Like Paris and London, Prague during the eighteenth century evolved into a locus of Freemasonry. In comparison to these two West European capitals, Prague lacked cultural and social institutions, and consequently Masonry in Prague filled varying important needs. Masonry functioned in Prague as a social agency, enabling aristocratic and bourgeois Czechs and Germans to associate with each other and providing them with the opportunity to sponsor special festivities. Masonry in the Bohemian capital served, moreover, as a vehicle for the promotion of the Enlightenment. The degrees of the Craft offered to Prague Masons a ritualistic synthesis of pertinent ancient and modern ideologies concerning the liberal arts and sciences and provided them with interpretations of West European morals and values.1 By functioning in some cases as learned societies, Masonic lodges in Prague, in another way, served as cultural centers.2
As the first Masonic body in the Habsburg Empire, the Prague Lodge of the Three Stars was established on June 26, 1726, and functioned as a local Modern lodge.3 As stipulated by its constitution, which was granted by the Grand Lodge of London, the Three Stars Lodge was authorized to elect its officers and members, to confer the three degrees of Modern Masonry, and to engage in cultural and charitable activities.4 This Prague lodge elected Count Franz Anton Sporck as its Master and as a result of his efforts recruited to its ranks such Bohemian aristocrats as Counts Kaiserstein, Kinsky, Paradis, Sternberg, and Wrabna.5
Some Enlightenment and ethical concepts of the Blue Degrees proved to be of importance to members of the Three Stars Lodge. Members of this lodge seemed to associate the globe with the knowledge of the ancients and the moderns and with Newtonian laws explaining the operations of Nature.6 Prague Masons also equated teachings and symbols of the Modern degrees with a civil religion. Masonic concepts regarding deism, which are explained in light of the All-Seeing Eye, and those regarding natural liberties, which are described in terms of the plumb and square, affected the moral conduct of Prague Masons and especially seemed to stimulate them to support the cause of religious toleration.7 Members of the Three Stars Lodge became known, moreover, for their benevolence and thus recognized the importance of the Masonic handshake, a symbol of brotherly love and charity.8
As a result of the efforts of Sporck, the Three Stars Lodge during the late 1720s made significant philanthropic and cultural contributions to Prague. Under the Mastership of Sporck, this lodge donated money for the building of a hospital and an orphanage in Prague.9 In an attempt to project a favorable civic image for Masonry, the Lodge of the Three Stars, too, allocated funds for the operations of a theater, an art gallery, and a library in the Bohemian capital.10 There was also another cultural dimension to this lodge. Sporck, who had frequently toured Western Europe and had become a proponent of mechanistic, deistic and Jansenist ideas, on numerous occasions held meetings of the Three Stars Lodge in the Angelus Gardens of his Kukus palace.11 During meetings at this estate located near Prague, members of the Three Stars performed some scientific experiments, exhibited paintings and sculpture, and gave lectures about the emancipation of Jews, Protestants, and peasants in Bohemia.12 However, after 1729, meetings of this lodge were no longer held in the mansion of Sporck.
Sporck in 1729 encountered problems with the Jesuits and with imperial authorities. As a result of advocating Jansenist beliefs and of supporting the cause of Protestant emancipation in Bohemia, Sporck became involved in a feud with the Jesuit Konias; imperial authorities arrested Sporck in 1729 and charged him with committing treasonable acts against the crown and with being involved with efforts to undermine the Catholic Church. The trial of this Bohemian noble lasted seven agonizing years and culminated in his exoneration in 1736 and in his death in 1738.13
After the death of Sporck, the Three Stars Lodge continued to operate but suffered from factional disputes. Members of the lodge violated Blue Lodge regulations; they discussed political problems during lodge meetings and consequently divided into three factions. The Bavarian Party, or the first faction, was headed by Count Paradis and in 1740 favored recognizing Charles Albert, the Elector of Bohemia, rather than Maria Theresa as the Habsburg monarch. The Austrians, the second lodge faction, supported the succession of the young princess to the imperial throne, while the Neutrals, or the third faction, wished to take no stand on the question of imperial succession, viewing the lodge as no place for the promotion of political activities.14
Involvement with the issue of imperial succession produced major effects upon the operations of the Three Stars Lodge. Paradis, Kaiserstein, and other leaders of the Bavarian faction were arrested, tried, and pardoned. Count Kinigl, the leader of the Neutrals, by 1743 succeeded in uniting the members of the lodge and guaranteed imperial authorities that the lodge would confine itself to ritualistic and philanthropic operations. Kinigl attempted to ameliorate relations with imperial authorities and in late 1743 secured their consent to create a new lodge known as the Prague Three Crowned Stars Lodge. This new Masonic body replaced the Three Stars Lodge, functioned under the Strict Observance jurisdiction, and enhanced the status of Prague as a hub of Masonry in the Habsburg Empire.15
Strict Observance Masonry, which was prevalent in Central and Eastern Europe during the 1760s and 1770s, was the invention of Baron von Hund and secured extensive support from members of the Prague Lodge of the Three Crowned Stars. An aristocrat from Lausitz with a great interest in the Templars, Hund in 1764 held a Masonic convention in Altenberg to acquire support for his Strict Observance System.16 This new system proposed by Hund centered on the conferring of the English, Scottish, and Templar Degrees in Strict Observance lodges. Hund also suggested that the Strict Observance System should be organized into nine provinces which would extend from Bavaria to Russia and from Sweden to Greece.17 Pracht, Schmidburg, and Skolen represented the Three Crowned Stars Lodge at Altenberg and favorably viewed the new Masonic system of Hund. After their return to Prague, these three representatives filed a report to members of the Three Crowned Stars and claimed that by recognizing the Strict Observance Rite, the Three Crowned Stars Lodge would become one of its major grand lodge bodies. After hearing this report, members of the Three Crowned Stars Lodge overwhelmingly voted to affiliate with the Strict Observance Rite.18
What also seemed to be of great importance to Prague Masons were major Enlightenment and moral concepts contained in the degrees of the Strict Observance Rite. Members of the Three Crowned Stars Lodge received the three Blue Degrees and such Scottish Degrees as the Perfect Elect, the Knights of the East and West, and the Knight of the Rose Croix. By taking the Perfect Elect and the Knights of the East and West Degrees, members of this lodge learned about Enlightenment concepts concerning justice and religious toleration and about ethical ideas regarding charity, honor, and virtue.19 In the Rose Croix or Templar Degree, Prague Masons were provided with explanations concerning medieval chivalry and concerning loyalty and service to the state.20 Degrees of the Strict Observance Rite produced several effects upon Masonry in Prague. Although in many cases containing religious teachings of the Middle Ages, these degrees succeeded in imparting to Prague Masons secular and ethical ideas of the Enlightenment. By conferring the Strict Observance Degrees, the Lodge of the Three Crowned Stars attracted the support of numerous groups in Prague. This lodge consisted of Catholics and Protestants, of military men, of imperial bureaucrats, and of some intellectuals.
In addition to serving as a ritualistic center, the Three Crowned Stars Lodge performed other functions and was comprised of several Prague enlighteners. During the early 1770s and under the mastership of Count Kinigl, the lodge sponsored an important philanthropic project; this body operated the Masonic Orphanage of Prague and adhered to the policy that orphans of all religions and nationalities could receive support from this institution.21 The Three Crowned Stars Lodge also engaged in social and cultural activities, sponsoring banquets and some lectures.22 Several imperial administrators belonged to this lodge, succeeded in defending it from political and religious critics, and perceived it as being an important agency of the Enlightenment in Prague. Counts Charles Francis Martinitz and Joseph Thun were members of the Hofkanzlei and frequently attended meetings and banquets of the Three Crowned Stars.23 Two other imperial administrators behaved as enlighteners in this lodge. Karl Furstenberg, who was Governor of Bohemia, presented to the lodge several papers about ancient history, and Count Philip Clary-Aldringen, who was a graduate of the Theresianum and a member of the Hofkanzlei, lectured to this body about the ideas of Plutarch.24
An important organizational function also characterized the operations of the Three Crowned Stars Lodge; this lodge functioned as a grand lodge of Strict Observance Masonry and consequently served as a center of Masonry in the Habsburg Empire. General Leopold von Pracht was named in 1765 as Commander of the Bohemian Provincial Grand Lodge of the Three Crowned Stars. He established lodges in Bohemia, Austria, Hungary, Transylvania, and Poland. Pracht, too, appointed such officers as Prefects, Priors, and Knights to govern the operations of lodges in these lands.25 As a result of the 1772 Strict Observance Convention in Kohlo, Pracht was granted additional powers. He was allowed to create six new lodges and to establish administrative districts known as capitular governments to assist in directing the affairs of lodges under his vast jurisdiction.26
This special grand lodge status of the Three Crowned Stars Lodge seemed to be quite advantageous to Masonry in Prague. The Three Crowned Stars Lodge developed a centralized and effective administrative system and consequently expanded the base of operations of Strict Observance Masonry in the Habsburg Empire. By holding conventions in Prague to formulate policies for local Strict Observance lodges in the Habsburg Empire, the Three Crowned Stars Lodge helped to promote inter-Masonic relations within the empire. Until the gradual disappearance of Strict Observance Masonry, which resulted from the rise of the Zinnendorf Rite during the late 1770s, this lodge enabled Prague to achieve dominance over Vienna in the world of Habsburg Masonry.27
Modern English Masonry in Vienna, which arose during the early 1740s, served numerous functions and, in some respects, resembled that in Prague. Blue Lodge Masonry in Vienna, like that in Prague, sponsored special social events and thus helped to fill important needs. Modern Masonry in the imperial capital functioned as a club, but unlike the Craft in Prague, recruited to its ranks aristocratic and bourgeois members of different nationalities and religions. Modern Masonry in Vienna, like its counterpart in Prague, served as a source of West European Enlightenment ideas and sponsored special cultural activities. Although their ritualistic and cultural operations aroused the suspicion of imperial authorities, the Viennese Lodges of the Three Cannons and the Three Hearts received support from the Mason and Emperor Francis I and successfully met the challenge of their opponents.28
The Blue Degrees contained concepts and symbols important to members of these two Viennese lodges. These degrees offered to Viennese Masons interpretations of Enlightenment ideas. Masons in the imperial capital associated the globe and the three lights of the Craft with the laws of motion, with the orderly operations of Nature, and with the importance of education.29 Viennese Masons exhibited, moreover, interest in the tenets of deism and interpreted the symbol of the All-Seeing Eye in terms of being the Omnipotent Legislator of moral and secular laws.30 Many Viennese Masons, who believed that the policies of Maria Theresa would lead to the amelioration of imperial institutions, viewed some ethical and secular concepts contained in the Blue Degrees as constituting a civil religion based on state reforms. As a result of receiving the degrees of Modern Masonry, members of the two lodges in Vienna learned that religious toleration was a fundamental principle of the order, that justice was one of the cardinal Virtues of Masonry, and that the square was identified with proper ethical conduct in society.31
The Three Cannons Lodge of Vienna was established on September 17, 1742, and was designed to operate as a local Modern lodge. Granted by the Grand Lodge of London, the constitution of this Viennese lodge described its operational guidelines. This document stipulated that the Three Cannons Lodge would be empowered to recognize other local lodges and to engage in inter-Masonic relations. The constitution also specified that lodge officers would confer the three Blue Degrees either in English or in German, would direct special cultural sessions of the Three Cannons, and would collect two thalers yearly from each member for philanthropic projects.32 During the first meeting of the lodge, the election of officers was conducted. Count Albrecht Joseph Hoditz was elected as Master, Gilgens as Steward, Colmann as Treasurer, and Czernichew as Secretary. Before the closing of this meeting, the lodge inducted into its ranks the Britisher Hamilton, the Italian Benedetto Testa, and the Austrian Engel. On this and other occasions, the Three Cannons Lodge admitted individuals of varying nationalities.33
Under Count Hoditz, this lodge performed ritualistic and cultural functions. A court chamberlain, Hoditz held an important meeting at Rosswalde, his large estate with streams and fountains, with a theater, and with an enormous mansion resembling a Roman temple. During the October 1742 meeting, officers of the Three Cannons were attired in ancient costumes and inducted several aristocrats into the lodge. The Hungarian noble Gabriel Bethlen, who was to become the chancellor of Transylvania, Samuel von Bruckenthal, a statesman who also donated funds for medical and geological research, the French Count Charles de Ligny, and Count Seilern, who had served as imperial ambassador to England, received during colorful ceremonies the degrees of Modern Masonry. After these initiations, members of the lodge proceeded to play music, to stage scenes from several ancient plays, and to hold a lengthy banquet.34 What these activities at Rosswalde demonstrated was that members of the Three Cannons Lodge behaved as Masonic enlighteners and attempted to revive cultural and social traditions of the ancients through the institution of Freemasonry.
