally gave him immediate success when performing independently but unfortunately, as soon as Hieronymus found that he had successfully established himself, he was prompted by his petty vanity and a desire to retain a celebrated artist in his service to summon poor Mozart back into his domain and provided a small salary, although he did not permit Mozart to add to this by performing anywhere except at the archiepiscopal palace. Here he used every opportunity of mistreating Mozart, who stood for these indignities as long as was humanly possible and then sent in his formal resignation, for which action he was insulted by the Archbishop "in terms too vulgar for translation." Mozart was buried in a pauper's grave. Xan Swieten, Sussmayer and only three other friends planned to accompany him to the cemetery but even these turned back "because it rained." Sussmayer it
was who finished the last composition written in part while on Mozart's death-bed, the Requiem, it being probable that he did so at Mozart's specific request
Brother Herbert Bradley, Transactions, of Quatuor Coronati Lodge, volume Levi, 1913, states that Mozart is said to have been initiated in Lodge Zur Wohltätigkeit, meaning Charity, in the autumn of 1784 and that other authorities state that he was initiated in the Lodge Zur Hoffnung or a Lodge Zur Gekronten Hoffnung, meaning Crowned Hope. As a matter of fact all these statements are in a measure true. Under the decree of the Emperor, of December 1, 1785, these Lodges were united into one Lodge. The words of Mozart's opening ode for the Lodge clearly illustrate these changes.
- Opening Ode, Opus 483
- Sing vestal lays to heav'n ascending
- Fraternal voices blending
- sing our Protector's praise.
- For in our brethren's hearts a triple fire he found,
- And all our hope aIlew is crown'd
- Chorus:
- Then loud let our chorus be swelling
- his praises forever forthtelling
- Who knitted more closely our band,
- Who finding our zeal warmly glowing
- For merit this honor bestowed
- Has crown'd us with generous hand.
- These, two, we praise, who watching o'er us,
- Held virtues torch before us
- So walk we in their ways
- For flowing from their path, where'er their steps have stood
- Our brother finds a souree of good.
- Chorus:
- Far better than mere acclamation
- To heed them by bold emulation
- And honor like theirs to attain.
- Threefold is the labor before us
- So hush'd be the strains of our chorus till called to
- refreshment again.
- Closing Ode, Opus 484
- Our thanks are yours for ever,
- Who are the badge of Office wearing
- Let virtue be your sole endeavor;
- So everyone will joy in bearing
- The chains that bind such brothers true
- Sweetening the cup of life anew.
- Chorus:
- And this obligation
- We swear to fulfill
- Upon your foundation
- To build with a will.
- Then raise us ever higher
- Upon the wings of truth ascending
- To wisdom's throne we may aspire.
- That so our wearv labors ending
- We may be worthy of her crown,
- And rest where envy is unknown.
- Chorus:
- And this obligation
- We swear to fulfill,
- Upon your foundation
- To build with a will.
The above translation is by Brother Orton Bradle. Transactions, Quatuor Coronati Lodge (page 241 al;;i page 263, volume xxvi, 1913).
Richard Koch in his treatise on Brother Mozart
Freimaurer und Illuminaten, 1911, says that Mozart s Mother Lodge had a library of 1,900 volumes, that it was a legally constituted Lodge, and that it had a laboratory in which lectures were given. The list of 1788 shows that the members of the united Lodge Zur Neugekronten Hoffnung consisted of one Ruling Prince, thirty-six Counts, one Marquis, fourteen Barons and forty-two Nobles, officers, Ambassadors Chamberlains Prebendaries, Officials, etc.
Brother Bradley gives the following as the principal bIasoMc compositions of Brother Mozart:
Die Gesellenreise. Opus 468, a Masonic song, composed March 26, 1785.
The Opening and Closing of the Lodge. Opus 483 and 484. These were probably composed for the first meetings of the Lodge Neugekronten Hoffnung.
A short Cantata. Maurerfreude, Opus 471, for tenor and chorus, dated April 20, 1785, performed on the 24th of April, in honor of the metallurgist Von Born, at a special Lodge held on that day to celebrate his discovery of the method of working ores by amalgamation.
