SIBELIUS: Adagio & Marcia, played on Estey "Artists' Organ"

In 1927, the great Finnish composer Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) wrote a set of pieces for his Masonic Lodge, the Grand Lodge of Finland. The music is scored for men's voices and harmonium. In 1935, the Finnish lodge presented the music to its parent lodge, the Grand Lodge of the State of New York. In 1950, that lodge published the set as "Masonic Ritual Music," with a preface stating that the music "is the tribute to Freemasonry of Jean Sibelius, a true and devoted Mason, and a composer who, by the overwhelming consensus of well-informed opinion, is sure of his future place in music as one of its immortal creators." The pensive Adagio opens the set in the key of G. The next instrumental solo is No. 4, an energetic March in E-flat; its two trio sections are in A-flat major and A-flat minor (with seven flats!). The instrument is an Estey reed organ, which the company called its "Style Z Artists' Organ" or the "Colonial." It is the property of the Masonic Center in Brattleboro, Vermont, about a mile from the Estey factory, where this seven-rank instrument was built c. 1905. The Estey men were members of this lodge. The organ is in excellent condition (notice I simply stopped pumping for the long chord at 0:48), retains its original matching bench, and is for sale. Performed by Michael Hendron. Many thanks to Lodge No. 102 for the opportunity to record this Masonic music in their lodge on 16 July 2011.