Under de Grossa, who in November 1742 replaced Hoditz as Master, the Lodge of the Three Cannons continued to engage in ritualistic activities, but there was a threat posed to its operations. The lodge inducted into its ranks Count Casimir Draskovich, Lieutenant Anthony von Freyenthal of the Bavarian Grenadier-Regiment, and the Jew Joseph Riga, who translated from Hebrew into German select writings of King Solomon to reveal the relationship of ancient Jewish history to the development of Freemasonry.35 Believing that the lodge should be protected from intruders, de Grossa decided to hold meetings of the lodge in the homes of different members. However, the protective strategy of de Grossa culminated in failure, for imperial soldiers on March 7, 1743, interrupted a session of the Three Cannons Lodge; they proceeded to arrest de Grossa, Lord Hamilton, Count Starhemberg, and other members in attendance and to charge them with conducting treasonable activities.36 After these arrests, soldiers then searched the room in which the meeting had been conducted, confiscated the possessions of the lodge, and discovered its records and minutes. In their investigation of the minutes, imperial authorities discovered only the roster of the lodge and no incriminating evidence against the accused members.37 What also happened was that Francis I came to the defense of the arrested members of the Three Cannons Lodge; he convinced Maria Theresa of their innocence and persuaded her to have imperial authorities release and pardon them.38 After this episode with the Crown, the Lodge of the Three Cannons well might have continued to function between 1743 and 1765. However, evidence concerning its operations has not been discovered.39
The Viennese Lodge of the Three Hearts, unlike that of the Three Cannons, functioned as a deputy lodge. In light of its special status as a deputy lodge, the Three Hearts Lodge, which was created in 1754 and consisted of aristocratic and bourgeois members of varying nationalities, was accountable for its operations to the Hanover Lodge Friedrich. This Hanover Lodge was entitled to appoint the Master and other presiding officers of the Three Hearts, to establish a structure of dues for its members, and to regulate the activities of the Viennese lodge. The constitution granted by the Hanover lodge to the Three Hearts stipulated that the Blue Degrees would be conferred in this Viennese lodge, that a Master, two Wardens, and a Secretary would direct lodge affairs, and that monies derived from dues would be forwarded to Hanover.40 This Viennese lodge, on the one hand, was responsible to a German Masonic body and, on the other hand, assisted in the diffusion of English Enlightenment and Masonic ideas in the Habsburg capital.
The Lodge of the Three Hearts first operated under the direction of John Frederick Raban de Sporcke. Named as Master of this lodge on May 22, 1754, Sporcke, who was a Danish gentleman of the bedchamber, was delegated considerable authority. He was entrusted by the Hanover lodge with control over the books, records, and furniture of the Three Hearts Lodge. During the mastership of Sporcke, the English lawyer Hobart, the French physician Jolive, the Hungarian Count John Joseph Kinsky, and the Austrian Baron Schenck were inducted in 1754 into this Viennese lodge. As the lodge that year continued to attract new members, Sporcke, for inexplicable reasons, resigned as Master and suddenly left Vienna. Yet before his departure, Sporcke had received consent from officials of the Hanover Lodge to entrust responsibility for the operations of the Three Hearts to Hinuber, an obscure aristocrat about whom little is known.41
Odd developments between October and December 1754 occurred under the mastership of Hinuber. In engaging in ritualistic activities, officers and members of this Viennese lodge were required to assume names associated with ancient culture; Schenck was known as Minerva, Hinuber as Cleander, Kinsky as Xerxes, Hobart as Liberty, and Jolive as Titus. By assuming these names, members of the Three Hearts, perhaps, either were displaying respect for classical culture or were attempting to protect themselves in case of being infiltrated by imperial authorities. For no apparent reason, the Three Hearts Lodge in December 1754 terminated its operations. Prior to the closing of this lodge, imperial officials did not infiltrate its ranks, and Masonic administrators of the Hanover lodge did not rescind its constitution.42 With the sudden disappearance of the Three Hearts Lodge, a void occurred in Viennese Masonry and was not filled until the rise of the Strict Observance Rite.
Strict Observance Masonry in Vienna, which first appeared in 1765, was characterized by various patterns. Vienna did not develop into a grand lodge center of Strict Observance Masonry, and its local lodges functioning under this system were accountable and subordinate to the policies of the Prague Three Crowned Stars Lodge. With no problems either from authorities of the crown or from those of the Catholic Church, Strict Observance local lodges in Vienna were able to engage in varying activities. These bodies, from an organizational viewpoint, performed valuable functions. Strict Observance lodges in Vienna elected their officers and members, delegated responsibilities to committees, held banquets, and thus provided their aristocratic and bourgeois members with the opportunity to serve in new positions of leadership and to sponsor social events. In also functioning as cultural centers, these lodges conferred rites, sponsored some lectures and concerts, and thus assisted in the diffusion of salient eighteenth-century ideas in Vienna.43
Viennese Masons viewed the Strict Observance Degrees as being a source of Enlightenment and ethical ideas. Interpretations and symbols concerning civil obedience, religious toleration, justice, and philanthropy appeared in many degrees of Strict Observance Masonry and helped to explain why some Viennese writers and imperial administrators, who were proponents of state reforms, affiliated with the Craft during the 1760s and 1770s. In its high degrees, the Strict Observance Rite contained, furthermore, significant moral tenets. By vividly describing through medieval legends the concepts of honor, virtue, courage, and self-sacrifice, the Templar and the Knights of the East and West Degrees assisted in the development of a civil religion in Vienna and were especially enticing to Catholics and to military leaders belonging to lodges in the imperial capita1.44
The Generosity Lodge, which was established in 1765 and was the first Masonic body in Vienna to operate under the banner of the Strict Observance Rite, primarily functioned as a ritualistic center, but did stage some special cultural sessions. A captain in the Habsburg army, Baron George von Kuffstein served as Master of the Generosity Lodge between 1765 and 1774 and inducted into this body military men, imperial administrators, writers, and merchants.45 In addition to conferring degrees, the Generosity Lodge between 1772 and 1774 established cordial relations with the Prague Lodge of the Three Crowned Stars and received from its administrators numerous favors. George Weiler, who served in Prague during this two year period as the representative of the Generosity Lodge, convinced Commander Pracht of the Three Crowned Stars Lodge to allocate funds to this Viennese lodge for special cultural projects. Officials of the Generosity Lodge sponsored several lectures and musical performances and donated money to the University of Vienna Medical School.46 However, officers and members of the Viennese lodge during the late 1770s regarded Commander Pracht as being too domineering and thus wished to obtain independence from Prague.47
The Vienna Lodge of the Three Eagles during the 1770s also functioned under the jurisdiction of the Strict Observance Rite. Leaving Prague in 1771 to reside in Vienna, Count Schmidburg, who had been a member of the Three Crowned Stars Lodge, established the following year the Lodge of the Three Eagles and for eight years served as its Master.48 Besides its ritualistic operations under Schmidburg, the Lodge of the Three Eagles promoted some social and cultural activities and acquired support from individuals of various groups in Vienna. The army major Count Josef Franz Thun, the imperial administrators Count Auesberg and Konrad von Pufendorf, the banker Puthon, and the merchants George Malvieux and Johann Puchberg belonged to this Viennese lodge, attended its monthly dinners, and perceived this body as a convivial meeting place and as a point of reference.49 Joseph Franz Hermann and the ex-Jesuit Franz Eder von Odenstein, who were professors in the University of Vienna, were associated with the Lodge of the Three Eagles and presented in this lodge several lectures concerning geology.50 Despite its special cultural and social operations, the Lodge of the Three Eagles during the later 1770s suffered from a sharp decline in membership, terminated its relationship with the Prague Lodge of the Three Crowned Stars in 1780, and two years later secured consent from its members to affiliate with a new Masonic jurisdiction known as the Zinnendorf Rite.51
The Vienna Crowned Hope Lodge, which like the Three Eagles Lodge was established in 1772, first operated under the jurisdiction of Strict Observance Masonry and then under that of the Zinnendorf Rite. Under its Master John Paul Roder, the Crowned Hope Lodge developed into a ritualistic center and sponsored some banquets and special cultural sessions. As a result of its varying operations, this lodge admitted to its ranks the historian and the director of the Hofbibliothek Adam Kollar, the poet Franz Rosalino, the aristocratic patron of the arts Count Esterházy, and several other Viennese enlighteners.52 Although the Crowned Hope Lodge during the late 1770s continued to increase its membership, Roder and many members of the lodge objected to being dominated by Strict Observance leaders in Prague. Officials of the Crowned Hope Lodge in 1778 opened negotiations with administrators of the Zinnendorf Rite. As a consequence of these meetings, the Crowned Hope Lodge that year became affiliated with the Zinnendorf Rite and, like its two sister lodges in the imperial capital, acquired its independence from Prague.53
The Zinnendorf Rite seemed to play a central role in the development of Vienna as a center of Masonry and the Enlightenment. This rite, which with the exception of its Templar Degree, closely resembled Strict Observance Masonry, originated in Sweden in the late 1760s, swept through the Germanies during the 1770s, and by 1777 was recognized in Vienna. The Austrian Provincial Grand Lodge between 1777 and 1783 and then the Grand Lodge of Austria between 1784 and 1787 served as the administrative institutions of Zinnendorf Masonry in the Habsburg Empire, were located in the imperial capital, and more importantly enabled Vienna to replace Prague as the locus of Masonic operations in the empire. Prince Dietrichstein between 1777 and 1787 headed both Zinnendorf grand lodge bodies, appointed numerous intellectuals from Vienna to administrative positions in these two bodies, and governed a large Masonic empire which consisted of local lodges in Austria, Croatia, Hungary, Transylvania, and Silesia.54 What also happened was that an imperial decree concerning the status of the Craft in Habsburg lands especially benefited Zinnendorf lodges in Vienna. As a consequence of the 1781 Josephinian Patent legalizing the activities of Masonry in the empire, these lodges through their cultural operations helped to advance the cause of the Enlightenment in Vienna and evolved into havens for intellectuals in the imperial capital.55 After the promulgation of this patent, imperial bureaucrats, writers, Catholic clergymen, and former Jesuits were admitted to Zinnendorf lodges in Vienna, served in some instances as lodge officers, and for the most part perceived these bodies as being valuable agencies for the diffusion of ideas concerning state reform. This edict evidently implied to Viennese enlighteners affiliated with Zinnendorf lodges that Joseph II viewed the Craft as a respectable institution and that in implementing its reform program, the crown looked to Masonry for support.