The success of this discovery was celebrated by a Lodge Zur wahren Eintracht, meaning True Harmony , by a banquet, at Which the Cantata was performed.
A short Masonic Cantata, words said to have been written by Schikaneder, for two tenors and a bass, with orchestral accompaniment, Opus 623. This was written for the consecration of a Masonic Temple on November 15. 1791. It was the last finished composition of which Mozart conducted the performance. This contains as an appendix, a Hymn for closing of the Lodge, which was probably Mozart's farewell to the Craft. The words of the Cantata, and this Hymn, clearly refer to the consecration ceremony: "Today we consecrate this habitation for our temple, for the first time we gather within this new seat of knowledge and of virtue, and look, the consecration is completed, O ! that the work were finished also that consecrates our hearts. " This Cantata was published about 1902 under the title Praize of Friendship, with English words by Brother George C. Dusart, describing the Three Degrees, Davis & Co., London and Brighton, England.
A Cantata, Die ihr des unernesslichen Weltalls Schopfer ehrt, Opus 619, words by Ziegenhagen.
Maurerisehe Trauernmusik, an orchestral piece, an elegy on the death of the Duke Georg August of WIeeklenhurg Strelitz, and Prinee Franz Esterhazy, Opus 4v ,. Composed July, 1785.
The Magie Flute. Brother Hubert W. Hunt on pages 265 and 266 of the above volume of the Transactions of Quatuor Coronati Lodge says " It is impossible to describe the numbers of Mozart's works as Opus numbers." Like Bach, Mozart did not number his compositiorLs, the numbers refer to the catalog compiled by Kochel and should he indicated K, KY, or Koehel, thus Die Zauberflote, KV 620. Kochel endeavored to enumerate the works in chronological order, and the list of Masonic music should follow this plan, and run one, four, seven, two and three, six, eight, five. Three other works are supposed to have been intended for Masonic use: they are, an adagio, in Canon form, for wind instruments, KV 411, and Adagio, also for wind instruments KV 412, and a short Cantata, a hymn to the sun
Die Seele des Weltalls, KV 429. Libretto was by Schikaneder.
Brother Herbert Bradley on page 252 of the above Transactions of Quatuor Coronati Lodge says "The plot of the Magic Flute is now generally believed to be a book published in 1731 by the Abbe Terrasson named Sethos, described as a history of life drawn from the monuments of ancient Egypt. It contains a description of the initiation of Sethos, an Egyptian priest, into the mysteries of Egypt."
Brother Hubert W. Hunt on page 267 says in part, "A Masonic friend of Mozart of whom more might brave been said is Franz Joseph Haydn, 1732 to 1809 the composer of the Creation, and of over one hundred and fifty Symphonies and the father of the stringed quartet." The setting of the words "And there was light" in the opening chorus is worthy of remark. The Creation was composed 1796 to 1798.
Brother Bradley quotes the following translation from the oration made at the Lodge of Mourning held by the Freemasons in honor of Mozart. This oration was published in 1792 and sold for the benefit of Mozart's family—
It has pleased the everlasting Master Builder to tear our beloved Brother from the chain of our brotherhood. Who did not know him? Who did not value him? Who did not love him, our worthy Brother, Mozart? Only a few weeks ago he stood in our midst and with the magic tones added such beauty to the dedication of our Masonic Temple. Mozart's death brings irreparable loss to his art; his talents which nvere apparent in his earliest youth made him even then the greatest marvel of his time. Half Europe valued him. The creat called him their favorite, Liebling, and we caned him Brother. But while we must of necessity recall his powers in Art we must not forget the praise due to his great heart. He was a most enthusiastic follolver of our Order. Love for his Brethren, sociability, enthusiasm for the good cause, charity, the true and deep feeling of pleasure when he was able by means of his talents to help one of his Brethren, these were the chief features of his eharaeter. He was husband, father, friend to his friends, Brother to his Brethren. Only the wherewithal was wanted to hinder him from making hundreds happy, as his heart bade him." What more could be said of any Freemason?
