The World is in Pain our Secrets to gain,
And still let them wonder and gaze on;
Till they’re shown ye Light, They’ll ne’er know ye right,
Word or Sign of an Accepted Mason.

Come let us prepare, We Brothers yt are Assembled on merry Occasion;
Let’s drink, laugh & sing; Our Wine has a Spring,
Here’s a Health to an Accepted Mason

These are the now familiar words of a song entitled The Free Mason’s Health, the words and flute music for which appear on a charmingly engraved music sheet dated 1738. It is one of a series of songs published in George Bickham’s The Musical Entertainer. His name appears on most of the sheets on the margin as Frater George Bickham Junr sc. Indicating his little known membership of the Craft. Each sheet in The Musical Entertainer has a different engraving heading the music and words that follow. Groups of four plates at a time are dedicated to various Grand Masters. Sheet no 5, On Masons and Masonry, is dedicated to the Earl of Loudon, Grand Master in 1736. It has a familiar engraving of an architect presenting the plans for the temple to King Solomon and is found as a frontispiece to several of the engraved List of Lodges (see left).
    By this time, in 1738, masons had already familiarised themselves with the songs and music devoted to the officers of the Lodge, which appeared at the tail end of Anderson’s first Constitutions fifteen years earlier. George Bickham’s name is only one of many music-related names and events associated with Freemasonry in the 18th century. The composer of Rule Britannia, Thomas Arne, was an active Freemason and we know of the active membership in the Craft of such immortal composers as Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Liszt and Sibelius, among many others.
    In the 18th century the music of all of these composers and many more was published in sheet form. These music covers reached the peak of their popularity in the first half of the 1800’s and reflected Victorian society in all its aspects. In addition to the music and lyrics, which often expressed contemporary political and patriotic sentiments, the artistry on the cover of the sheet music became an art form in its own right. Talented, sometimes well-established, artists were used to draw and engrave the music sheets. George Cruickshank and Toulouse Lautrec, among many, had a hand in this art form and sheets designed by them are great rarities. This Victorian period was also one during which Freemasonry enjoyed overt publicity and popularity and it is not surprising that the Craft has had songs dedicated to it, with many quaint masonic cover designs, wordings and depictions.
    Simple titles in the early 1800’s began to be more elaborately designed as the century progressed. They gradually expanded until the whole front page was dedicated to the title, enhancing the look and, commercially for the publishers, the selling potential of the music sheet. The success and phenomenal growth of these sheets as best sellers in Victorian times can be attributed to the increasing popularity of music-hall entertainment. By 1860 there were more than 500 music-halls in London alone. This was live performance at its best and the music sheet was part of that same industry. Prince Albert, Queen Victoria’s popular and well liked consort, promoted the popularity of the music sheets in the 1860’s by composing chorales and ballads himself and having covers printed specially for the royal children.
    Royalty plays a part in several masonic music sheets of the period. Bro Charles Godfrey, bandmaster of the Royal Horse Guards, composed a masonic valse dedicated to the Grand Master, HRH Albert Edward, who became King Edward VII in 1901. The music incorporates melodies for every officer in the Lodge. It is the cover design, however, that gives it masonic significance. His portrait is taken from a photograph by Charles Watkins and occupies most of the cover space. The Grand Master, who had been installed in 1875, is wearing the collar chain of his office with various medals and decorations. Surrounding the portraits are emblems and jewels of the Craft printed in gold on a lush blue background. A Corinthian and Ionic column on either side encloses the whole portrait. The reverse of the sheet names the publishers: Francis Brothers & Day of Oxford Street London and is dated February 1882. The copy in my collection is autographed by the composer.
    Another music cover dedicated to Edward, now as the Prince of Wales, is a Polka by William Smalwood, titled Welcome Home. It refers to the Prince’s return from his official visit to Madras in India, which took place in 1875, just a year after his election as Grand Master. The protrait on the cover is by the well known artist Robert Childs. It depicts Edward in full masonic regalia, standing erect and proud, a setting maul in his right hand. The emphasis again is on the deep blue background on which gold and black covering add to the total effect. It was published in London in about 1880 by Henry Stead.
    The music was often intended for fashionable Victorian dances and Freemasonry was closely identified with such matters as Ladies Festivals. The music on these occasions had rather obvious masonic connotations. The Masonic Polka, published in Lincoln, was dedicated to The Patronesses, Patrons and Stewards of the Masonic Hall in the City. Similarly, the author of The Masonic Gallop thus presented himself on his music sheet, which we should remember was on sale to the general public, as Brother W Hemmingway, Provincial Grand Organist in West Yorkshire and Junior warden of Lodge No 408. Another song, The Freemasons Valse, composed by Bro Rudolph Zabel, is dedicated to the MW Grand Master the Earl of Zetland and the Masons of the United Kingdom. Thomas, 2nd Earl of Zetland, was the second Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of England, installed in 1844. These dance-music sheets are not a reflection of the popularity of dancing among masons but rather a commercial attempt to expand the music sheet market into wider social circles.
    Songs, as opposed to dances, were more deliberately intended for masonic consumption. In one group of published music sheets, the titles become distinctly sentimental and patriotic in their expletives: Our Queen! Our Craft! Our Fatherland! exclaims the song published by the Reid Brothers in London in 1888. The song is composed by ‘PM Mason’ and written by ‘Mark Mason’. On interpreting the rather poor quality of the music and lyrics one will appreciate why the writer and composer may have preferred to remain anonymous! Other nostalgic titles are Henry Upston’s Hail to the Craft of Masonry and Donald William King’s The Compass Book and Square.
    As a last example, delving into the background and character of individuals who appear on music covers can be a rewarding undertaking. A particularly good example happens to be topical in the light of very recent developments with regard to Freemasonry in Greece. A sheet of music in the latter half of the 19th century is titled So Mote it Be and dedicated to HIH The Prince Rhodocanakis of Scio, Grand Master and Grand Commander of Greece and its Dependencies &c &c &c. It has an impressive half-portrait of the Prince wearing the eagle collaret of the 33° and the chain of the Sovereign Grand Commander of the Ancient and Accepted Rite. The masonic melody was written and composed by Captain Hirtram Lesne and published by JB Cramer in London.
    Bro Rhodocanakis was initiated, passed and raised in England and speedily raced through the degrees of the Ancient and Accepted Rite, reaching the 33° within a short period. At this time, the Grand Orient of Greece, formed in 1866, was seeking full recognition from England, Scotland and Ireland. Finally, in 1872, a Supreme Council was formed in Athens by special commission of the Supreme Council for Scotland. An internal agreement in Greece was entered into between the Grand Orient and the Supreme Council, which allowed Prince Rhodocanakis, now back from England, to be appointed both Grand Master and Sovereign Grand Commander of the two orders respectively. His credentials as a Prince have always been in doubt.
    There are many more dozens of colourful and some other plain masonic cover sheets. They disappeared toward the first quarter of the 20th century as gramophone records began to fill the functions previously addressed by the pianoforte. Today they give us an interesting insight into the masonic ambience of a period in history enjoyed by our forefathers and sadly often neglected nowadays.