The Zinnendorf Rite, which was a synthesis of the Blue and the Strict Observance Degrees, served, moreover, as a source of Enlightenment and moral tenets and contained ideas relating to a civil religion based on state reform. The Zinnendorf Templar Degree, which favorably portrayed the role of the medieval Catholic Church, was of special importance to Catholic Masons in Vienna. The degree vividly described the ethical teachings of Jesus and his disciples and emphasized the concepts of faith, hope, charity, honor, virtue, and brotherhood.56 Yet, equally instructive to Viennese Masons were concepts presented in the Blue Degrees. In addition to being provided with symbolic interpretations regarding the laws of motion, the operations of Nature, and the importance of education, Viennese Masons learned from the Blue Degrees about concepts concerning natural liberties. These Masons, who in many instances embraced the cause of state reform, became advocates of a civil religion which centered on feudal and Enlightenment ideas. In their writings, many Masons in the imperial capital endorsed, on the one hand, such ethical teachings of Templarism as benevolence and honor and subscribed, on the other hand, to such concepts of the Enlightenment as civil obedience, justice, and religious toleration.57 Like Lessing these Viennese Masons consequently believed that Masonry should help to foster civic responsibility and should extend its support to those monarchs committed to the cause of state reform.58 “Masonry aspires to promote an international community based on benevolence and tolerance…. Masons are dedicated to the study of Nature and to the improvement of civil society…. Masons are instructed to comply with the laws of the state and to endorse the principle of religious toleration.”59
Although its organizational operations were quite routine and thus resembled those of other Zinnendorf lodges in the imperial capital, the Vienna Crowned Hope Lodge during the early 1780s engaged in some cultural operations. Under the direction of Count Johann Esterházy, who served as its Master between 1778 and 1785, the Crowned Hope Lodge held annual assemblies. Cultural events especially marked its 1783 assembly; Samuel Matolay, who was senior warden of the Crowned Hope Lodge, read several of his recently published poems, and the lodge orchestra gave a short performance. Under the direction of Paul Wranitzky, this orchestra played the specially composed Masonic cantata “Joseph der Menschheit” and several pieces from the opera Oberon.60 The lodge, too, in 1783 funded a special project. This body sponsored a library and appointed the bookseller Adam Bartsch, who served as Secretary of the Crowned Hope, to head it.61
The Crowned Hope Lodge during the early 1780s consisted of several writers. They came from the circle of Count Esterházy and considered affiliation with this lodge as being important to their literary careers. Ladislaus Biró, a literary critic from Hermannstadt, and the Czech Alexander Pronay were obscure writers, were not active participants in the affairs of the Crowned Hope Lodge, and in 1783 left Vienna without making any significant contributions to the literature of the Josephinian Enlightenment.62 Unlike these two writers, Tobias Gebler was quite well known in the world of Masonry and literature. This minor philosophe of the Crowned Hope Lodge, who also served as a Steward of the Austrian Provincial Grand Lodge, referred in his works to Enlightenment ideas. In the play “Der Minister,” published in 1771, Gebler attacks some administrative officials of the crown for their abusive and corrupt practices. He further maintains that aristocrats in various lands of the Habsburg Empire should reform their ranks and should faithfully serve the crown. In other plays, Gebler applauded Joseph II for implementing administrative, legal, and religious reforms.63 Like other Josephinians affiliated with the Craft, Gebler played an active part in helping to foster the literature of reform in Vienna and also believed that Masonry could serve as a valuable agency for its promotion.
The Vienna Charity Lodge, whose character slightly differed from that of the Crowned Hope Lodge, developed into an Enlightenment center in the Habsburg capital. The Charity Lodge, which was created in 1783, engaged, for the most part, in ritualistic activities, but did stage some cultural events; lectures concerning physics, classical philosophy, modern literature, and imperial reforms were occasionally delivered in this lodge.64 The Charity Lodge, for a good reason, sponsored these special cultural sessions. Its administrative staff consisted of Josephinian bureaucrats and of enlighteners from the University of Vienna. Joseph J. Monsberger, who was a professor of Oriental languages in the University of Vienna, directed the affairs of the Charity Lodge between 1783 and 1784, and Johann Ellinger and Count Lazarevich, who both held positions in the Hofkanzlei, served as wardens of this body.65
The Charity Lodge consisted of various enlighteners. The astronomer Joseph von Tamerburg, the classicist Johann Bolla, the literary historian Ignatius de Luca, and the political philosopher Georg Scheidlin taught in the University of Vienna. These professors seemed to act as enlightened Masonic Catholics. They contributed to the Viennese Enlightenment by publishing a few minor works, evidently affiliated with the Charity Lodge to fill social and cultural needs, but never left the Catholic Church.66 However, two important enlighteners of the Charity Lodge did sever ties with the Church, wrote about state reforms, and viewed the lodge as being a valuable agency for the advancement of their cause. Joseph Eybel, who denounced his vows as a Jesuit, studied law under the enlightener Riegger in the University of Vienna and in 1782 posited his views about the Catholic Church and Josephinian reforms in Sieben Kapitel vom Klosterleben. In this short pamphlet, Eybel defends the emperor for making decisions relating to temporal matters of the Church, inveighs against the abuses of monasticism, and lauds Joseph for closing the doors of many monasteries.67 Like Eybel, Johann Pezzl, who served as secretary for Count Kaunitz, supports in the Marokanische Briefe many policies of Joseph II. In this work, which was published in 1784 and which resembled Lettres Persanes, Pezzl depicts Joseph as an exemplary monarch and offers praise to him for his embracing religious, educational, and judicial reforms.68
The Vienna St. Joseph Lodge, which was established in 1781 as a tribute to the emperor for enacting the Masonic Patent, served, like its sister lodges, as a source of the Enlightenment in the imperial capital. Besides its ritualistic operations, the St. Joseph Lodge during the early 1780s engaged in some special cultural enterprises. This lodge occasionally staged plays at the Hoftheater and held a few concerts. As a result of the leadership of the enlightener Johann Alxinger, who served as its Master between 1782 and 1784, the St. Joseph Lodge sponsored several lectures concerning medicine, imperial reforms, and contemporary Viennese literature.69 This lodge donated, moreover, some funds for the publication of the Wiener Musenalmanach and the Wiener Realzeitung, and some lodge members from the literary circle of Alxinger contributed several articles to these journals.70
The St. Joseph Lodge was comprised of several enlighteners and of individuals from various groups in Vienna. For the Habsburg army officers Joseph Carl and Leopold Holl and for the merchants Johann Stern and Jacob Hofler, affiliation with the St. Joseph Lodge meant learning through rites about cultural and moral ideas, participating in its private social affairs, and satisfying important needs.71 Some physicians, too, belonged to the St. Joseph Lodge; Drs. Anthony Rivolti, Max Braunn, and Joseph Werner were surgeons, taught at the University of Vienna medical school, and received from the lodge a sizable donation for the remodeling of the university hospita1.72 The lodge also recruited to its ranks an important Viennese artist. Although not particularly active in the affairs of the lodge, Adam Braun was known for his rococo painting Der Alte and helped Joseph to develop the imperial collection at Schonbruun Palace.73
Three writers belonging to the St. Joseph Lodge were intimately involved with the cause of state reform. The careers and attitudes of Lorenz Haschka and Franz Kratter appeared to be quite similar. Haschka and Kratter were educated in Jesuit schools, but denounced this order and the Catholic Church. During the early 1780s, they were inducted into Masonry. As a result of their affiliation with the St. Joseph Lodge, both men received remunerative positions. Haschka was appointed to a Professorship of Aesthetics in the Theresianum, and Kratter worked as a writer for Prince Liechtenstein.74 Furthermore, as a consequence of their involvement in the Masonic literary circle of Alxinger, Haschka and Kratter wrote to vindicate many policies of the crown and seemed to equate major reforms of Joseph with teachings of the Craft. Haschka, in “Ode to the Emperor,” and Kratter, in Der junge Mahler am Hofe, advance similar views about Josephinism and offer praise to the emperor for instituting administrative and army reforms, for establishing secular schools, and for granting civil liberties to Jews and Protestants in the empire. Like Alxinger, these writers visualized Joseph as resembling the Roman Emperor Augustus and perceived themselves as being the Vergils of the new golden age of the Habsburg Empire.75 A literary lion in Vienna during the early 1780s, Johann Alxinger, who received a doctorate of law from the University of Vienna and was a man of considerable means, became a leading propagandist of Josephinism and especially defended the emperor for recognizing the civil and religious status of Jews in Habsburg lands. In “Lied eines alten Juden” and in “Die Duldung,” Alxinger claims that Jews would play an active role in contributing to the political, cultural, and economic development of the empire.76
Alxinger also acted and wrote as an enlightened Mason. After his election as Master of the St. Joseph Lodge, Alxinger participated in a Masonic literary group known as the Wiener Freunde and published in several Viennese journals essays and poems about Masonry and its relation to the Enlightenment.77 In “Empfindungen eines Freymaurers am Tage seiner Aufnahme,” he maintains that the reform policies of Josephinism and the cardinal teachings of Masonry reflected the ideas of ancient secular humanists and contributed to the development of Vienna as a center of the Enlightenment.78 Masonic and Enlightenment ideas also appeared in “Prophezeihung,” a poem published in the Wiener Musenalmanach. In this poem, Alxinger describes the function of the poet, stresses the importance of Nature, refers to Templarism, and seems to subscribe to the tenets of an enlightened feudal civil religion:
Friends, we are men and poets, writing for the young and old. Our travels permit us to write about the flowing of rivers and the beauty of mountains. Are we not fortunate to prophesy about and to convey the beauties of Nature in our poems? Dream and prophesy, for these are our duties….