See also Mozart and his Masonic Circle, Brother Dudley Wright, New England Craftsman, July, 1922, and Mozart and Masonry, Brother Sir John A. Cockburn, Masonic Record, December, 1922.
MUDGE, R. C.
Wrote Masonic poems and songs, 1819.
MUELLER, FRIEDERICH VON.
German poet; friend of Brother Goethe; and member of Lodge Amalia, at Weimar, where he was initiated in 1809, becoming its Orator and Deputy Master. He composed some poetry and delivered the oration in honor of Wieland in 1813, and when the Lodge held its festival for the fifty years, Jubilee of the Grand Duke Charles Augustus of Saxe Weimar, 1825, he delivered the address. To the memory of Goethe shortly after, he made another address. Several of the selections are by him in the song book of the Lodge Amalia.
MUENTER, FRIEDERICH.
Born in 1761, and died in 1830. He was Professor of Theology in the University of Copenhagen, and afterward Bishop of Seeland. He was the author of a treatise on the Symbols and Art Represerltations of thel3arly Christians In 1794 he published his Statute Book of the Order of Knights Templar, the German title being Statutenbuch des Ordens der Tempelherren; a work which is one of the most valuable contributions that we have to the history of Templarism.
MULTA PAUCIS.
Latin for much but Veto, a concise history of Freemasonry brought down to 1763 and published in England, probably in 1764, but without date or author's name with the title of The Complete Freemason or MulJa Paucis for Lovers of Secrets. This book differs slightly from Doctor Anderson's history, one point of Interest being the assertion that the Grand Lodge of England was organized in 1717 by sis Lodges, not four.
MUNKHOUSE, D. D., REV. RICHARD.
The author of A Discourse in Praise of Freemasonny, London, 1805; An Exhortation to the Practice of those Specific Virtues which ought to prevail in the Masonic Character, with Historical Notes, octavo, London, 1805; and Occasional Discourses on Various Subjects, with Copious Annotations, three volumes, octavo, London, 1805. This last work contains many discourses on Masonic subjects. Doctor Munkhouse was an ardent admirer and defender of Freemasonry, into which he was initiated in the Phoenix Lodge of Sunderland. On his removal to Wakefield, where he was Rector of Saint John the Baptist's Church, he united with the Lodge of Unanimity, under the Mastership of Richard Linnecar, to whose virtues and Masonic knowledge he has paid a high tribute. Doctor Munkhouse died in the early part of the nineteenth century.
MURAT, JOACHIM.
Born in 1771, executed in 1815. The great cavalry general of Napoleon, and titular King of Naples. In 1803, he was appointed Senior Grand Warden in the Grand Orient of France. When the fifth Supreme Council of the World was established at Naples, on June 11, 1809, by the Supreme Council at Milan, a Concordat became necessary, and was executed May 3, 1811, between the Grand Orient, which was created June 24, 1809, and the Supreme Council of Naples, whereby the latter should have sole control over the Degrees beyond the eighteenth, in like manner as signified in the Concordat of France. King Joachim Murat accepted the supreme command of both Bodies. The change in his political surroundings allowed him no permanent rest.
MURAT, JOACHIM, PRINCE.
Son of the King of Naples. Was appointed Grand Master of the Grand Orient of France, and initiated February 26, 1825. He resigned the office in 1861.
MURR, CHRISTOPH GOTTLIEB VON.
A distingtushed historical and archeological writer, who was born at Nuremberg, in 1733, and died April 8, 1811. In 1760 he published an Essay on the History of the Greek Tragic Poets, in 1777-82, six volumes of Antiquities of Herculaum, and several other historical works. In 1803 he published an essay on the True Origin of the Orders of Rosicrucianism anal Freemasonry, zeith an Appandi: on the History of the Order of Templars. In this work, Murr attempts to traee Freemasonry to the times of Oliver Cromwell, and maintains that it and Rosicrucianism had an identical origin, and the same history until the year 1633, when they separated.
