This title is no doubt sufficient to arouse the curiosity of those unfamiliar with operatic history, for the likelihood of finding Masonry associated with the stage is certainly not at once obvious.
But circumstances do sometimes combine to produce surprising results, and, in the case under consideration, given a band of ardent and intellectual brethren, including one of the greatest composers of all time, struggling under grievous disabilities at the stormy end of the 18th century, and you have some of the forces which, by their convergence, known in brought forth the opera English as “The Magic Flute” long denominated a Masonic opera.
The unveiling of the details of its history has occupied years of patient
research, and it is my present endeavour to lay before you as much of that elucidation as time permits.