Poetry serves as an avenue of learning. We have told about the heel of Achilles, the plight of the Romans and Gauls, and the heart of Macbeth….
We have written about the Templar Order. The ethical system of these knights has served as the basis of Modern Masonry. We have learned from this medieval order, acting according to their teachings and imitating their splendorous dress. As Masons, we toast their name and believe that they would do the same.79
By securing support from Alxinger and many other intellectuals, Zinnendorf Masonry during the early 1780s played an important part in the cultural life of Vienna. As a result of their ritualistic operations and their special cultural functions, Zinnendorf lodges in Vienna helped to foster the cause of the Enlightenment. In seeing that there was a great influx of enlighteners into these bodies, Ignatz von Born and officials of the Austrian Provincial Grand Lodge acted in 1781 to establish the True Harmony Lodge as a Viennese Masonic learned society.
There seemed to be a genuine need for a Masonic learned society in Vienna. The imperial capital had few learned societies, and the True Harmony Lodge consequently would fill a cultural gap. As a result of the 1781 Masonic Patent, which demonstrated that the crown would support the operations of the Craft, this lodge would be able to function in several realms to promote the cause of the Enlightenment in Vienna. The True Harmony Lodge was especially intended to serve as a literary and political center; many members of this body would be given the opportunity to publish works about Josephinian reforms, about ancient and modern literature, and about Masonic doctrines. The True Harmony Lodge would also function as a musical salon. It would have its own orchestra and would sponsor special musical performances. This Viennese lodge, too, would serve as a locus of scientific research and would allocate funds for a scientific publication.
In early March of 1781, Prince Dietrichstein and other administrators of the Austrian Provincial Grand Lodge acted upon the proposal of Born concerning the creation of the True Harmony Lodge. After receiving the proposal of Born on March 1, 1781, Dietrichstein and officers of this grand lodge met that day to review it. They unanimously decided to establish the True Harmony Lodge and believed that this body would evolve into a leading center of Masonic and Enlightenment operations in Vienna and in the Habsburg Empire. Dietrichstein, on March 3rd, informed Born of the decision reached by administrators of the Austrian Provincial Grand Lodge and that day presented to him the constitution of the True Harmony Lodge.80
The constitution of the True Harmony Lodge defined its aims. According to this document, Masons connected with this lodge were to examine the varying facets of Nature, were to promote the study of the arts and sciences, and were to investigate Enlightenment and Masonic teachings. The lodge seal, which appeared on the first page of the constitution, contained Masonic symbols related to these aims. The Sun suggested to members of the True Harmony that their efforts should be devoted to discovering the laws and powers of the universe. The globe represented the studies of lodge members to determine the operations of Nature. The symbol of the triangle was intended to induce members of the True Harmony to comply with the moral teachings of Masonry.81
The constitution explained how the lodge would function as a Masonic body. This document specified that the True Harmony Lodge was required to adhere to laws enacted by the Austrian Provincial Grand Lodge. According to the constitution, stated meetings would be held. During these meetings, members of the True Harmony were to hear committee reports, were permitted to voice their views about committee proposals, and in light of the majority rule principle were to make decisions about operational policies of the lodge. The constitution stipulated that members of the lodge during stated meetings were to vote upon the petitions of candidates and that a unanimous vote was required to elect candidates to the True Harmony. In complying with the provisions of the constitution, the True Harmony Lodge held some sessions devoted to the conferring of the Zinnendorf Degrees and occasionally staged banquets.82
The constitution of the lodge also described how this body would operate as a learned society. There was in this document a provision concerning the recruitment of members. Like those of the Nine Sisters, members of the True Harmony were required to be Masons and were permitted to be affiliated with other Masonic lodges. Active members of this lodge, who in most cases were Viennese Masonic bureaucrats, writers, musicians, and scientists, constituted the first membership category. Corresponding lodge members, who for the most part were Masonic intellectuals from other cities in the Habsburg Empire, comprised the second category and were not permitted to vote on operational matters concerning the True Harmony.83 According to the constitution, both active and corresponding members of the True Harmony could participate in special cultural sessions sponsored by the lodge. However, this provision did not prove to be meaningful to the operation of the True Harmony, for with the exception of several musical performances, this Viennese lodge held few cultural events and thus significantly differed from its Parisian counterpart. The constitution more importantly stipulated that with the approval of its officers and its active members, the True Harmony Lodge could grant funds for its own literary and scientific publications.84
Ignatz von Born provided the True Harmony Lodge with capable leadership and occupied a significant place in the cultural affairs of late eighteenth-century Vienna. From the inception of this lodge until its closing in 1786, Born served as its Master. As the chief administrative officer of the True Harmony Lodge, he directed its ritualistic activities and supervised its cultural affairs.85 The contributions of Born to the Josephinian Enlightenment and to Masonry suggested why he was elected as Master of this body. Like many Viennese Masonic intellectuals, Born prepared himself for a career in the Jesuit order, but after the dissolution of this order in the Habsburg Empire, filled his cultural needs by pursuing the study of literature and science. He conducted in 1774 a major geological survey of Hungary and two years later was named the director of the Imperial Natural History Collection in Vienna.86 Born became well known in European geological circles and during the late 1770s was elected to the Royal Society of London and to scientific academies in Padua and in Stockholm. He emerged during the early 1780s as a vocal supporter of imperial reforms and in the Monachologia lauded Joseph for establishing state schools in Habsburg lands and for ending the hegemony of Catholic clergymen in the realm of education.87 Born, too, acted and wrote as an enlightened Mason. He recruited many Masonic intellectuals from Vienna and from the Habsburg Empire to the ranks of the True Harmony Lodge, participated with Alxinger, Blumauer, and Ratschky in the literary activities of the Wiener Freunde, and published pertinent articles about Masonic rites and their teachings.88
Joseph von Sonnenfels served as Deputy Master of the True Harmony Lodge, and his varying cultural roles in eighteenth-century Vienna seemed to illustrate why he held this administrative position. Sonnenfels in 1782 replaced the obscure mathematician Stolzig as Deputy Master and held this position until 1786. He occasionally presided over the True Harmony in the absence of Born, helped to arrange its banquets, and served on its publication committee.89 Sonnenfels, too, acted and wrote as a Masonic enlightener; he served as President of the Viennese Deutsche Gesellschaft and while heading this literary society published in 1765 Der Mann Ohne Vorurteil. Through Capa-Kaum, the hero of this work, Sonnenfels calls for the abolition of capital punishment and torture and for the implementation of legal and religious reforms.90 During the early 1780s, he wrote articles to vindicate the imperial reform program and was appointed to the Chair of Political Administration and Economy.91 In light of this position, Sonnenfels recruited the legal theorist J. A. Riegger, the philosopher Anton Kreil, and other professors from the University of Vienna to the ranks of the True Harmony Lodge.92
The minor Josephinian writer Jacobi served as Treasurer of the True Harmony between 1781 and 1786 and was involved with significant decisions regarding the cultural functions of the lodge. Jacobi paid the bills of the lodge and collected dues from its members. With Born and Sonnenfels, Jacobi formulated pertinent proposals presented to the lodge in 1783. These three officers recommended that the lodge sponsor a literary and a scientific journal and appoint editors to manage the affairs of each of these journals. Members of the True Harmony approved these proposals, naming Born as editor of the Physikalische Arbeiten der Einträchtigen Freunde in Wien and appointing Alois Blumauer as editor of the Journal für Freymaurer.93 As a consequence of deciding to publish these journals, administrators and members of the True Harmony Lodge demonstrated that the cultural operations of this Viennese learned society would acutely differ from those of their Parisian counterpart.
Blumauer occupied a central place in the world of Josephinian literature and consequently was selected as editor of the literary journal of the lodge. Blumauer had been ordained into the Jesuit Order and after its dissolution was required to seek a new career. During the 1770s he held several minor posts in the imperial bureaucracy, emerged in 1780 from the Viennese demimonde to secure employment in the imperial library, and was provided with the opportunity to engage in research. By publishing in 1782 “A Travesty of the Aeneid,” Blumauer was well received in Viennese literary circles. In this lengthy poem, he gave credit to modern Josephinians for reviving major political and philosophical ideas of the ancients and for improving secular and cultural institutions in the Habsburg Empire. After the critics favorably reviewed this poem, Blumauer in 1782 was named to other positions. He was appointed as a censor for the Educational Commission, as a co-editor of the Wiener Musenalmanach, and as editor of the Wiener Realzeitung.94 These appointments would be helpful, moreover, to Blumauer in his role as editor of the Journal für Freymaurer. By serving as a censor, Blumauer could promote and protect his works and those of Masonic colleagues. He, too, could publish some works appearing in the Wiener Musenalmanach, in the Wiener Realzeitung, and in the Journal für Freymaurer. By serving as editor of this lodge journal, he also could demonstrate that Masonic writings were intimately related to the literature of reform.