MUSCUS DOMUS.
In the early lectures of the eighteenth century, the tradition is given, that certain Fellow Crafts, while pursuing their search, discovered a grave covered with green moss and turf, when they exclaimed, Muscus Domus, Deo- gratias, which Latin expression was interpreted, Thanks be to God, our Master )m a mossy house. Whence a Freemason's grave came to be called Muscus Domus. But both the tradition and its application have become obsolete in the modern instructions.
MUSIC.
One of the seven liberal arts and sciences, whose beauties are inculcated in the Fellow Craft's Degree. Music is recommended to the attention of Freemasons, because as the "concord of sweet sounds" elevates the generous sentiments of the soul, so should the concord of flood feeling reign among the Brethren, that by the union of friendship and brotherly love the boisterous pardons msy be lulled and harmony exist throughout the Craft
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS, ANCIENT.
As in the Fellow Craft's Degree, music is dilated upon as one of the liberal arts, the sweet and harmonious sounds being the representative of that harmony which should ever exist among the Brethren, we are apt to inquire what were the instruments used by the ancients in their mystical service. The oldest ever discovered, we believe, is a small clay pipe not over three inehes in length, found by Captain Willock among the presumed ruins of Babylon; if so it must be 2,600 years old.
By the use of the two finger holes, the intervals of the Common Chord, C, E, and G. are produced, or the Harmonic Triad. From the ruins of Nineveh we have countless representations of the harp, with strings varying from ten to twentv-six; the lyre. identical in structure with that of the Greeks; a harp-shaped instrument held horizontally, and the six to ten strings struck with a plectrum, which has been termed the Asor, from its resemblance to the Hebrew instrument of that name. There is also the guitar-shaped instrument, and a double pipe with a single mouthpiece and finger-holes on each pipe. The Assyrians used musical bells, trumpets, flutes, drums cvmbals, and tambourines. The Abyssinians call their lyre the Kissar the Greek name being, kithara. There is also the flute, called Monaulos, which is of great antiquity, and named by the Egyptians Photins, or curved flute. The crooked horn or trumpet, called Buccina, and the Cithara, held sacred in consequence of its shape being that of the Greek letter delta.
MUSTARD SEED, ORDER OF.
The Gerrnan title is Der Orden vom Senfkorn. This Association, whose members also called themselves "The Fraternity of Moravian Brothers of the Order of Religious Freemasons," was one of the first innovations introduced into German Freemasonry. It was instituted in the year 1739. Its mysteries were founded on that passage in the fourth chapter of Saint Mark's Gospel in which Christ compares the kingdom of heaven to a mustard-seed. The Brethren wore a ring, on which was inscribed Keiner son uns lebt ihm selber, meaning in English, No one of us lives for himself. The jewel of the Order was a cross of gold surmounted by a mustard plant in full bloom, with the motto, Quod Suit ante nihil, this Latin meaning What was before nothing. It was suspended from a green ribbon. The professed object of the Association was, through the instrumentality of Freemasonry, to extend the kingdom of Christ over the world. It has long been obsolete (see Zinzendorf, Count son, Nicolaus Ludwig).
MUTA.
The Roman goddess of silence.
MUTTRA or MATHURA.
The birthplace of the Hindu Redeemer, Erishna The capital of a district in the Northwest Provinces of British India.
MY HOPE IS IN GOD.
In Latin, Spes Mea in Deo est. Motto of the Thirty-second Degree, Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite.
MYRRH.
A resinous gum of a tree growing in Arabia, valued from the most ancient times (Genesis xxxvii, 25). It was among the presents Jacob sent to Egypt, and those brought to the infant Jesus bv the wise men of the East.
MYRTLE.
The sacred plant of the Eleusinian mysteries, and analogous in its symbolism to the Acacia of the Freemasons.
MYSTAGOGUE,
The one who presided at the Ancient Mysteries, and explained the sacred things to the candidate. He was also called the hierophant. The word, which is Greek, signifies literally one who makes or conducts an initiate.
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