Song for Saint Cecilia’s Day by John Dryden
Uploaded by alijoker on Jan 08, 2007
[size=18:9d5086efa3]Song for Saint Cecilia’s Day[/size:9d5086efa3]
By Dryden
[i:9d5086efa3]Written and uploaded by [url=http://alijoker.blogspot.com]Ali Noorani[/url][/i:9d5086efa3]
The universal frame of creation began from a harmonious music, a heavenly one. When Nature was beneath a pile of atoms, with very harsh sound, and could not raise its head because of the burden, the tuneful voice of heavenly music was heard from the sky that said: “Arise, more than dead!” Then coldness and heat, moisture and draught went to their right place and obeyed Music’s power this way. This universal frame began from harmony of nature to the harmony of music and it ran through all the notes of music and finished the diapason in Mankind. Thus man was created out of harmony and was the closing tune of creation diapason.
What kind of feeling can you find which music isn’t capable of raising or suppressing?
When Jubal sounded the chorded shell, his brothers that heard the music gathered around and fell on the ground to worship that heavenly music. They thought that nothing less than a god could live in that shell (because the sound was so magnificent) that spoke so sweetly and so well. What kind of feeling can you find which music isn’t capable of raising or suppressing?
The loud repeated metallic sound of trumpets with high-pitched notes of anger and dying alarms inspire us to war. The repeating double beat of the angry drum shouts: “Listen carefully! The enemies are coming: Charge, Charge, it’s too late to retreat!”
The soft sad sound of flute discovers with its dying notes the sighs of hopeless lovers, whose funeral song is whispered by the warbling lute (it’s embellished with musical variations). Violins reveal their jealous sharp spasm of pain and desperation, rage, worried surprise of mistreatment, depth of pains, and greatness of passion for the rejecting beautiful woman.
But oh! No art can teach nor can any human voice reach the holy praise of organ’s sound. Its notes are inspiring love, Notes that fly their ways to the sky in order to complete heavenly choir there.
Orpheus could lead and guide a savage race with his music, and trees left their place uprooted following the sound of his lyre; but smart Cecilia raise the wonder of what music can do even higher than that:
When she blew into her organ an angel heard the music and straight appeared on the earth because it has mistaken the earth for heaven!
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This poem is mainly dealing...