Blumauer edited the Journal für Freymaurer from 1783 to 1786 and inserted varying works into its volumes. The purpose of the writings in this journal was to stimulate interest in the study of Masonic and Enlightenment ideas. Each volume was approximately two hundred pages long and contained essays, poems, biographical sketches of Masons, and a few musical pieces. Blumauer inserted into the volumes of the Journal für Freymaurer some essays and poems about Josephinian reforms and many articles about the doctrines and symbols of Masonry. In the first volume of this journal, Blumauer describes the fundamental functions of Masonry and explains how members of the True Harmony Lodge worked to advance the cause of the Enlightenment:
Masonry is dedicated to the advancement of the arts, sciences, and humanity. The Eintracht has members devoted to these objectives and is issuing two journals to fulfill these aims…. Members of the lodge have been assigned to observe the workings of Nature, to determine her laws, and to work for the improvement of society; they are members of the cultural nobility, philosophizing about society, writing poetry, and opposing fanaticism and intolerance…. Dedicated to the advancement of virtue and wisdom, lodge members have probed Nature and have attempted to apply her laws for the improvement of the state. Similar to the ancients, the modern Masons of the Eintracht have studied the beauties of the Earth and heavens, the mysteries of the ancients, and the problems involved with the injustices of contemporary society.95
Born directed the other major cultural project of the True Harmony Lodge, serving as editor of the Physikalische Arbeiten der Einträchtigen Freunde in Wien. Born certainly knew that few scientific journals were published in Vienna and that numerous active and corresponding members of the True Harmony would contribute articles to the scientific journal of the lodge. Born also realized that many writings appearing in the Physikalische Arbeiten der Einträchtigen Freunde in Wien would contain significant discoveries, would be read by Masonic and non–Masonic scientists, and would enable the True Harmony Lodge to evolve into a Central European center of Enlightenment science. Born between 1783 and 1785 published three volumes of the Physikalische Arbeiten der Einträchtigen Freunde in Wien. Each volume of this journal consists of approximately 300 pages and contains articles concerning mathematics, astronomy, physics, and electricity. More importantly, the many geological articles also appearing in the scientific journal of the True Harmony marked a distinctive contribution to Enlightenment science.
There were several reasons why geologists belonged to the True Harmony Lodge. Masonic explanations of theological and scientific theories concerning the origins, evolution, and flooding of the Earth were of considerable interest to some geologists in the lodge. These geologists seemed to think that their findings might help to substantiate these theories.96 Most geologists in the True Harmony espoused, moreover, materialistic theories; they attempted to determine the properties of various substances, endorsed the atomistic theory, and also believed that their findings would help to confirm significant discoveries made in chemistry. As a result of their desire to publish their findings in the Physikalische Arbeiten der Einträchtigen Freunde in Wien and as a result of their friendship with Born, numerous geologists joined the True Harmony Lodge. Many Habsburg geologists, too, exhibited interest in the models and views of Torbern Bergman, knew that this Swedish scientist was a corresponding member of the True Harmony, and consequently decided to affiliate with the lodge.
Bergman was known for classifying substances according to their properties and their strata. In Physical Description of the Earth, first published in 1766 and then reprinted during the early 1780s, Bergman explains that rock strata could be classified according to age and to water content and proposed that granite, limestone, sandstone, and coal could serve as major stratigraphic categories.97 He expanded upon his stratigraphic views in Outlines of Mineralogy. Bergman emphasizes that observations and inductive reasoning procedures enabled those involved in the geological sciences to determine the density, size, and shape of different substances: “Let us well note external characteristics. They permit the accustomed eye without troublesome trials to acquire a degree of certainty. External properties are observed by our senses. We see the hardness and color of scientific substances; we can classify substances into classes, genra, and species. In methodizing substances, we know that compounds are most abundant, that properties of minerals are not of the same intensity, and that mineral substances should be ranked according to their value.”98
Bergman then proposes four categories into which matter could be classified. Salts constituted the first category, are frequently found in iron, nickel, and copper ores, and often glow radiantly. His second category consisted of acids; Bergman explains that pure acids have neither colors nor odors, emit vapors, and are corrosive. He maintains that acids should be tested to determine their weights and phlogiston content. Inflammable substances constituted the third category and are known for easily burning and for emitting phlogiston. Metals comprised the fourth category. Bergman believes that metals should be observed in light of tests with fire and water and that their properties, weight, and phlogiston content then should be ascertained.99 This stratigraphic scheme was of considerable importance to some chemists involved with the study of the phlogiston theory and to numerous geologists connected with the True Harmony.
The correspondence between Bergman and Born revealed the interest of this Viennese enlightener in the geological ideas and models of Bergman. This correspondence between 1778 and 1781 also illustrated the international character of eighteenth-century geology and Freemasonry. Born in July 1778 wrote Bergman about the discovery of tourmaline in the Tyrol and believed that after receiving this silicate, Bergman could test and classify it: “Baron Gagnek [the Danish envoy to Vienna] has given a box to me which I am forwarding to you. This box contains pieces of tourmaline discovered in the Tyrol. You can experiment with these rocks to determine the content and features of this mineral.”100
Two years later, Born wrote to Bergman, wishing to know about the results of the experiments of the Swedish scientist concerning tourmaline. Born also informed Bergman about his discovery of quartz in the Schemnitz mines. Born sent to Bergman quartz samplings from these mines, believing them to be of geological significance: “I thank you for the books which you recently sent to me…. I am interested to know about your experiments with tourmaline and about its value…. I am sending to you zinc crystals to be examined…. I should mention that chalcedony [or quartz] in crystalline form has been discovered in the Hungarian mines in Schemnitz and that samples of this mineral will be forwarded to you.”101
Like Bergman, Peter Pallas was a major geologist and a significant contributor to the True Harmony Lodge. Pallas in 1768 consented to the request of Czarina Catherine II to head a survey team established to investigate the geological features of regions in Russia. His important geological accounts about Siberia were published in 1783 in the scientific journal of the lodge. In “Schreiben aus St. Petersburg,” Pallas classifies minerals discovered in Siberia according to their properties; he demonstrates that water and soil erosion precipitated great changes in Siberian rock strata and were responsible for the formation of primary, secondary, and tertiary mountains in this region. Pallas also claims that water and soil erosion led to the formation of vast deposits of quartz, granite, copper, and glass.102
Other geologists, too, were affiliated with the True Harmony and engaged in stratigraphic studies. Peter Jordan served with Born in the Imperial Natural History Department, published geological surveys of the Tyrol, and investigated salt compounds in this region.103 A member of the Born circle and a professor in the University of Vienna, Joseph Raab in 1782 conducted a geological survey of Galicia and two years later published in the scientific journal of the lodge his findings concerning salts examined in this region. He melted salts, attempting to determine how much heat they emitted and how much weight they lost. In light of his experiments, Raab discovered that when exposed to fire, salts generated considerable heat and lost much weight. He further proposed that salts could be effectively used as bleaching agents: “During my 1782 expedition to Galicia, I collected, observed, and tested salts. I mixed them with solutions, exposed them to acids, and burned them…. My objective was to determine their weights and their heat levels…. I melted salts and used a thermometer to determine how much heat salts were to emit.”104
Karl Haidinger, who also taught geology in the University of Vienna and was a director of the Imperial Natural History Department, accompanied Raab in 1782 to Galicia. Haidinger conducted experiments with salts discovered in this region. He classified and experimented with salt crystals extracted from alabaster, ammonia, and other Galician minerals. Haidinger also heated salt crystals to determine their weight loss and mixed these crystals with acids to ascertain their reaction. He discovered that upon exposure to fire, salt crystals turned different colors and that when mixed with acids, new compounds were not formed. These experiments revealed that Haidinger was working within the geological framework of Bergman and was attempting to illustrate the importance of geological findings to chemical theories: “There are many salts in Galicia. I extracted salts from ores found in mines and on mountains in Galicia…. Because of changes in weather, salts are not always white and in some cases are a brownish color…. Salt can be extracted from ammonia, from alabaster, and even from sandstone…. When heated, salts from Galicia became either a black or a blue shade.”105
Andreas Stütz, who was a minor geologist connected with the circle of Born, conducted geological surveys of regions in Austria. Influenced by the views of Bergman, Stütz collected, classified, and experimented with salt, granite, limestone, quartz, and other minerals found in Austria. In light of his work, Stütz proposed that granite and limestone could be utilized for industrial purposes: “Austria is endowed with many minerals. Granite and quartz are found in great quantity near Donau and Vienna. Exposed to fire, these two minerals do not melt and retain their color and firmness. Found near Vienna, sandstone, when heated, does not burn or decompose…. Pure quartz from Annenberg and granite from Schadwien, when heated, retain their original properties…. In Rothenberg, salt and quartz are mined and sold in large quantities for commercial purposes.”106
Johann B. Ruprecht examined metals and minerals in Hungary. This geologist and chemist, who also belonged to the Schemnitz Academy, made comprehensive reports to Born about the properties of and his experiments with antimony, bismuth, quartz, and silver. During his experiments, Ruprecht applied heat and acids to minerals and metals to determine their chemical components and phlogiston levels: “I conducted experiments with antimony and bismuth. Antimony and bismuth do not dissolve easily in mineral water…. When mixed with saltpeter, antimony and bismuth resist combining with this substance…. When antimony and bismuth are hammered, difficulties are encountered in breaking both metals into pieces.”107
Ruprecht, too, investigated the properties of gold. To this geologist, the study of gold was significant for an understanding of the natural and occult sciences; Ruprecht viewed gold as the king of the metals and performed experiments with heat, acids, and saline solutions to determine its chemical and geological features. He also believed that gold possessed occult powers and that after determining these powers, scientists would be able to discover the principle associated with the transmutation of common metals into gold. Ruprecht conducted valuable experiments to explain the properties of gold, but unfortunately failed to discover the principle pertaining to transmutation: “I experimented with and wrote numerous reports about gold found near Nagyág. I used fire, acid, and water to test gold ores…. Upon exposure to fire, gold emits a brown vapor…. When submersed in a vessel containing acid, most gold ores gradually dissolve and become a reddish shade…. When gold is mixed with a saline solution, there is no reaction…. When gold is mixed with arsenic and with quicksilver, no new compounds are produced…. When being hammered, gold does not easily shatter.”108
Johann Müller conducted geological surveys in Transylvania and discovered large deposits of antimony and bismuth in this region. In his experiments with these two metals found in the Faczebay region, Müller utilized fire, acids, and distilled water to determine their properties. He also believed that antimony and bismuth could be used for industrial purposes:
When submersed in water, antimony neither mixes nor dissolves well. After being lifted from water and being weighed, this metal slightly increases in weight and does not lose its original color. Upon exposure to a flame, antimony changes color and becomes a light brown shade. When heated antimony is mixed with salt, a brittle and sticky compound is produced. When observed through a prism, this compound reflects colorful rays…. Antimony is found in great supply in Transylvania, is durable, and can be mined for industrial purposes…109
When exposed to sulfuric acid, bismuth turns into a brilliant red color. Bismuth is also corroded by this acid…. When placed in a glass of distilled water, bismuth does not react…. When mixed with sulfuric acid and exposed to heat, bismuth forms a new compound. When placed on a piece of cloth, this compound burns a hole in it…. This compound seems to be powerful and to emit phlogiston.110
The True Harmony Lodge consequently was identified with major breakthroughs in the realm of geology. The writings of lodge geologists contain valuable classification schemes concerning substances found in Central and Eastern Europe, and their observations and experiments helped to support atomistic theories. The geological articles, too, appearing in the scientific journal of the True Harmony undoubtedly were read by scientists throughout Europe and enabled this lodge to serve as an international center for the study of geology.
