ABSTRACT
The early Hanoverian period witnessed a proliferation of clubs and societies in London: voluntary associations of men devoted variously to intellectual pursuits - literary, antiquarian, philosophical, and scientific - and to convivial socializing. Prominent musical organisations such as the Castle Society or the Academy of Ancient Music, both formalized in the 1720s and both meeting at City taverns, should certainly be viewed in much the same light. Thus music in English masonic ritual, as on the continent, symbolized harmony and moderation in its restricted devotional tone, inevitably drawing on religious musical images, yet at the same time suggesting a universal antiquity through chordal writing and predominantly diatonic harmony. It is tempting to look for masonic alliances throughout the structure of musical life in London. One can only speculate as to the opportunity that membership of a specific lodge provided for career advancement; and musical constituencies and patronage seem often to have been confirmed rather than been established by masonic connections.
