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1YEAR II · MARCH 1943 · Nº 11 — The Venerable Figure of Master Cedaior. By Jehel, S∴I∴
2At the last hour, with the previous number of our Review already all but printed, all we were able to include was the laconic notice of the death of the Venerable Master Cedaior.
3Discharging now a double duty — as a reverent initiatic homage to him who was my first Master and the Master of many, and as filial gratitude to one who, being my father, was always also a very wise friend, whose experience and example showed me the Way — I shall set out for you, in successive articles, what may be set out of the Master's life and work.
4If I find myself obliged to certain reserves, it is [Sic: the printed text has “el” for “es”] solely by reason of there existing, still living, beings whose activities are strictly bound to those of the Master, and whom the initiatic rule of our Orders does not permit me to expose to profane eyes while the actors of the Silent Service are alive.
5On the 1st of September 1872, in the house that had once been the residence of Bayard (le chevalier saens peur et sans reproche) [Sic: for “sans peur et sans reproche”, the knight without fear and beyond reproach], in the city of Valence, in the south of France, not far from Lyon and near what had in other times been the seigneurial domain of the Counts of Mascheville, there was born in a modest household the Brother Cedaior (Viscount Albert Raymond Costet de Mascheville).
6Son of a Celt and of a Latin woman, he was the elder of the two sons of that household.
7The second, Daniel, of great talent as a draughtsman, died relatively young.
8I shall leave the account of his birth horoscope until I treat of the initiatic part of Cedaior's life.
9Let us look first at the life of the man, which will give us the understanding of the life of the Master — or, better said, the price the MAN had to pay in order to be able to work as an INITIATE.
10In his father's house they opposed his precocious musical vocation, and many children would have been discouraged by so great a difficulty.
11Cedaior already shows his firm will, and obtains, at 9 years of age, free lessons from the celebrated French violinist Charles Dancla, whose methods are of worldwide repute.
12He reveals, at an early age, a virtuosity and, above all, a sonority and interpretative expression that would remain for ever his characteristics as a violinist.
13At about 13 he manages to “drag” his parents to Lyon in order to obtain, on Charles Dancla's recommendation, backing for entry to the Paris Conservatoire.
14We shall see that his passage through Lyon was the awakening of his initiatic career, for it was there that he came to know Master Amo.
Our translation, period-faithful. Citable as our translation, never as the source.
The promise made in Nº 10 is kept here. That number could carry only five lines on Cedaior's death because it was already at press; this one opens with the life, written by his son. Read the two together: Nº 10 p. 1 announces, Nº 11 pp. 1–3 accounts for.
The author states his double position plainly — first Master and father — and it is the reason this biography is worth more than a memorial. Jehel is Leo Costet de Mascheville; Cedaior is Albert Raymond Costet de Mascheville. The magazine's editor is writing about his own father.
An unusual admission for a commemorative piece: there are reserves, and the reason is given — people are still alive whose work is bound to the Master's, and the rule forbids exposing them "while the actors of the Silent Service are alive". The gaps in this biography are declared rather than concealed.
1 September 1872, Valence, in the house that had been Bayard's. The date and place are consistent with the caption on p. 4 and with every later reference in the run. "saens peur et sans reproche" is a compositor's slip for sans peur et sans reproche — Bayard's standing epithet — and is marked in the translation.
Charles Dancla (1817–1907) was a real and eminent French violinist and pedagogue whose methods were indeed in worldwide use; free lessons from him to a nine-year-old is the kind of claim that is checkable in principle. The Press has not found independent confirmation.
The hinge of the whole life, stated in one sentence: the passage through Lyon "was the awakening of his initiatic career, for it was there that he came to know Master Amo." Amo is Maître Philippe of Lyon — Philippe Nizier, named in full at Nº 10 p. 5 and listed at Nº 10 p. 17 among the Masters most often seen by members of the Order. Three issues now converge on him; he remains the outstanding gap in the Press's holdings.