Although the True Harmony Lodge primarily consisted of materialists, a few mechanists did belong to this body. As a result of the interest during the early 1780s in sciences revolving around materialistic theories, mechanistic ideas especially in Vienna at this time were not extensively investigated. To a great extent, this pattern was applicable to the True Harmony Lodge, which consisted of no astronomers nor any physicists. There were, however, two minor members of the True Harmony involved with the study of electricity. In their works, these two lodge members merely summarized important concepts of electrical theorists and failed to offer new theories concerning the study of electricity. More importantly, the major group of mechanists in the True Harmony consisted of physicians. Indebted to the views of Dutch Newtonian medicine, these physicians employed inductive techniques to make their clinical observations and believed that mechanistic laws could be discovered to explain the operations of the body. They, too, improved the facilities of the University of Vienna Medical School and assisted in transforming this institution into a leading European medical center.
Dr. Johann Hoffinger evidently viewed affiliation with the True Harmony as being important to his career. He practiced medicine in Budapest until 1780, came that year to Vienna to resume his practice, and three years later was admitted to the lodge. As a result of his association with the lodge, Hoffinger participated in the circle of Masonic physicians from the University of Vienna and published several works. Published in 1784, Vermischte medicinische was his most important contribution to Viennese medical literature. In this work, Hoffinger discusses the functions of the heart, veins, and arteries and also presented important clinical findings.111
Two doctors affiliated with the True Harmony embraced the cause of medical and state reforms. After studying under Dr. Lind in London and the idéologue Dr. Louis in Paris, Dr. Johann Hunczovsky in 1781 returned to Vienna and in 1783 published his views about English and French medicine in Medicinisch Chirurgische. In this work, he comments on hospital life in both states; he maintains that St. Thomas in London, Charité in Paris, and other major hospitals in England and France treated both wealthy and poor patients. Hunczovsky proposes that Viennese hospitals should initiate measures to provide attention to the wealthy and the poor. He further discusses surgical problems, claiming that like English and French physicians, those in Vienna should become familiar with new techniques regarding arm and leg amputations.112 Dr. Ferdinand Leber expressed interest in learning about surgical techniques practiced by English, French, and Dutch doctors. While known for his textbook on surgery, this physician, who chaired the Department of Anatomy and Physiology in the University of Vienna Medical School, became a spokesman of imperial reform. Leber served with Sonnenfels on the committee studying criminal and legal reforms in the empire and in several short works proposed the abolition of capital punishment and torture.113 Leber and Hunczovsky consequently seemed to perceive the True Harmony Lodge as being a significant institution for the promotion of research and reform.
The lodge members Abbé Jacquet and Joseph von Retzer wrote about electricity. Both Masons explained concepts discussed in the electrical experiments of Franklin. In Précis de l’Electricité, published in 1775, Jacquet provides his readers with a summary of electrical terms defined by Franklin. Jacquet maintains that electricity operates as an invisible force capable of penetrating objects in Nature. Electricity, he explains, possesses the powers of attraction and repulsion. Jacquet as well defines other terms associated with electricity and explains the importance of the lightning rod. He shows that this invention protects buildings from fires which result from electrical storms.114 In Physikalische Abhandlung von den Eigenschasten des Donners, published in 1772, Retzer explains how electrical charges are emitted during thunderstorms. He also comments on properties and reactions of electrical and non-electrical charges: “Electrical substances retain their electrical virtues. Electrical virtues cannot be communicated to such non-electrics as glass, porcelain, and sand. When applied to such electrics as paper and wood, electricity will cause heat and in many cases fire…. When metals receive virtues, heat in many cases will be generated…. Dr. Franklin has demonstrated that iron rods, nails, and pins serve as excellent receivers of electrical virtues…. Nollet and Monnier have performed similar experiments and have confirmed the findings and theories of Franklin.”115
Jacquet and Retzer during the early 1780s continued to write about electricity, but their works proved to be of minimal importance. Unlike the physicians of the lodge, whose contributions to Viennese medical life were quite impressive, Jacquet and Retzer did little to advance the cause of mechanism in the Habsburg capital. By failing to offer speculations about the application of electricity to other sciences, Jacquet and Retzer seemed to be unimaginative.116 These two minor mechanists consequently differed from members of the True Harmony Lodge who were significant contributors to the science and literature of the Josephinian Enlightenment.
The True Harmony Lodge also served as a haven for Masons involved with the literature of reform. As a result of its functions as a learned society, the True Harmony Lodge provided its literary members with the opportunity to publish their works concerning reform in the Journal für Freymaurer and thus filled a major cultural need. Numerous Viennese imperial administrators and writers from the circles of Born and Blumauer were recruited to the True Harmony and as suggested by their writings, viewed the lodge as an essential urban literary agency for the promotion of their Enlightenment and Masonic concepts concerning reform.
In an article in the Journal für Freymaurer, Blumauer describes the modern enlightener Joseph II in terms of ancient concepts. In “Gesundheit auf den Kaiser,” Blumauer visualizes Joseph as possessing qualities resembling those of Solomon. Like the ancient Jewish monarch, Joseph was judicious, virtuous, and wise: “Similar to birds in a nest, Masons live as brothers in the House of Joseph. We are indebted to the emperor for his benevolent acts. Fire is in our hearts and has been ignited to guide us in our search for light…. In our efforts to achieve this end, we recognize that a virtuous king is serving and deserves our support.”117
Blumauer in several articles appearing in the literary journal of the lodge presented his views about the religious policies of the emperor. To Blumauer, these policies helped to reduce the possibilities of religious conflict in the empire, to weaken the status of the Catholic Church, and to strengthen imperial institutions. He also believed that Habsburg Masons wished to cooperate with the emperor to end religious prejudice and fanaticism and in Masonic terms explained that religious toleration permitted Joseph to cement the blocks of his empire firmly:
The operations of our venerable fraternity must never cease, and Masons must never separate. Religious toleration has been granted, and this accomplishment has been our hope.
Our lodges have praised Joseph, for his policies have been comforting and humane. Let us hope that the Eintracht and sister lodges will revere his name….118
My brothers, unite as virtuous men and act to end suffering in society. Work with state authorities to help the oppressed. Let reason and virtue serve as your guide in working for the reform of society and for the welfare of humanity.119
Heinrich Watteroth, who was a member of the True Harmony Lodge and was a professor of history in the University of Vienna, published works about religious toleration. In Für Toleranz uberhaupt und Burgerrechte der Protestanten in katholischen Staaten, published in 1781, Watteroth advances his views about the place of religion in the state and about religious toleration. To Watteroth, religion is identified with natural morality and is intended to make citizens loyal to the state.120 He speaks of religion in Masonic terms, claiming that the major religions of the world share in common such principles as brotherly love and benevolence. Watteroth also argues that each state should recognize religions within its realm; he believes that by granting toleration to religious groups, the monarch would strengthen his state and thus would receive cooperation from clergymen who would instill their practitioners with the tenets of natural morality. Watteroth, too, thinks that religion could be a constructive institution in the state and suggests that Masonry succeeded in uniting men of various faiths and in diffusing the doctrines of a public morality.121
Karl Reinhold, who was admitted to the True Harmony Lodge in 1782, was another spokesman of Josephinian religious reforms. In his poems and essays published in Viennese literary journals, Reinhold defends the emperor for granting religious toleration to Jews and Protestants, criticizes the corrupt practices of some Catholic clergymen, and pays tribute to Joseph for instituting church reforms.122 In an article appearing in the Journal für Freymaurer, he explains that moral teachings of the Craft induced Masons to oppose religious intolerance and to work for the reform of educational institutions in the Habsburg Empire: “Masonry is an institution dedicated to teaching its members the tenets of a universal moral system and to improving society. Throughout Europe, Masonic lodges have been recognized for their efforts to reform the state…. Masonry is an international order of virtuous men dedicated to the principles of the Enlightenment, to the improvement of education, and to the promotion of benevolent projects. Masonry aspires to shape the character of men and to enlighten humanity…. Reason, virtue, and compassion will enable our fraternity to accomplish its aims.”123
As a result of his vitriolic attacks against the Catholic Church, Reinhold in 1784 was forced to leave Vienna. Disguised as a woman and with financial support from members of the Wiener Freunde, he left the imperial capital, first going to Leipzig and then to Weimar. Reinhold was well received in Weimar, was housed by Wieland, and in 1785 married one of his daughters. After his marriage, Reinhold received an appointment as a professor of literature and philosophy in the University of Jena. He also continued during the middle years of the 1780s to espouse the cause of state reform and to correspond with Ratschky and with other members of the Wiener Freunde.124
Another Josephinian propagandist affiliated with the True Harmony was Josef F. Ratschky. In Melchior Striegel, Ratschky depicts Joseph as being the archetype of an enlightened monarch; he pays tribute to the emperor for recognizing the civil and religious liberties of Jews and Protestants in the empire and for enacting measures to improve imperial schools and courts.125 Ratschky, too, in his poetry frequently refers to the importance of Masonry to the Josephinian Enlightenment. In “Ermunterung zur Arbeit,” published in 1783, he comments upon the Masonic symbols of the level and square, perceives Masonry as being a community of enlighteners, and implores members of the Craft to continue to work for the amelioration of Habsburg institutions: “Brothers, uplift your spirits and perform your work. Sing with joy and work with the zeal of a Mason…. Work conscientiously through the day to build your spiritual temple and strive with your brothers to promote harmony within the state…. Work to elevate your status in life and to eliminate civil strife.”126
Proponents of reform from the True Harmony Lodge were significant contributors to the Enlightenment in Vienna. These writers served as a moderate faction in the Josephinian Party and utilized the True Harmony Lodge as a propagandistic institution to disseminate their views of reform. What the writers of the True Harmony Lodge shared in common was their admiration for the Enlightenment and Masonic doctrine of religious toleration. They also seemed to be enlightened Masons, explaining and substantiating their ideas of reform in light of Masonic concepts and symbols.
There was another important dimension to the literary operations of the True Harmony. Numerous writers connected with the lodge published in the Journal für Freymaurer articles and poems about topics relating to Masonry. These writers, who were associated with the literary circles of Blumauer and Born, described Masonic teachings and symbols and especially illustrated the importance of ancient ideologies to Masonic thought. They also attempted to demonstrate that salient ancient and modern concepts of Masonry were intimately related to major tenets of the Enlightenment and constituted the basis of civil morality.
Ignatz von Born wrote several lengthy articles concerning the ancient mystery cults in the Journal für Freymaurer. Like Court de Gébelin, he believed that these cults offered a synthesis of major ancient ideologies and that the teachings of these ancient cults were important to Speculative Freemasonry and to the Enlightenment. Born emphasized that the ancient mysteries contained explanations concerning the Attributes of the Supreme Creator and concerning the operations of objects in the heavens and in Nature. To Born, these mysteries also stressed the importance of the arts and sciences and contained the teachings of a universal ethical system. He believed that in attempting to revive the ideas of the ancients, Masons and enlighteners should study the teachings of the mysteries.127
Born wrote about the Osiris Cult and well described the ritualistic behavior of its members. He maintained that this cult was the first in history to reveal the teachings of the ancient mysteries. To be received into the Shrine of Osiris, a candidate, Born explained, was required to have made noted contributions to the culture of ancient Egypt. Born proceeded to describe the ceremonies of the Osiris Cult. The candidate was blindfolded, led into the inner chamber of the shrine, and then took an oath of allegiance to Osiris. He was informed that this god possessed the mysterious powers of the Sun and was depicted as a symbol of omnipotence and perfection. The candidate was told that Isis was the earth goddess and possessed powers relating to the raising of crops. Priests of the cult then explained to the candidate that Hermes was capable of transforming common metals into rare ones and that an understanding of mathematical principles would enable the initiate to discover the secrets of Nature. During the final ceremonies of the initiation, priests described to the candidate the attributes of man. They explained that man was endowed with reasoning powers, was capable of understanding the operations of Nature, was benevolent and virtuous, and possessed an immortal sou1.128 Born believed that by utilizing ritualism to explain the powers of Deity, Nature, and man, priests of the Osiris Cult significantly contributed to ancient thought.
As Born explained, the teachings of the ancient mysteries were passed from the Egyptians to the Jews and in some respects were modified. He maintained that Jewish priests conferring the ancient mysteries perceived Yahweh as an Omnipotent, Omniscient, and Benevolent God. Born emphasized that the Temple of Solomon was built as a symbol of the covenant established between Yahweh and the Jews and represented architectural and spiritual perfection.
The temple, too, was related to Jewish views concerning the powers of Nature. Born maintained that in staging the rites of the ancient mysteries, Jewish priests referred to symbols in the temple to illustrate the qualities of the sun, moon, planets, and stars. Jewish priests also taught that as the principles of mathematics and architecture had been applied to build the Temple of Solomon, man should use mathematics and reason to determine the laws of Nature. “Ceremonies in the Temple of Solomon center on themes of the ancient mysteries. Allegories are presented concerning the movements of the stars, planets, and moon. Rituals concerning the powers of water are performed and are related to the legend of Noah and the Great Flood.”129
As Born showed, tools used for the building of the temple symbolized the moral conduct of ancient Jewish Masons. The gavel was used for the fitting of stones and represented the education needed by a builder of the temple to pursue his work. Used in the dressing of a stone, the chisel referred to the advanced training received by a Mason. The square was essential for measuring purposes and alluded to the honesty of Masons, while the level was required for the drawing of lines and illustrated the doctrine of equality among Masons. Used for the accurate construction of buildings, the plumb represented the humane actions of members of the Craft.130
Born stressed the role of the Pythagorean Brotherhood in disseminating the tenets of the ancient mysteries in Greece. The members of this brotherhood worshipped the Supreme Creator. They also believed that the principles of geometry could be applied to determine the operations of Nature and the heavens and to understand the grand design of the Supreme Architect. The Pythagoreans even attempted to apply mathematical principles to the study of morality. They used mathematical principles and symbols to explain the moral tenets of charity, prudence, temperance, and virtue: “Pythagoras established his own school of philosophy and emphasized the study of mathematics. He postulated a famous theorem to explain the attributes of a triangle and to reveal the precision of geometry…. He thought that the principles of geometry could be used to study Nature and morality…. Symbols of geometry could serve as symbols of beauty, benevolence, and virtue.”131
Born maintained that during the reign of Darius, mystery cults in the Persian Empire conferred rites to explain the teachings of Pythagoras and that priests of these cults made contributions to science; these priests studied geometry, made observations of the planets and stars, and wrote about the properties of objects in Nature. To Born, the mystery cults in Persia functioned as a valuable institution. They helped to diffuse in the empire the concepts of a cultural and moral system which had been prevalent in three ancient civilizations in the west.132
Minor writers of the True Harmony published articles in the Journal für Freymaurer about the practices and teachings of Masonry. Count Schittelsberg wrote about the importance of Masonic ceremonies. This obscure Viennese aristocrat maintained that ceremonies were performed in Masonry to explain the attributes of a Universal God and to illustrate major teachings concerning morality and Nature. Schittelsberg explained that lodge ceremonies centered on the signs, passwords, and oaths of Masonic degrees and were intended to bind the candidate to the Masonic community.133 He also maintained that Masonic ceremonies revealed a pertinent educational function of the order. Through ceremonies, the candidate learned about the tenets of brotherly love, benevolence, prudence, and virtue. The candidate, too, was encouraged to promote the arts and sciences and to engage in projects for the advancement of the state: “Masonry teaches its candidates universal moral tenets. Our institution encourages members to respect the powers of the Supreme Creator and to seek the knowledge of the arts and sciences…. Masonry is not a religion, but wishes to instill its members with ethical tenets recognized by major religions of the world. The moral teachings of the order should serve as the guiding light in their lives…. By taking their vows at the altar of the Temple of Solomon, Masons will be exposed to the teachings of God and to the ethical tenets recognized by mankind.”134
The minor Viennese writer Andreas Stütz explained the Masonic concept of traveling or circumambulation in terms of ritualistic behavior. The journeys of the candidate around the lodge illustrated the importance of the four points or directions of Masonry. According to Stütz, the east represented wisdom, the west strength, the north darkness, and the south beauty.135 To Stütz, traveling also helped to explain concepts of science. In traveling to the east, the candidate attempted to discover enlightenment and more precisely endeavored to find those laws governing Nature. The activities of the lodge Master were representative of the powers of the Sun. As the Sun is the fixed center of the planetary system and emits light rays to permit the orderly operations of Nature, the Master is the nucleus of Masonry and is empowered to confer rites regarding natural laws. Through his travels in the lodge, the candidate learned from the Master about the movements of celestial objects and about the cycles of Nature.136
Several members of the True Harmony wrote about the Masonic concept of charity. The minor writer and scientist Joseph von Retzer explained that by engaging in charitable activities to assist members of the Craft and those not affiliated with it, Masons were fulfilling a significant function of the order, were exemplifying virtuous conduct, and were working for the welfare of the state.137 Blumauer, too, regarded charity as one of the major objectives of Masonry; he lauded Prague Masons for exhibiting the spirit of philanthropy and implored Viennese Masons to engage in charitable enterprises. Blumauer claimed that under the capable direction of Count Kinigl, the Prague Masonic Orphanage successfully functioned. This institution succeeded in educating orphans, in providing funds for their medical care, and in assisting them in securing jobs.138
Retzer and Blumauer published articles concerning the relationship of Masonry to the Enlightenment. Retzer believed that Viennese Masons acted in light of the Masonic concept of harmony to advance the arts and sciences and to promote the cause of state reform: “Harmony should characterize the operations of Masonic lodges. Harmony was emphasized by the priests of the Osiris Cult and by those of the Temple of Solomon. Harmony applies to activities governing Masons in and outside of the lodge, to the efforts of brothers to provide assistance to the distressed, and to the attempts of Masons throughout the world to work for the improvement of humanity…. Harmony applies to the operations of the state and induces citizens to obey moral and secular laws.”139
Blumauer perceived Masonry as being a cosmopolitan institution devoted to the diffusion of Enlightenment tenets throughout the world. He maintained that as a result of its international character, Masonry served as a valuable vehicle for the promotion of Enlightenment activities. Blumauer thought that the Enlightenment and Masonry shared common objectives: Masons and enlighteners acknowledged deistic ideas, subscribed to the moral and philosophical teachings of the ancients, advocated secular reforms, worked to promote the arts and sciences, and most importantly probed Nature to seek her laws. Blumauer speculated that the mission of enlighteners and Masons would culminate in the achievement of material progress: “Masonry is a cosmopolitan institution. Her members investigate Nature and strive to contribute to the sciences…. Masons are taught the tenets of an ancient and a universal morality and are benevolent, honest, and just in their pursuits…. Masonry is an institution devoted to ending religious fanaticism, to reforming the state, and to achieving material progress.”140
Writers of the True Harmony Lodge in several respects contributed to Masonry and to the Enlightenment in Vienna. These writers were the first to publish works about the teachings of the Craft and succeeded in developing a Masonic philosophy of the Enlightenment. In light of Masonic concepts and symbols, they explained the deistic Attributes of the Supreme Architect, the mechanistic operations of Nature, and the intellectual and moral qualities of man. Another distinctive achievement of writers of the True Harmony concerned their accounts about Masonic humanism and civil morality. What these writers succeeded in showing was that the concepts of benevolence, social justice, and virtue were postulated by ancient philosophers and by Enlightenment theorists and constituted the core of Masonic civil and moral thought.
Like lodge members involved with literature and with moral philosophy, those engaged in music occupied an important place in the True Harmony. Musicians of the True Harmony perceived the lodge as a center of Viennese music and actively engaged in its cultural and organizational operations. Musicians of the lodge composed works about various facets of Masonry and published them in the Journal für Freymaurer. Some musicians of the True Harmony also played in the orchestra of the lodge and gave performances during its special sessions.
The orchestra of the True Harmony consisted of numerous minor musicians. When the lodge held sessions to confer degrees and staged banquets, Paul Wranitzsky directed the lodge orchestra. Wranitzsky also composed special hymns and songs for these occasions and recruited musicians to the lodge. Valentin Adamberger sang during banquets staged by the True Harmony. After his admittance to the lodge, Johann Holzer composed approximately a dozen songs about Masonry for the Journal für Freymaurer and attempted to illustrate the ethical importance of such symbols as the Sun, square, level, and plumb. His friend Joseph von Holzmeister played the violin in the orchestra of the lodge and wrote a song to commemorate the initiation of Haydn into the True Harmony.141
As a result of his desire to associate with “men of high culture,” Joseph Haydn became a member of the True Harmony Lodge.142 He was admitted to the lodge on February 11, 1785, but after his induction, exhibited minimal interest in Masonry. Haydn composed no music for the lodge and in 1786 resigned from it.143
Unlike his friend Haydn, Mozart developed astute interest in Viennese Masonry. He was inducted into the Charity Lodge on January 7, 1785. Although a Catholic, Mozart believed that the teachings of Masonry were compatible with those of the Church and that both institutions helped their members to achieve moral purification, provided them with an understanding of Deity, and worked for the amelioration of society.144 Mozart in April 1785 witnessed the initiation of his father Leopold into the Charity Lodge, became friendly with Born, and that same year paid frequent visits to the True Harmony Lodge.145 Mozart in 1785 also composed several Masonic works.
The Masonic music of Mozart reflected important themes and symbols of the order. In K. 483, a poem set to music, Mozart praises Joseph for legalizing the operations of Masonry in the empire and explains that “Joseph’s benevolence has crowned anew Masonic hope.”146 The symbols and moving rites involved with the closing of a lodge inspired Mozart in 1785 to compose K. 484. In this hymn, Mozart alludes to the symbolism pertaining to the mysterious number three and implores Masons “to follow the path of virtue, to strive for the perfection of the Great Temple, and to move towards the Throne of Wisdom.”147 Masonic Funeral Music or K. 477 was considered as one of the most important Masonic compositions by Mozart. Written in 1785, this work was played that year during the Lodge of Mourning held for Count Esterházy and the Duke of Mecklenberg. In this composition, Mozart masterfully conveyed themes and symbols involved with life and death, placing emphasis on the threatening notes of the winds to depict the fear that Masons had for God. He juxtaposed winds and strings to demonstrate the struggle between the forces of life and death and made frequent usage of the string quartet to convey the moods of man prior to death.148 Mozart also wished to write an opera to explicate major doctrines of Masonry. As a result of his familiarity with the opera Osiris by the Mason John Naumann and with the articles of Born about the ancient mysteries, Mozart in approximately 1786 began to compose the lyrics to The Magic Flute.149
The Magic Flute alludes to mysteries concerning life and death, stresses the Enlightenment theme concerning the beauties and powers of Nature, and accentuates the Masonic tenets of virtue and wisdom. Entrusted in Act One with a magic flute, a symbol of wisdom, the adventurous Prince Tamino enters the Temple of Nature, Reason, and Wisdom and meets Sarastro. Sarastro proves his allegiance to the prince, punishing an evil Moor who held the beautiful maiden Pamina in captivity.150 As the first act draws to a conclusion, Tamino and Pamina, in the presence of the virtuous Sarastro, are married and then are required to encounter further hardships to demonstrate their allegiance to each other.
In Act Two, Mozart subjects Pamina and Tamino to numerous trials to reveal their character traits. As a symbol of virility, Tamino enters the Cabinet of Reflection in the temple and, like a Masonic candidate, is divested of metallic substances prior to receiving his initiatory rites symbolic of the trials of life and Nature.151 After Tamino receives these rites and is provided with insight into the operations of Nature, Pamina intervenes to protect Sarastro from being stabbed by the Moor. In the final scenes of the opera, Pamina is reunited with Tamino in the caverns of the temple. By successfully confronting the trials of air, earth, fire, and water, Pamina and Tamino strengthen their marriage and demonstrate their abilities to resolve problems encountered in life and in Nature. Significance was attached to this Masonic opera, since Mozart, as numerous critics have claimed, portrayed Tamino as a symbol of the wise and virtuous Joseph II and endowed Sarastro with the qualities of the enlightener Ignatz von Born.152
Several patterns consequently characterized the musical operations of the True Harmony. Like their counterparts in the Lodge of the Nine Sisters, musicians in the True Harmony Lodge participated in the lodge orchestra and contributed to the ritualistic operations of the lodge. Music, however, played a more important role in the True Harmony Lodge than in the Lodge of the Nine Sisters, and the musicians in this Viennese lodge seemed to behave as enlightened Masons. Through their songs, poems, and concerts, musical composers involved with the True Harmony Lodge explained Enlightenment concepts, vividly described Masonic doctrines and symbols, and thus significantly contributed to the cultural life of Josephinian Vienna.
The fortunes of Masonry in Vienna radically changed after 1785. Joseph by that year had instituted most of his major reforms; he began to heed the advice of conservative and anti–Masonic ministers, and upon their suggestion, established a secret police force to suppress political opponents of the empire and to investigate the operations of Masonry and other secret societies.153 The emperor, too, wished to improve relations with the Catholic Church and seemed to be quite concerned about the anticlerical views of Viennese Masons.154 What also led to the demise of Masonry was the prolific circulation of anti–Masonic literature in the Habsburg capital. Leopold Hoffmann, who was a former member of the Charity Lodge, emerged as the chief spokesman of anti–Masonry, in Vienna. In his articles published in the Wiener Zeitschrift, Hoffmann criticized Viennese Masons for attacking the Catholic Church and perceived them as constituting a threat to the monarchy. Hoffman claimed, moreover, that the Illuminati Order was even more dangerous than Masonry and through its international network of lodges was preparing to destroy conservative institutions in Europe.155
The perceptions of Hoffmann about the Illuminati, to a great extent, were quite correct. Established in Bavaria in 1776 by Adam Weishaupt, a former Jesuit and a professor of law from the University of Ingolstadt, the Illuminati was pledged to engage in unremitting warfare against royal absolutism, feudal exploitation, and organized religion.156 After the destruction of these depravic forces, members of the Illuminati wished to establish democratic states throughout Europe. The structure and ritual of the Illuminati resembled in some respects those of Freemasonry. The Illuminati operated in secrecy and conferred the Blue and Strict Observance Degrees. Unlike those of Masonry, lodges of the Illuminati conferred the Degrees of the Mysterious Class and encouraged its members to engage in revolutionary activities against European monarchs.157 An Illuminati lodge by 1785 operated in Vienna. Although this body recruited very few Masons to its ranks, its subversive operations greatly disturbed Joseph II.158
The emperor in late 1785 took action against secret societies in the empire and evidently believed that the aims and operations of Masonry were the same as those of the Illuminati: “The so-called Freemason societies are increasing and spreading even to the small towns; left alone, without supervision, they might become dangerous in their excess to religion, order, and morals.”159
On December 1, 1785, Joseph instituted the Freimaurerpatent; this edict stipulated that only one lodge was to function in the capital city of each province and that all other lodges were to be dissolved. This patent further provided that each lodge was required every three months to submit its roster to the secret police and that the secret police could inspect the activities of lodges in the empire.160
Some members of the True Harmony were disappointed about the attacks of the anti–Masons and about the restrictive imperial decree. In “Ueber Maurerintoleranz,” published in 1785 in the Journal für Freymaurer, Alxinger claims that anti–Masonic advisers would succeed in convincing the emperor to curb the operations of Habsburg Masonry. He maintains that Viennese Masons should continue to support the ideals and activities of the Craft and should respond to their critics: “Despite opposition to our cause, my brothers, we must try to preserve the lights of Masonry. As the Sun rises in the east and sets in the west, the spirit of Masonry must endure…. Our art must be practiced, our principles must be taught, and our energies must be directed to the improvement of civil society.”161
In a letter sent to Reinhold in August 1786, Gottlieb Leon claimed that Joseph envisioned the operations of Masonry and the Illuminati as being similar and thus decreed the 1785 Masonic Patent. Leon explained to his friend that the radical intentions of the Illuminati had led to the destruction of the world of the secret societies in the Habsburg Empire and predicted that the emperor would never restore the privileged status of Masonry.162
The 1785 Masonic Patent produced significant effects upon the Craft in Prague and in Vienna. As a result of the pressure from the imperial police, Strict Observance administrators in Prague dissolved in 1787 the Lodge of the Three Crowned Stars.163 After the closing of this lodge, former Prague Masons neither affiliated with the Illuminati nor became involved in revolutionary activities. As a result of the promulgation of the Masonic Patent, the cultural operations of the True Harmony Lodge in 1786 came to an abrupt end. The Lodge of Truth was established in 1786, functioned as the only Masonic body in the imperial capital, and attracted a few former members of the True Harmony to its ranks. The Lodge of Truth for approximately two years performed routine ritualistic functions. In recognizing that members of the secret police were carefully observing the activities of this lodge and that meetings of this body were poorly attended, Prince Dietrichstein in 1788 decided to close its doors.164 Although a small group of Jacobins emerged in Vienna in 1794 and was easily suppressed by imperial authorities, no former Masonic enlighteners of the True Harmony Lodge were involved with these obscure revolutionaries.165
Prior to the dissolution of the special relationship between Masonry and the Habsburg Monarchy, the True Harmony Lodge functioned as an important cultural institution in Josephinian Vienna. The True Harmony Lodge especially distinguished itself in its role as a learned society, and the cultural operations of this body seemed to be more wide ranging than those of the Lodge of the Nine Sisters. As suggested by the varying works appearing in its journals, the True Harmony Lodge especially evolved into a center of reform and music, served as a hub of geological research, and fostered the study of ancient and modern ideologies relating to the Enlightenment and to Masonry. There, too, were important implications of holding membership in the True Harmony. Members of this lodge seemed to be quite cognizant of their roles as enlighteners and as Masons. They felt committed to the cause of imperial reform and attempted to describe and to classify the materialistic properties of objects in Nature. As enlightened Masons, members of the True Harmony succeeded in their mission of showing how the teachings and symbols of Masonry were related to salient concepts of the Enlightenment.
Like Masons in London and in Paris, those in Prague and in Vienna performed significant cultural functions to advance the Enlightenment. The environment of Masonry and the ideologies motivating Masons differed, however, in each of these four cities. In the conclusion, varying topics concerning Masonry in and Masons from these urban centers will be examined.